Study Theology

Dr. Ann E Jackson Catholic Scholars Program

About Theology…

To study theology is to set our sights on God – with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength – so that by knowing Him, we may better love Him and our neighbor.  As disciples of Jesus Christ, we seek to hear God’s Word in Sacred Scripture, in the tradition of the Catholic Church, and in the Church’s dogma. The more we grow in hearing and understanding His Word, the more faithfully we speak it back to God in worship, put it into practice in our lives of discipleship, and proclaim it in evangelization.

About the Program…

The Dr. Ann E. Jackson Catholic Scholars Program seeks to provide Catholic college students at Eastern Illinois University an opportunity to enrich their life as a disciple through intellectual and spiritual formation. In this program, students commit to a life of prayer and study, with their sight set on God and who He is calling them to be. This program is a formative program, providing an environment, knowledge, expectations, and sincere hope for students to submit their life to the Lord and follow Him wherever He leads them.

Pillars of Formation:

  • Every course has the greatest mission of growing students’ understanding of their identity in Jesus Christ as beloved sons and daughters of the Gather. In the intellectual formation received, students will be grounded more fully in their covenant relationship with the Lord as His disciple. In growing in knowledge of their identity, students can grow to live out their call to holiness.

  • Students learn to express the narrative of salvation history, explain the biblical foundations of Catholic doctrine, and support the reliability of Sacred Scripture. Students should learn to read, study, and pray with the Word of God on a daily basis as a disciple of Christ throughout their time in the program.

  • Students develop a foundational knowledge of the Catholic Church’s dogmatic, sacramental, moral, and spiritual teaching as exemplified by the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Students should learn to read, study, and catechize with the Catechism of the Catholic Church as a regular part of their life as a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Program Benefits

  • Opportunity to grow in understanding of Christ through the Word of God, Church documents, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and various commentary on the teachings of the Church

  • Opportunity for growth in living and sharing the faith professed through participating in intellectual formation

  • Receive formation from instructors who seek to be credible witnesses of their faith in Jesus Christ

  • $500 scholarship per semester upon completion of course

  • Free textbooks and handouts

  • Transfer of 3-credit hours each year (1.5-credit hours each course) via the Priority Learning Agreement with EIU’s Philosophy Department

  • Credits can count towards a Religious Studies Minor at EIU

Program Requirements

  • Students attend a twelve week course that meets for 110 minutes of instruction per week

  • Read and engage with the texts of each course

  • Active participation in class and through completion of required assignments

  • Maintain a minimum 2.75 GPA within the program

  • Maintain a minimum 2.75 GPA at EIU

  • Be enrolled as a full time student at EIU, taking a minimum of 12 credit hours per semester

Courses

  • This course helps students understand the unity of God’s plan of salvation from Creation to the Second Coming. With an overview of the Old and New Testaments, this course aids students in reading Scripture as the Word of God. With a narrative approach to the Bible and emphasis on themes of covenant & mission, the course illustrates how Jesus fulfills God’s promises and invites his followers to share in His saving work.

  • This course reveals to students that the Gospels are the heart of all the Scriptures (CCC 125). For believers, the highest aim of all study of the Gospels is to know Jesus Christ more fully. In this course, students come to understand Jesus Christ more fully through a literary, historical, and theological understanding of Him. This course has a great emphasis on Jesus and the Gospels, and how each Evangelists reveals who He is, His life, and His mission.

  • This course helps students examine how the Catholic Church understand herself, her purpose, and her relationship to the world. This will include topics such as the establishment of the Church by Christ, images of the Church, the marks of the Church, the Church in the world, and the life of the believer as part of the Church. The course also examines the Church’s structure and function as both a human and divine institution. These topics will be explored through the study of Scripture and the Church’s Magisterium.

  • This course offers a synthetic summary of the Christian Creed, with particular reference to its effective presentation in catechesis. It follows the outline of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, while making reference to the biblical, liturgical, and magisterial foundations of the doctrines and how they are manifested in the life of the Church. This course focuses especially on Pillar I of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

  • This course aims at a dogmatic and metalogical analysis of the Church’s life of worship. This entails the study of the sacraments as a means of grace, but also the way they present God’s saving work from Biblical History. Students will study the principles of sacramental theology and the liturgical life in order to know and explain how God’s salvation, accomplished once and for all through Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit, is made present in the sacred actions of the Church’s liturgy, especially in the seven sacraments. This course focuses especially on Pillar II of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

  • This course invites students to a deeper understanding of human personhood and the vocation to love and beatitude. Students will learn about moral action and the habits of character it establishes. Students examine the Biblical foundation of Catholic moral teaching with particular attention given to the Sermon on the Mount, the new life realized in us by the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the virtues of Christian living. The course treats the dynamics of the moral law, sin, repentance, and grace with a focus especially on Pillar III of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Instructors

Thomas Schniers

“I am very excited to be a part of the Catholic Scholars program for the spring semester. I will be teaching the class on moral theology. To be back at the Newman Center brings great joy to me. I have many fond memories of Newman and the people that make is a house of formation for those seeking to know God and to serve him.

I have had the privilege of teaching high school theology for a number of years. Those topics included; Church history, ecclesiology, sacraments, Catholic social teaching and morality. The latter is the topic that produced the most intrigue and thought amongst the students I taught. I believe that is because, for many, morality is a central principle in our lives. We desire to know if we are good or bad. We want to know if our actions are authentic or corrupted by ulterior motives. I believe the topic of morality is essential in our spiritual and human formation. Thankfully, because of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, handed on to his Church, we have access to the wisdom of God on matters of morality.

I look forward to this opportunity and am humbled to be a part of Newman once again, even in a small way. I hope to offer what I received inside the walls of Newman all those years ago; zeal for the truth and love for Jesus Christ.”

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Next Courses:
Fall 2025 - Biblical Studies
Spring 2026 - Christology