MUSA1701 · Complex Problems and Enduring Questions
Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences
This is an Enduring Question course and is open to FRESHMEN only. You must take both MUSA1701 and THEO1701. How might we train for encounters with beauty and the sacred? One objective of these linked courses is to help students realize that their own personal experiences can be the departing point for -- and even the subject of -- scholarly inquiry, that theology, the arts, and philosophy are not mere disciplines to be learned but practices that are indispensable to being alive and serving the common good. Another aim is for students to realize that deeply meaningful experiences -- whether of the true, the beautiful, and the good, or the divine in the world and in ones self -- often don't just happen. Instead, such experiences are usually the result of being situated in the right place and time with the right preparation and mindset; in other words, they are usually the result of a certain type of exercise.
Course experience
Averages use the original five-point historical evaluation scale.
Organization
4.5 / 5
How well the course was organized
Challenge
4.7 / 5
How intellectually challenging students found it
Attendance
4.8 / 5
How necessary attendance was
Assignments
4.5 / 5
How helpful assignments were
Weekly effort
~5.5
hours per week
Estimated from the original workload response buckets. Individual sections may differ.
Instructor options
Ratings below reflect only recovered evaluations connected to this course.
Student perspective
Recovered and new anonymous comments are shown as written and may reflect different course formats.
Dec 19, 2025 · Historical comment
Interesting lectures and assignments, but be prepared for HELLA work outside of class and random excursions that take up 4-6 hours of your day randomly. Getting an -A to A is definitely achievable, just requires effort.
Mar 26, 2024 · Historical comment
Prof. Callahan is engaging and fun. The class is interesting, but be ready for a lot of homework.
Across time
Section-level results available in the recovered archive.
Fall 2024
1 sectionFall 2023
2 sectionsFall 2022
2 sectionsFall 2021
2 sectionsFall 2020
1 section