SYLLABUS - PART III
Religious Classics
REL 266
Prof. Bowman
Syllabus I
Syllabus II
 Fall 2007
Administration A35
Phone: 5347
Home: 982-6718

Schedule of Classes and Supplementary Readings
August 30 - Introduction & Bible
Devotional literature of the Bible will be explored. Psalms.

Sept. 4 - 6 The early centuries.
We will look closely at the Didache Anonymous (281.3 /R54a /v.7 and 281.3 /R54 /v7) and the Letter of Ignatius to the Romans. Additional letters of Ignatius can be found on the Web or in the library at (281.3 /R54a /v.1).
Additional early Christian writings of interest are: Writings from the first centuries of Christianity may be found on the Web at The Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) and also at the Order of St. Benedict homepage, and at the "New Advent" page.

Sept. 11 - The Desert Monks
The Life of St. Anthony, Athanasius (281.4 /Sch14 /Ser.2 /v.4)
The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Benedicta Ward
Conferences of John Cassian (This can be found at the Order of St. Benedict home pages, either here or here.
More on the Desert Monks

Sept. 13 - St Augustine
Check here for interesting background to Augustine and to the Confessions.

Sept. 18 - Dionysius
Explore the ideas of Dionysius the Areopagite from Mystical Theology. Other resources on Dionysius can be found on the Web and in the library.

Sept. 20 - The Monastic Rule
The Rule of St. Benedict, Benedict (271.1 /B434r). The Rule is also excerpted in The Book of Christian Classics (244 /W674). It can also be found on line at CCEL.
Look also for the writings of Basil of Caesarea, one of the Cappadocian Fathers who established a rule for Eastern monks.

Sept. 25- 27 - The Medieval World
We will look most closely at Hildegard of Bingen and St. Francis.
For Hildegard of Bingen (282.092 /H545f). Also see this web site for information. A portion of Scivias can be found here and some of her art work here.
Little Flowers of St. Francis can be found in the library. Portions of it are on the Web.
The twelfth century was a rich time for spiritual writing. Check out some of these:
  • Mechtild of Magdeburg
  • Revelations of Divine Love or Showings, Julian of Norwich (242 /J942s) See also and the Wheaton Website)
  • The Book of Margery Kemp, Margery Kempe
  • The Dialogues, Catherine of Sienna (248.2 /C286d)
  • Dialogues, Catherine of Genoa (236.5 C286.p)
  • The Soul's Journey into God Bonaventure (230.2 /B64b)
  • On Loving God Bernard of Clairvaux (Check the CCEL Website)
  • Prayers and Meditations, Anselm
  • Joachim of Fiore (See the book Apocalyptic Spirituality in the library)

Oct 2-Oct. 4 - Late Medieval Mystics
(An Internet source for Imitation of Christ.)
Meister Eckhart (248.2 /Ec57m)
The Cloud of Unknowing, Anonymous (248.2 /C624c)
The Scale of Perfection, Walter Hilton (CCEL Website)
The Spiritual Espousals, Jan van Ruysbroeck (CCEL Website)
The Vision of God, Nicholas of Cusa
The Fire of Love, Richard Rolle (CCEL Website)

Oct 9 - 11 Catholic Revival
Spiritual Exercises, Ignatius Loyola (242 /L958s) See http://www.ccel.org/ignatius/exercises/exercises.html or here.
Interior Castle or Life, Teresa of Avila (248.4 /T272i) See also http://www.ocd.or.at/lit/teresa/life/main.html [This is an excellent source, however, they are presently updating the pages in English and the revised pages do not seem to be available.] or see the CCEL site for The Way of Perfection and the Catholic Information Center for Interior Castle.
For The Dark Night or The Ascent of Mount Carmel, by John of the Cross, see http://www.karmel.at/ics/john/dn.html. It is also at the CCEL site.
The Practice of the Presence of God, Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection (248 /H42a) See also at CCEL.

Oct. 16 & 23 Puritans, Pietists, and Early Protestants
Pia Desideria, Philip Jacob Spener (Excerpted in 273.7 /P617e)
Pilgrim's Progress
Christian Liberty, Martin Luther (230.41 /L977ch) (Also in 230.41 /L977s /v.2)
Theologica Germanica, Anonymous (248.4 /F847t)
The Way to Christ, Jacob Boehme (248.2 /B633w)
Menno Simons, (See the book, Great Voices of the Reformation, in the library.)

Oct. 25 English Spirituality
A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life, William Law
John Donne; See http://www.users.csbsju.edu/~eknuth/jd/index.html
The Country Parson, George Herbert
Holy Living; Holy Dying, Jeremy Taylor (241 /T21h)
The Christian Year, John Keble

Oct. 30 - Nov. 1 - Journals
Journal, John Woolman; Journal, John Wesley; (Alt. see 230.7 /W516j or A Plain Account of Christian Perfection by Wesley in 248 /W51a)
Journal George Fox; see CCEL

Nov. 1 - Early Modern
Focus on Soren Kierkegaard; check his essay, "Fear and Trembling" on the story of Abraham and Isaac. Then take a quick look at "58 quotes from Kierkegaard".

Nov. 6 - Novels
Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis (244 /L58)
Last Temptation of Christ, Nikos Kazantzakas
Mr. God, this is Anna, Fynn
The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoevski
Diary of a Country Priest, George Bernanos
Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoevski
Jude the Obscure, Thomas Hardy
Silence, Shusaku Endo
The Power and the Glory, Graham Greene
A Wrinkle in Time, Madeline L'Engle
The Book of the Dun Cow; or The Book of Sorrows, Walter Wangerin
The Chosen or The Promise, Chaim Potok
Franny and Zooey; J.D. Salinger

Nov. 8 - The Orthodox Tradition
The Way of a Pilgrim
Ladder of Divine Ascent, John Climacus
Gregory Palamas (248.2 /G862)
Gregory Nyssa
Philokalia, Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain and Macarius of Corinth
Treasures of Russian Spirituality, C. P. Fedotov (248 /F319t)

Nov. 13 & 15 - Judaism
As an introduction to the Zohar, browse this site from a liberal Jewish perspective or read the mystical meaning of the alphabet from this site.
Check on Kabbalah at http://www.kabbalah.com/. A site from the University of Calgary is a little wild but full of information.
Other important sources of Jewish spirituality:
  • Honey in the Rock, Lawrence Kushner
  • I and Thou or Hasidism and Modern Man, Martin Buber
  • In Search of Truth (296 /H452i), or God in Search of Man (296 /H452g), Abraham Joshua Heschel
  • Sages and Dreamers, Elie Wiesel
  • The Tales, Nahman of Bratslav
  • The Lights of Penitence or The Lights of Holiness, Abraham Isaac Kook
  • The Book of Lights, Chaim Potok (a novel)
  • God was in this place and i, I did not know, Lawrence Kushner
  • Moses Maimonides

Nov. 20 - Islamic Spirituality
The Poetry of Rumi (Check at the Rumi Network but also, be sure to watch a video of Rumi's "Whilrling Dervishes".)
Sufi (Watch this and read this)
The Book of Wisdom, Ibn 'Ata' Illah
The Bezels of Wisdom Ibn Al'-Arabi
Divine Flashes, Fakhruddin 'Iraqi

Nov. 27 - Buddhism
Living Buddha Living Christ or Zen Keys, Thich Nhat Hanh;
The Heart Sutra - read it.
The Good Heart, by the Dalai Lama
Zen in the Art of Archery by Eugen Herrigal;
The Three Pillars of Zen by Philip Kapleau

Nov. 29 - Hindu
Bhavaghad Gita
Ramayana

Dec 4 - 6 Contemporary writings
Click here for the 100 best spiritual writing of the twentieth century.
Evelyn Underhill
Waiting for God, Simone Weil (248 /W429w)
The Cost of Discipleship (248 /B64), Life Together (230.044 /B641d /v5), Dietrich Bonhoeffer. For more on Bonhoeffer, check http://www.cyberworld.com/bonhoef
Seeds of Contemplation (248 /M55), Seven Story Mountain (271.1 /M558s), or other work by Thomas Merton. See also http://acad.smumn.edu/merton/merton.html or http://edge.net/~dphillip/Merton.html
Testament of Devotion, Thomas Kelly (242 /K49)
Reaching Out, or other works by Henri Nouen (The Way of the Heart 248.89 /N856w)
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek; Holy the Firm; Teaching a Stone to Talk, Annie Dillard
Leaves from the Notebook of a Tamed Cynic, Reinhold Niebuhr
Grace Notes and Other Fragments; Gravity and Grace, Joseph Sittler
Markings, Dag Hammarskjøld
Water Buffalo Theology; Three Mile an Hour God; Mount Fuji and Mount Sinai, Kosuke Koyama
Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing, Søren Kierkegaard (248 /K54)