Midterm Exam Study Guide

(Last updated 8 Jan 2008)

Directions: Exam will be given on Wed 20 February at 7 PM.  Students will have 75 minutes for the exam. Students with documentation for special accommodations are to speak to the instructor one week in advance and have their exam arrangements finalized no later than Monday 18 February.  

Students are to use dark blue or black ink. Once the exam is distributed, no one will be allow to leave the room without first handing in his paper. Students should therefore arrive prepared to sit for 75 minutes. SHORT OF A MEDICAL EMERGENCY, NO EXCEPTIONS WILL BE MADE. No hats may be worn during the exam.

The exam consists of a combination of short answer, multiple choice and true false questions, with one essay. Students should prepare by looking over their quizzes, all handouts, their class notes and the assigned reading. Anything assigned or taught is fair game for the exam, but students should take special care to be prepared on the subjects listed below.

There are no "tricks" in the exam, but doing well requires that students read carefully and think about the precise meaning of the language used in the questions.

1. Moral theology: what is it? And what, if anything, does Catholic moral theology have in common with the moral thought of other religions and the precepts of civil law.

2. The difference between something that is objective and something that is subjective and the relevance of each to the various things we have discussed in this course – including: morality, nature, happiness, conscience, feelings, the goal of human life, justice, truth, and sin.

3. Original justice and original sin (define each), the effects of original sin (as given in class).

4. Grace: what is it, where does it come from (specifically). Is salvation possible without Christ? Without faith in Christ?

5. Human dignity – who has it and why (where does it come from)?

6. What is beatitude? What are the Beatitudes? Where is the Sermon on the Mount found and why is it important for Christian moral theology?

7. What does it mean to take a teleological approach to things? What is freedom for? What do we have minds for?

8. The relationship between freedom and moral responsibility; things that can diminish moral responsibility; the definition of indirectly voluntary acts and the question of whether we are are morally responsibility for indirectly voluntary acts.

9. Human acts, the difference between "human acts" and "acts of a human being," and how one determines the moral quality of a human act.

10. To be to explain and/or judge the difference between objective moral wrong and subjective moral guilt both descriptively and through the use of examples.

11. Proportionalism – what is it, how does it judge the moral quality of particular acts and what is wrong with it from the Catholic Christian perspective?

12. Conscience: what is it (memorize definition found in CCC 1178), the obligations we have to our own consciences, to those of others; what to do when conscience is certain and what to do when it is uncertain. The definition of synderesis and to be able distinguish synderesis and conscience through verbal descriptions and examples.

13. The differing effects of culpable and "innocent" ignorance on moral culpability, and the meaning of the term "invincible ignorance."

14, Emotions (Passions): are they good, bad or indifferent? Under what circumstances do they help in the moral life. When are we morally responsible for our emotions and when not.

15. Virtue, vice and habit – definitions of each. Also be able to name and define each of the cardinal and theological virtues and to distinguish between the two categories.  Also to be able to distinguish between acquired and infused virtue and to name the source of each.

16. Sin – definition; the difference between mortal and venial in two ways: their differing effects and what is required for each; if and when one person is responsible for or shares in the responsible for the sin of another.

17. Contrition – what is it? Distinguish between perfect and imperfect contrition, and explain which is necessary for the worthy reception of the Sacrament of Penance.

18. The Sacrament of Penance – or reconciliation. What is necessary for its worthy reception? What are the effects of the sacrament? Which are the separate acts of the penitent and the priest? What is absolution? When did Christ institute the sacrament? May a priest reveal what has been told him in the sacrament? What does the term in persona Christi mean? When is a Catholic obliged to receive this sacrament? When, exactly, are the penitent’s sins forgiven? Is the Sacrament of Penance a "get out of jail free" card. Explain.