The Encyclical Letter Laudato si’ of the Holy Father Francis on Care for our Common Home is not just adressed to the Catholic Church and her members, but to all people, and especially to all the structures of society in the 21st century that are involved in actual questions about the protection of the environment, energy efficiency and harmless production technology.  It promotes guidelines on integral ecology which, alongside theological and philosophical comprehension, includes an understanding of other humanistic and natural sciencies as well. This means that the Encyclical Letter presupposes interdisciplinarity. The goal of this course is to explore the basic principles of integral ecology suggested by Laudato si’: mutual connections of ecology, economy and poverty and understanding of human development. Integral ecology is based upon the Christian understanding of man and God. That means that integral ecology is founded on the principles of Christian anthropology. Integral ecology focuses on: ecological economics, social ecology, cultural ecology and the ecology of everyday life.

Encyclical letter Laudato si’of the Holy Father Francis on Care for Our Common Home, Rome, 2015.; Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World
Gaudium et spes Promulgated by His Holiness, Pope Paul VI on December 7, 1965.; Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate of the Supreme Pontif Benedict XVI to the Bishops Priests and Deacons Men and Women Religious the Lay Faithful and all People of Good Will on Integral Human Development in Charity and Truth, Rome, 2009.,

T. BURNS – B.S. CANIGLIA, Environmental Sociology: The Ecology of Late Modernity, Norman, 2015., MARGARET BARKER, The earth is the Lord’s: the biblical view of the environment, in: International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church, 8 (2008.) 3, 192–202. (DOI: 10.1080/14742250802178322) PHILIP A. CUNNINGHAM, A Catholic Theology of the Land: The State of the Question, in: Studies in Christian-Jewish Relations, 8 (2013.) 1., 1-15. (DOI: 10.6017/scjr.v8i1.5182) SEUNGJUNG CHOI, The Biblical Understanding of Laudato Si’, in: Catholic Theology and Thought, 78 (2017.) 1, 10-46. (DOI: 10.21731/ctat.2017.78.10) BRENDAN BYRNE, A Pauline Complement to Laudato Si’, in: Theological Studies, 77 (2016.) 2, 308–327. (DOI: 10.1177/0040563916635117)

1. Regular attendance– a minimum 70% class attendance.
2. Completed essay on time– presentation and timely delivery of the essay.
3. Completed two oral presentation of the chapter of Encyclical Letter Laudato si’ or Encyclical Letter Caritas in veritate.
4. Acquiring at least 35% in class activities – on a cumulative basis.

Class activities:

1. Two oral presentation of one of the chapter from the Encyclical Letter Laudato si’ or Encyclical Letter Caritas in veritate,
2. Presented and written essay,
3. One mid-term exam.

Numerical gradation:
Fail (1) – 0 up to 49,9 %
Pass (2) – 50 up to 64,9 %
Lower second (3) – 65 up to 79,9 %
Upper second (4) – 80 up to 89,9 %
First (5) – 90 up to 100 %

Evaluation:
a) Class activities – 70 % of the grade
• essay – 20 %
• mid-term exam – 30 %
• two oral presentation – 20

b) Final exam – 30 %
• final oral exam – 30 %