An Introduction to Christian Spirituality

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

This course is offered as an introduction to Christian Spirituality (or Spiritual Theology) with a systematic focus on its nature, stages, and goal; an historical focus on different traditions and representative figures; a thematic focus on the kinds of language and literary figures that are used to describe the spiritual life (e.g., in terms of a journey, mountain-climbing, kinds of relationships, etc.), and a practical focus on the disciplines that cultivate the spiritual life and are conducive to its end. Other than Scripture, various saints, poets, and spiritual authors to be read and discussed include: Augustine, Guigo II, Gregory of Nyssa, Antony of Egypt, the Desert Fathers, Symeon the New Theologian, Catherine of Siena, Gregory Palamas, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Thérèse of Lisieux, and Elizabeth of the Trinity.