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SYLLABUS: CHRISTIAN ASCETICISM
Based on: Desert
Hermits |
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SYLLABUS: CHRISTIAN ASCETICISM
Based on: Desert
Hermits |
1) ASCETICISM: THE MEANING OF THE WORD
The development of the ancient Greek understanding of ascesis will be studied in order to appreciate the original significance of this term and its use in the early Church. Mt. 6:1-21 will be briefly discussed as a model and exhortation to Christian ascetical practice.
READING:
Website Course Documents:
1) Timeline of Important Figures in Christian Ascetical Theology
2) Introduction: The Literal and Adapted Meanings of Ascesis (Liddell-Scott and Kittel)
3) Philo and Jesus on asceticism
TEXTBOOKS:
1) RB 80, “Historical Orientation”pp. 3-64, 113-141.
2) Brown, Chapter, 2, “From Apostle to Apologist” pp. 33-64.
2) CHRISTIAN ASCETICISM: THE ART of ONGOING CONVERSION.
Traditional and modern efforts to define and delineate the theological “domain” of asceticism will be briefly considered The interrelationship between repentance and asceticism will be studied. Christian asceticism will be seen as a commitment to ongoing conversion and spiritual progress based on the experience of grace. The ancient Benedictine controversy over conversatio/conversio and the difficult “art of accurate repentance” will be studied in light of monastic primary sources.
READING:
Website Course Documents:
1) selections from the Life of Pelagia the Harlot
2) The Conversion of Gertrude the Great (of Helfta)
2) Selections from The Life of Antony
3) The Rule of Benedict and The Rule of the Master: The Prologues.
TEXTBOOKS:
1) Cummings, pp. 1-42.
2) RB-80, “Monastic Formation and Profession,” pp. 437-466.
3) Brown, Chapter, 2, “From Apostle to Apologist” pp. 33-64.
3) FROM ASCETICISM to CONTEMPLATION
Primary sources will be studied that describe the dynamic interrelationship between ascetical practice and contemplative vision. The ancient art of lectio divina will be particularly highlighted as a key to understanding monastic ascetical practice. Evagrius Ponticus and John Cassian will be introduced.
READING:
Website Course Documents:
1) Evagrius and Cassian on praktike/theoretike
2) Additional sources to be assigned
TEXTBOOKS:
1) Cummings, pp. 43-70.
2) Brown, ch. 6 (Clement on passions) pp. 122-139.
4) FROM VICE to VIRTUE
Philosophical, early Christian, and monastic models of virtue and vice. The eight deadly thoughts in Evagrius and John Cassian. Stairways and Instruments in The Master and Benedict.
READING:
Website Course Documents:
1) Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, selections on virtue and vice
2) Pseudo-Aristotle, on the Virtues and Vices
3) Selections from Evagrius and Cassian
4) Selections from Aquinas
TEXTBOOKS:
1) Brown, ch. 11, “Desert Fathers”, pp. 213-240
2) RB-80, Introd., “The Origins of Monasticism in the Eastern Church,” pp. 3-11.
5) SPIRITUAL EXERCISE and SACRED LEARNING
In the middle ages a distinctively monastic tradition of “spiritual exercises” arose which viewed the life of the believer as a kind of “sacred text”, a record of personal “salvation history” that could be read and interpreted. Examples of these precursors to the more famous exercises of St. Ignatius’ will be studied, together with the perennial monastic controversy over the place of sacred learning in the life of the monastic.
READING:
Website Course Documents:
1) selections from the Exercises of Gertrude the Great
2) selections from the Spiritual Exercises of Abbot Cisneros
3) Selections on the controversy over monastic studies between Mabillon and Rancé.
