Spirituality
Level 3 – Course 11: Six Sessions
Learn about the spiritual life by studying masters like St. Theresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross. Learn six keys to unlocking a deeper spiritual life of prayer and growth toward God. Through historical context and reflection, students explore the path that leads to living a life rooted in Christian discipleship.
Student Learning Objectives:
The student will learn the importance of the classical spiritual themes developed throughout Church history. Through topical discussions in areas such as prayer, asceticism, mystics and the Eucharist, students will develop an understanding of Christian spirituality and discover ways to apply these principles and teachings within their daily life.
SUPPLEMENTAL READING LIST
Reading the Old Testament; An Introduction, Lawrence Boadt, Paulist Press, Mahwah, NJ, 1984 (Second Edition [revised] published in 2012).
Suggested Course Outline
I. Christian Spirituality
a. Introduction
b. Christian Spirituality
c. The Study of Christian Spirituality
d. The Contours of Christian Spirituality
e. The Tradition of Christian Spirituality
f. Contemporary Christian Spirituality
II. Hearers and Doers of the Word
a. Introduction
b. The Word of God in Community
c. The Word of God and Public Prayer
d. Bible Study
e. Lectio Divina
f. Reading the Bible Whole
g. Reading the Bible in Part
III. The Spiritual Journey
a. Introduction
b. The Journey
c. The Ascent
d. Spiritual Maturity
e. Some Systematic Reflections
f. The Widening Circle
g. Some Conclusions
IV. Prayer
a. Introduction
b. Jesus and Prayer
c. How Does a Christian Pray?
d. Methods of Prayer
e. Prayer and the Language of Prayer
f. Body and Prayer
V. Meditation and Contemplation
a. An Ancient Tradition
b. Early Monasticism
c. Medieval Monasticism
d. Meditation and Method
e. Thomas Aquinas
f. The Spanish Mystics
g. Post Vatican II
h. Developing a Contemplative Disposition
i. Centering Prayer
VI. Asceticism
a. Introduction
b. Why Asceticism
c. The Asceticism of Discipleship
d. Some Ascetic Practices
e. Asceticism as a Way of Life
VII. Living in the Presence of God: The Way of the Mystics
a. Vocabulary
b. Mysticism in the Early Church
c. Monastic Mysticism
d. Later Medieval Mysticism
e. The Reformation and Catholic Reform
f. Early Modern Mysticism
g. The Future of Mysticism
VIII. Solitude in Community
a. Solitude in the Hebrew Scriptures
b. Solitude in the Christian Scriptures
c. Solitude in the Early Christian Tradition
d. Solitude in the Middle Ages
e. Solitude in the Twentieth Century
IX. Friendship
a. Stories of Friendship
b. The Classical Tradition
c. Friendship in Christianity
d. Aelred of Rievaulx and the Cistercians
e. Thomas Aquinas
f. Friendship in the Twentieth Century
g. Conversations about Friendship
h. Women’s Experience of Friendship
i. Friends and Lovers
j. Sacrament of Friendship
X. Eucharist: Source and Summit of the Christian Life
a. Learning to Celebrate
b. Names for the Eucharist
c. Participation in the Lord’s Supper
d. The Meals of Jesus
e. Forgiveness and Compassion
f. Hospitality
g. Presence
h. The Retrieval of a Sense of Mystery
i. Eucharist: A Way of Life