Magnifica Humanitas
On Safeguarding the Human Person
in the Time of Artificial Intelligence
An Online Course with Penny Washbourn
Six Mondays
February 1 through March 8, 2027
4:00 - 5:30 pm PT
This course will help us understand the historical context from which Pope Leo XIV's first encyclical faces questions raised by this new technology for our understanding of the human person and the common good. We will address how to read an 'encyclical', review the rich tradition of the social teaching of the Catholic Church from Leo XIII to Leo XIV and how his approach to issues raised by Al deserves thoughtful consideration by members of all faiths, or none.
Cost: $30
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR
Penny Washbourn, Th.D., MBA, is Professor Emerita of Saint Mary's College of California where she taught courses in the Religious Studies department which focused on the Social Teaching of the Catholic Church as expressed in Papal Encyclicals since Leo XIII. She has facilitated several online book discussion groups for St. Columba's including on Pope Francis's encyclical Laudato Si'. She has a Th.D. in Philosophy of Religion from Union Theological Seminary in NYC, an MBA from St. Mary's College of California, and is the author of two books.