WELCOME to ThSp 588/CH 599H, Christian Spiritual Practices, Ancient and Modern. There is no written textbook for this course: all the materials you will require, both written text and downloadable lectures, are available online at the "Lectures" and "Course Documents" links.  There are no examinations or final paper: assessment will be based on participation in the sixteen weekly discussion forums.  Once you are able to look at text while listening to downloadable lectures you are ready to go!

AS I mentioned in the e-mail I sent, I will be available on Monday, January 10, at 1:00 pm in classroom 6 to answer any questions concerning the course.

AN indispensable part of this course will be downloadable audio-lectures that you may download to your computer or play directly from the Internet, depending on the speed of your connection. 

THIS is a link to the type of file (“.wma” for those who wish to know) that we will be using for audio lectures: AUDIO-FILE  (don't click on it quite yet). This is a music file consisting of the medieval prolix responsory Homo Quidam, and it will serve as a test of your computer's ability to play the kind of audio files we will be using in this course.

THIS is a link to a text-and-image file showing (at the bottom of the page) Gregorian notation of the Homo Quidam: TEXT-FILE .  The navigation panel on the left will remain visible when you link to the text file, so you can return to this page at any time by clicking on “Lectures”

THE goal is: (1) to get the AUDIO-FILE playing; then (2) minimize the player so you can see this window again; then (3) click on the link to the Gregorian TEXT-FILE, so you can look at the notated music while you hear the music being sung.  If you are able to do this, all is well; and you will have no trouble with the materials that will begin to appear here next week.

If you have trouble doing this, I strongly urge you to spend this weekend obtaining the technical assistance you need. Be aware that the download time for these audio files on a very slow modem may be as long as five to ten minutes.  If you need a new version of Windows Media Player, it may be downloaded from the Microsoft Website (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/search.aspx?displaylang=en&categoryid=4).  If your computer is so old that it simply cannot be induced to play the audio files, you will need to use another computer for this course. 

AS soon as you are comfortable listening to audio-lectures while reading the text files that accompany them, please begin working through the lectures and texts for Part One.

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