Sarah Maple, assistant professor of Theology and Religious Studies at Mount Saint Mary College, recently presented “Theology of the Home” on campus.
The talk was the second in the new series, “Lectures in Applied Theology in Honor of Sr. Peggy Murphy.” This series was created in honor of the talented Sr. Peggy Murphy, a retired professor and current adjunct at the college. Sr. Murphy has made learning the principles of Catholic Theology a joy for her students for more than 20 years.
The event was co-sponsored by the Mount’s Catholic and Dominican Institute and the Division of Humanities.
Our lives begin at home, being looked after by people who love us not for what we can do, but for the simple fact that we exist, noted Maple. The home is where we learn to live and how to act, and likely where we first discover faith, she added.
“The home is that sacred place, the sanctuary of the person, where in tenderness, we come to know the goodness of our own life and being,” said Maple. “Understanding ourselves in such freedom, the home is the greatest place of action, where being accepted for who we truly are, we learn to life freely in the discovery of wonder, and in play, and in prayer.”
Maple is a painter and theologian who holds advanced degrees in Ethics and Comparative Religious Studies from Drew University, and a Masters of Theological Studies from the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family Studies at the Catholic University of America. She wrote her Ph.D. in the Institute for Theology, Imagination, and the Arts at the University of St Andrews with joint supervision from the University of Oxford, Blackfriars Hall.
Maple has taught courses in Theological Ethics, Catholic Theology, Scripture, Homiletics, and John Paul II’s “Personalist Theology.” She has lectured at the Monasteries in Pluscarden, Ryde, and Quarr, and given papers at the Universities of Pennsylvania, Princeton, Durham, St. Andrews, Cambridge, Oxford, and The Catholic University of Leuven.
Since Fall 2019, Maple has taught undergraduates at the Mount. As a visiting professor, she teaches on Theology, Beauty, and Culture to graduate students at University of Notre Dame and New York’s Major Seminary.
Mount Saint Mary College recently began offering majors in Theology and Religious Studies, as well as Philosophy.
Theology and Religious Studies major: Students will put into conversation varying topics of scripture, systematics, and spirituality, allowing them to take part in experiential learning: opportunities outside the classroom that include service experience, internships, and retreats.
Philosophy major: Philosophy majors will investigate the core areas of metaphysics (the study of reality), epistemology (the study of knowledge), ethics, and logic before furthering their studies through advanced courses in one of several defined tracks.