Readings describe local Catholic communities in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Europe, and elsewhere. The course is organized according to special topics that illuminate processes of globalization and localization: worship and inculturation; Catholic Charismaticism and healing movements; gender and family; conversion and interreligious encounters; saints and sanctity; and liberation and struggles for social justice. Throughout the semester, we return repeatedly to the question of how Catholicism can be both a local culture and a global system.
Follow Marc Loustau's blog for a weekly review of lessons, readings and resources, as well as the author's impressions as a first-time teacher of global Catholicism of what worked and what didn't in the classroom.