Syllabus THEO 205. Introduction to Christian Spirituality. Winter 2025
.pdf
School
Concordia University**We aren't endorsed by this school
Course
THEO 205
Subject
Philosophy
Date
Jan 13, 2025
Pages
5
Uploaded by elvinlugo83
Concordia University Prof. Jean-Michel Roessli Department of Theological Studies Professor of Historical Theology 2140, Bishop Street Tel.: (514) 848-2424, ext. 2526 D Annex Office K-301-2 E-mail: jean-michel.roessli@concordia.ca THEO 205/4INTRODUCTION TO CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY WINTER 2025Mondays and Wednesdays 11:45am-1:00pmH-553 OFFICE HOURS: Mondays and Wednesdays 2:45-3:45pmDescriptionThe characteristics of Christian spirituality, its roots in scripture, the balance between contemplation and action, its communal dimension, its attitude to the world, are analyzed through the study of a selection of men and women whose lives exemplify various aspects of Christian spirituality over the past two thousand years. The course examines notions of transcendence and immanence, individuality and collectivity, nature and the divine. ObjectivesUpon completing this course, students should be able to: • define and discuss the concept of Christian spirituality • identify important historical and contemporary figures who exemplify different types of Christian spirituality • discern emphases and values in various forms of Christian spirituality • identify continuity and discontinuity in the evolution of Christian spirituality Required Reading Textbook: There are two textbooks required for this class: 1)Philip Sheldrake, Spirituality. A Brief History. Second Edition. Wiley-Blackwell, 2013. 37.87$ 2)Richard J. Foster and James Bryan Smith (ed.), Devotional Classics: Selected Readings for Individuals and Groups. Harper Collins, 2005. 21.97$ No obligation to purchase them. I have uploaded Sheldrake’s book (the 2007 edition) on Moodle for your personal use and scanned the relevant chapters of Devotional Classicsand uploaded them on Moodle as well. Teaching Assistant Should you have any question regarding the course or the requirements pertaining to the class, please take first a careful look at the course syllabus and at the instructions provided on Moodle. If you do not find the information you are looking for, get in touch with Christopher SpenseratChristopher.Spencer.TA@protonmail.com. Finally, if, for any reason, he cannot answer your question send me an email. Courtesy Policy Here are a few simple rules that will help this class work well: • Arriving to class on time. • Silence your cell phone for the duration of the class.
2 • Laptop are permitted to take notes and access Moodle, but not to surf on the Internet or to chat with friends. • Lecture material will not be rehashed. Therefore, students who miss classes must arrange with another student to get the information or to catch up with the course material. • Please be attentive during the whole class, as a pop quiz may be raised at any moment. Emails Policy Be advised that I shall not answer emails in the evenings and on weekends. Course Grade Components% of Final GradeDue dateAttendance, participation, and readings 10 Weekly Reading responses 3 x 10 (= 30) Feb 17, March 17 and 31 Topic of the final paper 10 March 3 Paper outline and annotated bibliography 15 March 24 Final Paper 35 April 16 Important: Penalty for delay in submission: 10 % per day, weekends included. EvaluationEvaluation will consist of five elements: •Attendance, participation, and readings: 10 %. Students are expected to attend all classes and listen carefully to the instructor’s lectures unless they present a reasonable excuse for absence. Students are expected to complete the assigned readings before each class. There will be weekly in-class case studies to give students the opportunity to engage with examples of spirituality as well as time given for questions and discussion. There will be 12 to 13 short written quizzes starting after the DNE, 1 % each, raised in the end of class throughout the term and aimed to check students’ attendance and attention to the lectures (10 out of them will be counted for a total of 10 %).•Reading responses: 30 % (3 x 10 %). Students will be asked to reflect and remark on what they have read by submitting reading response essays about three of the assigned readings from Devotional Classicsuploaded on Moodle under the due date.1)First Reading Response: either Gregory of Nyssa (p. 123-128) or Bernard of Clairvaux (p. 41-47) is due on Feb 17, by 11:45am. 2)Second Reading Response: either on Julian of Norwich (p. 73-79) or on Theresa of Avila (p. 163-169) or on John of the Cross (p. 33-37) is due on March 17, by 11:45am. 3)Third Reading Response: either John Wesley (p. 258-263) or on Hannah Whithall Smith (p. 237-243) or on Brother Lawrence (p. 369-375) is due on March 31, by 11:45am. The first reading response will be approximately 800 words. For the other two reading responses, students are expected to provide an oral response that will take the form of two short podcasts of 6 minutes each. These assignments are meant to indicate to what extent the student is engaging with the readings. To help the student to structure their responses, s/he is invited to address one of the questions raised in the end of each of the readings.
3 Method of evaluation of all assignments: 30 % of the grade of each reading response is dedicated to the oral and written expression (which would include spelling, punctuation, grammar, sentence structure in the written assignment) and 70 % to the content. Samples of written reading responses are posted on Moodle to help students write their essays. PDF (and only PDF) copies of these assignments must be uploaded on Moodle on Feb 17, March 17 and 31, 2025 by 11:45am. •Topic of the final paper (10 %): Virtually any historical figure who contributed to the development of Christian spirituality would lend itself to the final paper. In case you have a hard time to identify someone, look at the table of contents of our textbooks. Do background research about the chosen topic. In no more than 800 words, explain your topic as if you were speaking to a general audience. This is an exercise in concision and clarity. This assignment is mandatory, as it paves the way to the final paper.To help students, samples of final paper topics are posted on Moodle.PDF (and only PDF) copies of this assignment must be uploaded on Moodle by March 3, 2025 at 11:45am.•Paper outline and annotated bibliography (15 %): For your final paper, select one historical figure from Devotional Classicsor someone you are interested in and you have previously submitted to my (our) approval, then prepare an outline of the intended paper, completed with an annotated bibliography and an introductory paragraph. Students are required to use at least 3 sources aside from the textbooks, incorporating what other researchers have to say on the topic. These must be printed, scholarly sources of at least 15 to 25 pages (some of which may be accessible online). Each entry in the bibliography must be followed by a brief paragraph(3-4 sentences) that is both descriptive and evaluative, explaining how this source (book, article, chapter from book, web document) is relevant to your research and assessing its critical worth. Remember that while encyclopedias of all kinds can be invaluable jumping off points, they are essentially summaries of existing scholarship, and you need to seek out that scholarship directly (ergo, they do not count as one of your three sources, nor does the Bible). Samples of paper outlines and annotated bibliographies are posted on Moodle.PDF (and only PDF) copies of this assignment must be uploaded on Moodle by March 24, 2025 at 11:45pm.•Final paper (35 %):Write a research paper expounding on your subject’s contribution to Christian spirituality (approximately 2300-2500 words = 8-9 pages). All papers should be either in Chicago, MLA or APA style. Marks will be deducted for errors in style, writing, punctuation, and language, so please be attentive to these details. Samples of final papers are posted on Moodle. PDF (and only PDF) copies of this assignment must be uploaded on Moodle by April 16, 2025 by 23:59pm.For all assignments, please indicate the word number of your essay at the top or in the end of your assignment. Of course, usage of AI is strictly forbidden. The official tool put in place by Concordia University (Turnitin Similarity) will be used to check plagiarism. Students are advised to properly quote their sources if they want to avoid any problem.
4 Tentative Course Outline Week 1 Jan 13: Presentation of the syllabus and introduction to the course material. Jan 15: What is Christian Spirituality? Reading: Spirituality. A Brief History, p. 1-20. Week 2 Jan 20 and 22: Foundations: Scriptures and Early Christianity Readings: Spirituality. A Brief History, p. 23-44 Devotional Classics, C.S. Lewis (p. 7-11), Dallas Willard (p. 13-16) Week 3 Jan 27 and 29: Monastic Spiritualities: 300-600Readings: Spirituality. A Brief History, p. 47-59 (40-54 in the 2007 edition available online) Devotional Classics, John Chrysostom (p. 309-312), Athanasius (p. 339-342) Week 4 Feb 3 and 5: Monastic Spiritualities: 600-1150 (1) Readings: Spirituality. A Brief History, p. 59-74 (54-72 in the 2007 edition available online) Devotional Classics, Gregory of Nyssa (p. 123-127), St. Augustine (p. 55-59)Week 5 Feb 10 and 12: Monastic Spiritualities: 600-1150 (2)Readings: Spirituality. A Brief History, p. 59-74 (54-72 in the 2007 edition available online) Devotional Classics, Bernard of Clairvaux (p. 41-44) Week 6 Feb 17 and 19:Spirituality in the City: 1150-1300 First reading response Readings: Spirituality. A Brief History, p. 79-93 Devotional Classics, Francis of Assisi (p. 295-301), Thomas a Kempis (p. 150-154) Week 7 Feb 24 and 28. Reading week Week 8 March 3-5: Spirituality in the City: 1300-1450; MysticismTopic of the Final Paper due Readings: Spirituality. A Brief History, p. 94-106 Devotional Classics, Julian of Norwich (p. 73-79), Richard Rolle (p. 129-133), Blaise Pascal (p. 143-147) Week 9March 10-12: Spirituality in the Age of Reformations: 1450-1550 Readings: Spirituality. A Brief History, p. 110-125 Devotional Classics, Martin Luther (p. 115-119), Ignatius of Loyola (p. 193-197), Francis of Sales (p. 26-30)
5 Week 10March 17-19: Spirituality in the Age of Reformations: 1550-1700Second reading responseReadings: Spirituality. A Brief History, p. 126-142 Devotional Classics, Teresa of Ávila (p. 163-169), John of the Cross (p. 33-37), Catherine of Genoa (p. 180-184) Week 11March 24-26: Spirituality in an Age of Reason: 1700-1900 Outline and annotated bibliography dueReadings: Spirituality. A Brief History, p. 145-171 Devotional Classics, John Bunyan (p. 213-217), Jonathan Edwards (p. 19-23), Jean-Pierre de Caussade (p. 200-204) Week 12March 31-April 2: Modernity and Postmodernity I Third reading response due Readings: Spirituality. A Brief History, p. 173-188 Devotional Classics, John Wesley (p. 258-263), John Baillie (p. 108-111), G. K. Chesterton (p. 333-338) Week 13April 7-9: Modernity and Postmodernity II Readings: Spirituality. A Brief History, p. 188-201 Devotional Classics, Thomas Merton (p. 65-69), Evelyn Underhill (p. 94-98), Dieterich Bonhoeffer (p. 271-274) Twenty-First Century Trajectories Readings: Spirituality. A Brief History, p. 203-222 Devotional Classics, Hannah Whithall Smith (p. 237-243), Brother Lawrence (p. 369-375), Kathleen Norris (p. 363-368) April 16 Final paper due