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CH 584 History of Christian Spirituality
1.
a) What is hesychasm , and what does it have to do with the
Transfiguration of Christ?
b) Which Western authors recommend practices similar to the hesychasts? What are
the similarities and differences between these western approaches and
hesychastic prayer?
c) You are the pastor of a parish in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. One of
your parishoners, a 35-year-old unmarried professional woman, tells you she has
read The Way of the Pilgrim and wishes to become a hesychast. What
advice do you give her?
2. The Director of Religious Education in your parish is concerned that the people “do not seem to understand liturgical prayer.” She asks you to recommend some traditional authors that would help the people to grow in their appreciation of the liturgy as transforming and instructive. Which of the authors we have studied in this course would you recommend to her, and why?
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CH/ThSP 584
Take-Home Midterm
March 3, 2004
1. How do Christian models of spiritual progress and contemplative vision differ from those of the Platonists and Gnostics?
2. What meant by the doctrine of theosis, and is this a concept that can be used meaningfully by Catholics today?
3. Discuss the elements in Athanasius' depiction of Saint Anthony that can serve as a pattern not only for monks and nuns, but for all Christians.
How do the pre-Christian
sources we have studied help us to better understand the concepts of “mystical
ascent” and “spiritual vision” in the New Testament and the lives of the
saints?
2) What are the theological
implications of the visions described in the Martyrdom of Saints Perpetua and
Felicity
3) a) Which early Christian authors (prior to the tenth century) employ the concept of theosis (divinization) in regard to the Eucharist?
b) What, according to these authors, does theosis have to do with the Eucharist?
c) How does this approach differ from that taken by Gregory the Great in his thirty-seventh homily on the Gospel?