Faculty Thought Leaders Featured in National Catholic Press - Seton Hall University

Professors Ines Angeli Murzaku, Nancy Enright and Jeffrey Morrow nurture students in the heart of the faith.

Professors Ines Angeli Murzaku, Nancy Enright and Jeffrey Morrow recently discussed with the National Catholic Register Catholic apologetics and their roles in nurturing students in the heart of the faith.

Ines Angeli Murzaku, religion professor and Director of the Catholic Studies Program, described her program as focusing on the Church’s dialogue with culture and encounter with the world through an innovative, interdisciplinary curriculum for students of any or no religion who are interested in deepening their knowledge of Catholicism’s rich intellectual tradition and living heritage.

Providing her own insights, Murzaku explained: 

Our students examine religion’s impact on all aspects of society, with a special emphasis on ecumenical and comparative theological perspectives. Apologetics is important because it equips students with critical thinking and enables them to articulate and defend their faith but also provides the tools and framework to engage in dialogue with modernity.

Nancy Enright, English professor and Director of the University Core, explained how students are looking for meanings beyond institutional structures. 

Enright said:

The Core focuses on questions of value and meaning, rooted in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, in dialogue with other perspectives where students look at questions such as who is God? What is my relationship with God? Is there an afterlife? What is community? What is good, what is evil? What we as older believers must show them is how the Church directly addresses the issues that they see unfolding in our world — racism, violence, climate change, refugees, war. What does the Church say about such things?

Jeffrey Morrow, undergraduate theology professor, who teaches Catholic apologetics, shared how faculty members have incorporated various elements into their courses and lectures. 

Morrow explained: 

We attempt to teach Catholic theology from the heart of the Church, in a rigorous way, always cognizant of the importance of our role in preparing seminarians for their future ministry as priests, and for our lay students for their future vocational and professional commitments.

Categories: Faith and Service, Nation and World