Graduate Theological Union
CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY AREA
DOCUMENTS PACKET
Academic Year 2002-2003
(n.b. pages refer to hard copy available in the Assistant
Dean's Office at GTU
TABLE OF CONTENTS
General Protocol ......................................................................................................................
2
General Comprehensive Examinations
1) Biblical Comprehensive Exam
Biblical Foundations for Spirituality....................................................................
6
Biblical Comprehensive Exam Procedures .......................................................
8
Biblical Foundations Comprehensive Examination Form...................................
9
2) History of Christian Spirituality Comprehensive Exam
Registration for Comprehensive .......................................................................
10
General Comprehensive Examination in History of Christian Spirituality .........
11
Bibliography for History Comprehensive ..........................................................
13
Special Comprehensive Examinations
Extended Explanations.....................................................................................
23
Practicum In The Program of Christian Spirituality ..................................................................
27
General Protocol
May 31, 2001
CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY
PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS
OVERVIEW:
The field of Christian Spirituality is concerned with the study of Christian
religious experience as such, i.e., as Christian, as religious, and as experience.
It is an essentially interdisciplinary field because Christian religious
experience is the living of the human relationship with God in a community
which is increasingly inclusive. Consequently, adequate preparation in the
field must be broad, inclusive, yet focused.
The Program in Christian Spirituality has four components designed to prepare
students in the field of Christian Spirituality in general and with an area
of specialization within the field.
I. General Considerations regarding the Program:
A. Components:
1. Prerequisites: An advanced degree in theology (i.e.,
a degree beyond the B.A. or its equivalent and focused in theology, i.e.,
one of the ordinary disciplines of Christian theology, e.g., Bible, Historical/Systematic
theology or Christian ethics); two research languages other than the student’s
mother tongue. A diagnostic interview will be conducted with each entering
student to ascertain:
— to what extent the theological preparation is adequate;
— some inquiry into the condition of his/her biblical background;
— the state of the student’s language preparation;
— areas of particular interest within the field of Christian
spirituality;
— nature of the practicum required for the program.
— The committee will make appropriate recommendations for
the student’s future course of study.
2. Comprehensive examinations: Two general comprehensives
and three special comprehensives as described below in Section C.
3. Practicum: A practical and supervised engagement providing
leadership in the spirituality of individuals or groups (e.g., leadership
in a retreat program) to be accomplished during the general comprehensives
phase of the program.
4. Dissertation: Completed by an oral examination on the
dissertation.
B. Ordinary Time Line for the Program in Christian
Spirituality:
1. Ordinarily students will take the General Comprehensive
Exams within four semesters of entering the program.
2. Ordinarily the Comprehensive in the Biblical Foundations
of Christian Spirituality will be given in September.
3. Ordinarily the Comprehensive in the History of Christian
Spirituality will be given in February.
4. Students’ needs may sometimes require that the order
of exams be reversed or that both Comprehensive Exams be given in each semester
of an academic year.
5. Students are expected to complete the Special Comprehensives
within one year from the approval of the Special Comprehensives Proposal.
6. The dissertation is begun as soon as the oral exam on
the written comprehensives is successfully completed and must be finished
by the end of the seventh year from matriculation.
II. Elaboration of Particulars of the Program:
A. Languages:
1. It is required that students have research competence
in two languages other than their mother tongue. One of these languages must
be German, French, or Spanish. The second must be a modern or ancient language
appropriate to the student’s research project.
2. It is recommended that both languages be completed before
entering the program. However, at least one must be certified before the
student takes the General Comprehensives and the second before the student
presents the Special Comprehensives Proposal.
B. Theology:
1. Students are expected to have, at the time of entrance
into the Program, broad general competence in the field of Christian theology
(e.g., historical theology, systematic theology, biblical studies, Christian
ethics) certified by an acceptable advanced degree in theology or religious
studies (e.g., M.A., M.Div., B.D., etc.).
2. However, some students may be required (in light of
the diagnostic interview) to do some additional work in theology if there
are serious lacunae in that preparation.
3. All students, prior to completing the comprehensive
examinations, are expected to take at least two graduate courses in theology
relevant to the student’s area of particular interest in the field of Christian
Spirituality. These courses should be selected in consultation with the adviser
in consideration of the diagnostic interview.
C. Comprehensive Examinations:
1. General Comprehensives:
a) Biblical Foundations of Christian Spirituality: These
examinations will follow the particular protocol approved for these examinations.
b) History of Christian Spirituality: These examinations
will treat of the following periods in the History of Christian Spirituality:
i. Ancient Christian Spirituality
ii. Medieval Christian Spirituality
iii. Renaissance/Reformation Christian Spirituality
iv. Modern Christian Spirituality.
These examinations will follow the particular protocol approved by the Christian
Spirituality Area for the general comprehensive examinations.
2. Special Comprehensives:
a) Following the successful completion of the General Comprehensives,
the student forms a committee composed of a chair (ordinarily from the Core
Doctoral Faculty and the Area Faculty), one professor from UCB (or, for a
special reason, from an equivalent outside institution), and a third and/or
fourth professor (ordinarily from the Core Doctoral Faculty of the GTU and
from a GTU member school other than that of the Chair, and usually one with
competence in the theological disciplines). Ordinarily, the committee would
include two members of the Area Faculty.
b) The student formulates a Special Comprehensives proposal
which must be approved by the Area faculty. They may use any of the forms
of comprehensive exams approved by the GTU. The program allows the student
to fulfill one of the Special Comprehensives by successfully completing two
related upper level courses with appropriate research papers, which, with
professor’s substantive evaluations become part of the Oral Examinations.
Further, one of the Special Comprehensives will ordinarily be a timed written
examination.
c) Special Comprehensives require:
i. an examination in the interdisciplinary field of Christian
Spirituality. This requirement is fulfilled ordinarily by an appropriate
research paper specifically in the field of Christian Spirituality, and should
demonstrate serious engagement with the theological dimensions of the selected
topic;
ii. a field relevant to Christian Spirituality within
one of the following areas: the human and/or social sciences; the natural
sciences; literature and/or the arts;
iii. a Spirituality other than Christian which may be that
of one of the great world religions, a native religion, or a contemporary
non-religious spirituality.
The Oral Examination will:
i. be a maximum of three hours in length;
ii. be administered by the committee which guided the student’s
Special Comprehensive Examinations;
iii. cover all the material of the Special Comprehensive
Examinations.
D. Practicum:
1. Students engage, during the time of General Comprehensives,
in a practicum, i.e., some specified, supervised experience of practical
involvement in the lived religious experience of Christians. The project
is formulated by the student in consultation with the supervisor of the practicum.
Both the practicum and supervisor are approved by the Area faculty. At the
conclusion of the practicum the supervisor submits a brief written report
on the student’s learning within the experience and the student submits a
report on her or his learning. The proposal and concluding reports are kept
by the adviser in the student’s file.
2. A student who has been actively engaged, immediately
prior to entering the program, in practical experience specifically in the
area of Christian Spirituality may petition for retroactive acceptance of
that experience as the fulfillment of the practicum requirement. The faculty
of the area will evaluate the petition and inform the student of their decision
as quickly as possible.
E. Dissertation:
1. After successfully completing the oral examination on
the written Special Comprehensive Exams, the student will form a dissertation
committee composed of a Chair (ordinarily from the Core Doctoral Faculty
and the Area Faculty), one professor from UCB (or equivalent institution),
and a third and/or fourth professor (ordinarily from the Core Doctoral Faculty
of the GTU and from a GTU member school other than that of the Chair). Exceptions
can be made to this protocol. The student is urged to compose the committee
best qualified to aid in the pursuit of the dissertation project.
2. The student will formulate with the committee’s assistance
and approval a dissertation proposal, and submit it for approval to the Area
faculty and then to the Doctoral Council according to the protocols and regulations
of the GTU.
3. The completed dissertation is defended orally during
a three-hour examination conducted by the dissertation committee.
Christian Spirituality General Comprehensive Examination:
BIBLICAL FOUNDATIONS FOR SPIRITUALITY
Students in Christian Spirituality (SP) will demonstrate competency in reading
and interpreting Biblical texts for Christian Spirituality by an examination
based on five texts chosen by the student in consultation with his/her advisor
and the Biblical Comprehensive committee.
Texts and Categories
Students should choose a text of manageable length (e.g. pericope or chapter)
from each of the following categories of Biblical Spirituality:
Deuteronomic (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges,
1-2 Samuel, 1-2 Kings, 1-2 Chronicles)
Prophetic (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, or the 12 Minor Prophets)
Wisdom (Proverbs, Job, Qoheleth, Psalms, Song of Songs, Wisdom of Solomon,
Sirach)
Synoptic Gospels
Johannine or Pauline Writings
Choosing Texts
In selecting their texts, students may choose texts according to particular
motifs, persons, roles, genres, or themes in spirituality which will prove
beneficial to their program.
Approaches to Interpretation
Students are expected to demonstrate biblical competence by approaching their
chosen texts from at least three different perspectives: historical-critical,
literary critical and ideological, each of which is a broad designation with
component approaches and methods which the student should specify. For each
text they should apply at least two general perspectives (with the subfield
specified appropriate to their goals) in their study.
The Proposal.
It is useful to remember that there are three “entities” involved in
this exam: the student, who needs to prepare; the SP faculty, who need to
write an exam; and GTU, which is the exam administrator. Students should
develop their proposal and submit it in writing in the second semester after
they matriculate in the doctoral program. The biblical comprehensive is normally
administered in the fall semester. The chair of the exam committee will indicate
in a letter to the student what the submission deadline is and to whom the
materials will be submitted. This early deadline, which is not part
of the GTU calendar, invites efficient and effective collaboration among
student and biblical faculty so that the student is assured s/he is on the
right track and the faculty have an early opportunity for input. While developing
their proposal they should consult with their advisor and one faculty member
in OT and one in NT; at least one of the biblical consultants should be a
member of Area SP. In the proposal the student should explain briefly: (1)
the reasons for choosing the texts, an explanation which will relate to their
general goals in their doctoral program and (2) the approaches envisioned
for their study.
It is assumed that students will refer to standard general works, commentaries,
and so forth. The special bibliography should be of particular relevance
to the texts selected: a list of 7-10 appropriate items for each of the texts
should accompany the proposal (one or two commentaries might be useful, but
typically not more). Approval by: SP Area Biblical examiner(s), in consultation
with Advisor. A “draft” consultation makes it more likely that your
materials will be ready for approval. Materials that are not approved
will need to be resubmitted for the next scheduled exam.
Examination
A closed-book examination, on two days, dates in GTU master calendar, four
hours total on each day, for each testament (OT on first day and NT on second
unless specified differently). Evaluation by the biblical comprehensive
committee. GTU procedures for general comprehensives as described in
the doctoral handbook pertain for matters not addressed above.
Approved by the SP Area Faculty, 8/31/98, amended by the Area Faculty, 9/20/00
and 5/21/01.
Biblical Comprehensive Exam: Christian Spirituality (SP) Procedures
Overview: By the spring semester of the year you matriculate in the doctoral
program, you need (in consultation with your advisor and the biblical comprehensive
examiners) to begin the process of taking the exam. This form (available
from the Academic Secretary of the Assistant Dean) guides and records that
process (see the protocol also).
[Route: Students intending to take their biblical comps pick up this form
from the Assistant Dean’s office; after filling it out and getting needed
signatures (in case of the computer permission) please hand it in as the
top sheet (but unstapled) with the rest of your materials to the biblical
comps committee chair (who will have been identified to you in a letter which
announces the date this form is due; one copy is sufficient unless the letter
specifies differently). The chair will send it back to you once the committee
has indicated that the submitted materials are in order. You will need to
file the form by the date specified on the GTU calendar indicating to GTU
your plans to take the exam. The form will return to the examiners
with the tests to be graded, and then it will go back to the Assistant Dean/Academic
Secretary with the results indicated, dated and signed.]
Name
Date of Exam
Advisor_____________________________________
GTU Mailbox number________________
____If English is your secondary language, please indicate here; you will
have half again as much time for your test.
Preparation: Please turn in to the examiner of each testament on the form
available the texts you have chosen, the methods you will use, some rationale
for those choices in terms of your general interests, and a select bibliography.
These items should be in final form and in the hands of those examiners before
final exam week of the semester preceding the one in which you plan to take
the test (GTU calendar has exam dates). One copy of this sheet accompanies
that packet.
_____Old Testament materials are submitted appropriately;
(examiner’s signature)
_____ New Testament materials are submitted appropriately;
___________________________________________________ (examiner’s signature)
Examination Results: _______Pass _______Retake
a portion ______ Fail
comment:
Signatures of examiners:
date:
BIBLICAL FOUNDATIONS OF CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY
COMPREHENSIVE EXAMINATION FORM
DIRECTIONS: The student should fill out completely one
form for each of the five texts
selected for the examination.
Name
Phone number
Email address
Semester (this is specified by the Area) and year in which examination will
be taken
TEXT: (e.g., Ps. 121 or John 2:1-11)
TWO GENERAL PERSPECTIVES from which this text is approached and the particular
method (e.g., historical-critical, specifically form criticism, or ideology
criticism, specifically feminist):
1.
2.
THE OTHER FOUR TEXTS you have prepared:
1.
2.
3.
4.
On the back of this page list 5 to 10 BIBLIOGRAPHIC SOURCES you have used
in preparing to interpret this text (two commentaries at the most).
Please provide a brief rationale for the perspectives you will use.
It will be useful to include a brief general orientation of your goals in
the SP Area which informs your study of biblical texts (as well as the specific
reason[s] you chose this passage). One general statement per testament is
sufficient.
Registration for General Comprehensive Examination
History of Christian Spirituality
Please submit this form to the GTU’s Academic Secretary/ three weeks before
the date of the examination.
Name:
Phone:
Student I. D #
I plan to take this exam in:
Fall
Spring 200
Date of Application:
*I plan to specialize in the following areas (choose two):
___ Ancient Christianity ___ Medieval Christianity ___ Renaissance/Reformation
Christianity Modem Christianity
*I want to organize my exams as follows:
Day One:
3-hour exam in
(area of specialization)
1-hour exam in
(area of specialization)
Day Two
3-hour exam in
(area of specialization)
1-hour exam in
(area of specialization)
* I have chosen to read the following in a foreign language:
One Book (title):
— or —
One Major Article (title):
in (title of book or periodical)
* Important: Before submitting this form attach to it a copy of the
bibliography for examination with following choices highlighted:
1. All the primary readings in your two periods of specialization, including
an indication of your choices in either/or situations.
I. The two primary readings you have chosen to do in each
of your two periods of non-specialization.
II The required secondary readings in each of the historical
periods.
General Comprehensive Examination in
History of Christian Spirituality
PURPOSE:
The Comprehensive Exam in the History of Christian Spirituality is based
on a division of this history into four major periods: Ancient Christianity,
Medieval Christianity, Renaissance/ Reformation Christianity, and Modern
Christianity.
This General Comprehensive Exam has two aims:
1) to assure familiarity with the broad history of Christian Spirituality;
2) to establish greater in-depth knowledge of two of the four periods of
the history of Christian Spirituality which are more relevant to the student’s
particular focus of interest.
FORM OF EXAMINATION:
The General Examination will be a closed book, two-day written exam, i.e.,
four hours on each of two consecutive days. Each four hour examination
period will consist of two parts.
Part I - Area of Specialization
The student will be asked questions on one of the historical periods which
they have chosen for special focus and for which they have prepared all the
required readings:
Time: Three Hours
Part II - Area of Generalization
The student will be asked questions on one of the historical periods for
which their preparation has been more limited.
Time: One Hour
PREPARATION IN HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY
Bibliography
The bibliography designed for the exam is divided into four major sections,
corresponding to the four major periods. Each of these four sections
includes two subsections: a) primary readings (or original sources) for the
period; b) secondary readings (or studies, monographs, etc., about the period
and its figures). All of the primary readings are in English.
Some secondary readings are in modern languages other than English. No student
is expected to read the entire bibliography; rather, students are to
make choices according to the following guidelines.
Guidelines
1) Among the four major historical periods, students are to select two in
which to specialize.
2) Students are required to do all of the primary readings in their two periods
of specialization with the understanding that in a number of cases options
are given.
3) Students are expected to read any two of the primary readings in their
two periods of non-specialization.
4) Students are expected to read the required secondary readings for all
four historical periods. These readings come first in each list; they
are starred and in bold face.
5) The remainder of the list of secondary readings is recommended but not
required with one exception. Students are required to read one book
or major article in one of their foreign languages. The foreign language
reading may either be chosen from this list, or chosen separately from this
list but with the assistance of the student’s advisor.
6) Students should make choices according to interest and with the advice
of their academic advisors.
Example: A student specializing in the spirituality of Ancient and Medieval
Christianity would read:
a) all of the primary readings in Ancient and Medieval Christianity.
b) two primary readings in Renaissance/Reformation Christianity and two primary
readings in Modern Christianity.
c) all of the required secondary readings in all four periods;
d) other chosen recommended readings, and one secondary reading in one of
her or his foreign languages.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abbreviations
ACW Ancient Christian Writers
CWS Classics of Western Spirituality
DS Dictionnaire de spiritualité
LC Leob Classical Library
LCC Library of Christian Classics
NPNF Nicene and Post Nicene fathers
I. ANCIENT CHRISTIANITY
SECTION ONE: PRIMARY READINGS
Desert Spirituality
Athanasius, The Life of Antony (CWS).
Of the Sayings of the Fathers, do either 1 or 2:
Apophthegmata patrum 1 - The Alphabeticon: In The Sayings of the Desert Fathers:
The Alphabetical Collection Trans. and foreword by Benedicta Ward.
Rev. ed. 1884. First published under The Sayings of the Desert Fathers.
The Sisters of the love of God, 1975.
or
Apophthegmata patrum 2 - Verba Seniorum. In The Sayings of the Fathers,
in the volume Western Asceticism, LCC.
Spirituality and Late Antiquity of the West
The Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas. In Herbert Musurillo, The
Acts of the Christian Martyrs. Oxford: Clarendon, 1972.
Ambrose. De virginitate. Trans. Daniel Callam. In
Matrologia Latina 7. Saskatoon, Sask.: Pregrina, 1987.
Augustine. Augustine of Hippo, Selected Writings, CWS.
Gregory the Great. Pastoral Care. ACW, #11.
Spirituality and late Antiquity in the East
Origen. The Song of Songs, Commentary and Homilies. ACW #26.
Cyril of Jerusalem. Mystagogical Catechesis. NPNF ser. 2, vol.
7, 1-157.
Egeria. Diary of a Pilgrimage. ACW, #38.
Gregory of Nyssa. Life of Moses. CWS.
Pseudo-Dionysius. The Complete Works. CWS.
SECTION ONE: SECONDARY READINGS.
*McGinn, Bernard, et al., eds. Christian Spirituality: Origins of the
Twelfth Century. Chapters 1-7; 10-19.
*Brown, Peter. The Body and Society: Men, Women, and Sexual Renunciation
in Early Christianity. New York: Columbia, 1988.
*Chitty, Derwas. The Desert a City: An Introduction to the Study of
Egyptian and Palestinian Monasticism under the Christian Empire. Oxford:
Blackwell, 1966.
*McGinn, Bernard. The Foundations of Western Mysticism: Origins to
the Fifth Century. New York: Crossroad, 1991. General Introduction,
and Parts 1 and 2.
Bardy, G. “Apatheia.” DS 1:727-46.
Brown, Peter. Society of the Holy in Late Antiquity. Berkeley:
University of California, 1982.
---------. The Cult of the Saints. Chicago: University of Chicago,
1981.
Burton-Christie, Douglas. The Word in the Desert: Scripture and the
Quest for Holiness in early Christian Monasticism. New York: Oxford
University, 1993.
Clark, Elizabeth A. Reading Renunciation: Asceticism and Scripture
in Early Christianity. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University,
1999.
Cloke, Gillian. This Female Man of God: Women and Spiritual Power in
the Patristic Age, AD 350-450. London: Routledge, 1995.
Elm, Susanna. ‘Virgins of God:’ the Making of Asceticism in Late Antiquity.
Oxford: Clarendon, 1994.
Frend, W.H.C. Saints and Sinners in the Early Church: Differing and
Conflicting Traditions in the First Six Centuries. Wilmington, Del.:
Glazier, 1985.
Journal of Early Christian Studies, Vol. 6, #3 (1998): special volume on
the rise and function of the holy man in late antiquity.
Kraemer, Ross Shepard. Her Share of the Blessings. Women’s Religions
Among Pagans, Jews, and Christians in the Greco-Roman World. NY: Oxford
University, 1992.
Leinhard, Joseph. “On ‘Discernment of Spirits’ in the Early Church.”
Theological Studies 41 (1980), 505-29.
Louth, Andrew. The Origins of the Christian Mystical tradition: From
Plato to Denys. Oxford: Clarendon, 1981.
Mathews, Thomas F. The Clash of the Gods: A Reinterpretation
of Early Christian Art, revised and expanded edition. Princeton: Princeton
University, 1999.
McDonell, Kilian. “Prayer in the Ancient Western Tradition.”
Worship 55 (1981) 34-61.
Rahner, Karl. Penance in the Early Church. Theological Investigations
XV.
Rousseau, Philip. Pachomius: The Making of a Community in Fourth Century
Egypt. Berkeley: University of California, 1985.
Weitzmann, Kurt, ed. Age of Spirituality: Late Antiquity and early
Christian Art, Third to Seventh Centuries. New York: Metropolitan Museum
of Art, 1979.
II. MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY
SECTION TWO: PRIMARY READINGS.
Earlier Medieval
Bede. The Ecclesiastical History.
Benedict. The Rule. In RB 1980. Collegeville: Liturgical,
1981. Read the Rule with the essays.
Cassian. John Cassian: Conferences. CWS.
Climacus. The Ladder of Divine Ascent. CWS.
“Hagiography,” section 2 in Celtic Spirituality. CWS
Later Medieval
Either Bernard of Clairvaux. Selections. Bernard of Clairvaux,
Selected Works. CWS.
or Hildegard of Bingen. Scivias. CWS.
Either Meister Eckhart. One of the two Eckhart volumes in CWS.
or Catherine of Siena. The Dialogue. CWS.
Either Francis of Assisi, Clare of Assisi. Francis and Clare: The Complete
Works. CWS.
or Bonaventure, one of the three works from Bonaventure
in CWS.
Either Hadewijch. Hadewijch: The Complete Works. CWS.
or Anchoretic Spirituality. CWS.
Either William of St. Thierry. The Golden Epistle. Trans. by
Walter Shewring. London: Sheed and Ward, 1973.
or Julian of Norwich. Showings. CWS.
SECTION TWO: SECONDARY READINGS.
*McGinn, Bernard, et al., eds. Christian Spirituality: Origins to the
Twelfth Century. Chapters 8-19.
*Raitt, Jill, ed. Christian Spirituality: High Middle Ages and Reformation.
Chapters 1-10 and 16-18.
*Male, Emile. Religious Art: From the Twelfth to the Eighteenth Century.
Rev. English ed. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1982.
*McGinn, Bernard. Vols. 2 and 3 of The Presence of God: A History of
Western Christian Mysticism.
Auger, A. Etudes sur les Mystiques des Pays-Bas au Moyen Age.
Brussels: Hayez, 1949.
Bynum, Caroline Walker. Holy Feast and Holy Fast: The Religious Significance
of Food to Medieval Women. Berkeley: University of California, 1987.
----------. The Resurrection of the Body in Western Christianity.
New York: Columbia Univ., 1987.
Chenu, Marie-Dominique. Nature, Man and Society in the Twelfth Century.
Chicago: University of Chicago, 1982.
Dinzelbacher, Peter. Vision und Visionsliterature im Mittelalter.
Stuttgart: Anton Hiersmann, 1981.
Frantzen, Allen J. “Early Ireland and the Origins of Private Penance,”
in The Literature of Penance in Anglo-Saxon England. New Brunswick,
NJ: Rutgers University, 1983, pp. 19-60.
Goodich, Michael. “The Contours of Female Piety in Later Medieval Hagiography.”
Church History 50 (1981) 20-33.
Grimm, Reinhold R. Paradisus Coelestis, Paradisus Terrestris: Zur Auglegungsgeschichte
des Paradieses im Abendland bis um 1200. München: Wilhelm Fink,
1977.
Hayes, Zachary. The Hidden Center: Spirituality and Speculative Christology
in St. Bonaventure. New York: Paulist, 1981.
Heffernan, Thomas J. Sacred Biography: Saints and their Biographers
in the Middle Ages. New York: Oxford University, 1988.
Jackson, S.W. “Acedia: The Sin and Its Relationship to Sorrow and Melancholia
in Medieval Times.” Bulletin of the History of Medicine 55 (1981) 172-185.
Leclercq, Jean. The Love of Learning and the Desire for God: A Study
in Monastic Culture. New York: Fordham, 1961.
Lekai, Louis. The Cistercians, Ideals and Reality. Kent State,
Ohio: Kent State University, 1977.
Leyser, Henrietta. Hermits and the New Monasticism: A Study of Religious
Communities in Western Europe, 1000-1150. London: MacMillan, 1984.
Little, L.K. Religious Poverty and the Profit Economy in Medieval Europe.
London, 1978.
Mackey, James P., ed. An Introduction to Celtic Christianity.
Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1989.
Petroff, Elizabeth. Body and Soul: Essays on Medieval Women and Mysticism.
New York: Oxford University, 1994.
Reeves, Marjorie. The Influence of Prophecy in the Later Middle Ages.
Oxford: Clarendon, 1969.
Sumption, Jonathan. Pilgrimage: An Image of Medieval Religion.
London: Faber & Faber, 1975.
Turner, Denys. The Darkness of God. Cambridge, 1995.
A Symposium: Age of Spirituality. New York: Metropolitan Museum of
Art, 1980.
Van Bavel, Tarsicius J. “Intro and Commentary.” The Rule of Saint
Augustine. London: Darton, Longman, & Todd, 1984.
Ward, Benedicta. Miracles and the Medieval Mind: Record and Event,
1000-1215. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1982.
III. RENAISSANCE/REFORMATION CHRISTIANITY
SECTION THREE: PRIMARY READINGS
Christian Humanism and Reformation Spiritualities
Either Erasmus. Enchiridion.
or More, Thomas. Utopia.
The Imitation of Christ.
Ignatius of Loyola. Ignatius of Loyola: The Spiritual Exercises and
Selected Works. CWS.
Either Theresa of Avila. The Interior Castle. CWS.
or John of the Cross. The Ascent of Mount Carmel.
CWS.
Either Martin Luther, Theologica Germanica. CWS.
or John Calvin. Selections. Choose from Leith,
John H., ed. The Christian Life. San Francisco: Harper &
Row, 1984.
The Radical Reformation
Early Anabaptist Spirituality. CWS.
Later Lutheran and Reformed Spirituality to 1700.
Either Johann Arndt. True Christianity. CWS.
or Jacob Boehme. The Way of Christ. CWS.
Seventeenth Century French Catholic Spirituality
Francis de Sales. Introduction to a Devout Life. Trans. John
K. Ryan. New York: Doubleday, 1966.
Pascal. Provincial Letters. Trans. A.J. Krailshaimer. Baltimore,
MD: Penguin, 1967.
Madame Guyon. A Short and Very Easy Method of Prayer. Trans.
A.W. Marston. London, 1875.
Anglicanism
Prayer Book Spirituality: A Devotional Companion to the Book of Common Prayer
Compiled from Classical Anglican Sources. Ed. J. Robert Wright.
New York: Church Hymnal Corp., 1989.
Either George Herbert. The Country Parson; The Temple. CWS.
or Jeremy Taylor. Selections. Jeremy Taylor,
Selected Works. CWS.
SECTION THREE: SECONDARY READINGS
*Raitt, Jill, ed. Christian Spirituality: High Middle Ages and Reformation.
Chapters 11-20.
*Dupré, Louis and Don E. Sauers, eds. Christian Spirituality:
Post-Reformation and Modern. Chapters 1-5; 8-11; 13-14.
*Bossy, John. Christianity in the West, 1400-1700. Oxford: Oxford
University, 1985.
*Knox, Ronald. Enthusiasm: A Chapter in the History of Religion.
New York: Oxford University, 1950.
Bouwsma, Wm. J. John Calvin: A Sixteenth Century Portrait. New
York: Oxford University, 1988, chapters 8-11.
Clasen, Claus-Peter. Anabaptism: A Social History, 1525-1618.
Ithaca, New York: Cornell University, 1972.
Duffy, Eamon. The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in
England, c. 1400- c. 1580. New Haven: Yale University, 1992.
Dyck, Cornelius J. “The Life of the Spirit in Anabaptism.” Mennonite
Quarterly Review 47 (1973) 309-26.
Gansús, George E. “Introduction,” Ignatius of Loyola: The Exercises
and Selected Works. CWS.
Miles, Margaret R. “Theology, Anthropology and the Human Body in Calvin’s
Institutes of the Christian Religion.” Harvard Theological Review 74
(1981), 303-23.
Molien, A. “Bérulle.” DS 1.
Peters, Albrecht. “Die Spiritualität der lutherischen Reformation.”
Lutherische Kirche in der Welt: Jahrbuch des Martin Luther-Bundes 31.
Erlangen: Martin Luther Verlag, 1984, pp. 18-41.
Ruiz Jurado, Manuel. “La espiritualidad de la Compañía
de Jesús en sus Congregaciones Generales.” Archivum Historicum
Societatis Jesu 45 (1976), 233-90.
Serouet, Pierre. “Francois de Sales.” DS 5.
Steinburg, Leo. The Sexuality of Christ in Renaissance Art and Modern
Oblivion. New York: Pantheon, 1983.
Stranks, C.J. Anglican Devotion: Studies in the Spiritual Life of the
Church of England between the Reformation and the Oxford Movement.
London: SCM, 1961.
Sykes, Stephen, and John Booty, eds. The Study of Anglicanism.
Philadelphia: Fortress, 1988.
Tamburello, Dennis E. Union with Christ: John Calvin and the
Mysticism of St. Bernard. Louisville, KY: Westminster/ John Knox, 1994.
Trinkhaus, Charles. In Our Image and Likeness: Humanity and Divinity
in Italian Humanist Thought. 2 vols. Chicago: University of Chicago,
1970.
IV. MODERN CHRISTIANITY
SECTION FOUR: PRIMARY READINGS
Pietism: Read one of the following five selections from the CWS volume, Pietists:
Philipp Jakob Spener
August Hermann Francke & the Halle School
Gottfried Arnold & Gerhard Tersteegen
Johann Albrecht Bengel & Friedrich Christoph Oetinger
Nicolas Ludwig, Count von Zinzendorf
Puritans
Either Jonathan Edwards. “A Treatise on the Religious Affections.”
or ----------. “The Distinguishing Marks of a Work
of the Spirit.”
Anglicans
William Law. A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life and The Spirit
of Love. CWS.
John Henry Newman. Plain and Parochial Sermons. CWS.
Methodists
Wesley, John and Charles Wesley. Selections. John and Charles
Wesley: Selected Prayers, Hymns, Journal Notes, Sermons, Letters and Treatises.
CWS.
Catholics
Hopkins, Gerard Manley. “The Wreck of the Deutschland;” the dark sonnets.
Either Newman, John Henry. Tract 90.
or ----------. Apologia pro vita sua.
Thérèse of Lisieux. The Story of a Soul.
Twentieth Century
Day, Dorothy. Selections, in Robert Elsburg, ed. By Little and
By Little. New York: Knopf, 1983.
Either Merton, Thomas. Contemplation of a World in Action.
or ----------. New Seeds of Contemplation.
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Letters and Papers from Prison.
Sobrino, Jon, S.J. Christology at the Crossroads, chapters 9 and 11.
Tielhard de Chardin, Pierre. The Divine Milieu.
Either W.E.B. DuBois, The Souls of Black Folk. 1st published, 1903.
or Martin Luther King. A Knock at Midnight.
Ed. Clayborne Carson and Peter Holleran. Warner Books, 1998.
Plaskow, Judith and Carol Christ, eds. Weaving the Visions: New Patterns
in Feminist Spirituality. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1989.
SECTION FOUR: SECONDARY READINGS
*Dupré, Louis and Don E. Sauers, eds. Christian Spirituality:
Post-Reformation and Modern. Chapters 6-7; 12, 15-19.
*McGinn, Bernard. The Foundations of Western Mysticism: Origins to
the Fifth Century. Read the Appendix.
*Sheldrake, Philip. Spirituality & History: Questions of Interpretation
and Method, 2nd ed. New York: Orbis, 1998.
Brown, Dale W. Understanding Pietism. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,
1976.
Conn, Joann Wolski, ed. Women’s Spirituality: Resources for Christian
Development.
Downey, Michael. Understanding Christian Spirituality.
New York: Paulist, 1995.
Hennell, Michael. Sons of the Prophets: Evangelical Leaders of the
Victorian Church. London: SPCK, 1979.
Hinson, E. Glenn. “Baptists and Spirituality: A Community at Worship.”
Review and Expositor 84 (1988) 649-58.
Purcell, William. Anglican Spirituality: A Continuing Tradition.
London: Mowbrays, 1988.
Rooks, Charles Shelby. “Toward the Promised Land: An Analysis of the
Religious Experience of Black America.” The Black Church 2 (1973) 1-48.
Schneiders, Sandra. Beyond Patching: Faith and Feminism in the Catholic
Church.
Smith, B.A. Dean Church: The Anglican Response to Newman. Oxford:
Oxford University, 1958.
Wakefield, Gordon S. Puritan Devotion. London: Epworth, 1987.
Wilmore, Gayraud S. Black Religion and Black Radicalism: An Interpretation
of the Religious History of Afro-American People. Maryknoll, New York:
Orbis, 1983.
EXTENDED EXPLANATIONS
SPECIAL COMPREHENSIVE EXAMINATIONS
PURPOSE
The Special Comprehensive Exams have two aims:
3) to give the students specific areas of teaching/research competence;
2) to establish “dissertation readiness” in terms of research
and writing skills.
FORM OF EXAMINATIONS
I. The form of the exam in “The Field of Christian
Spirituality” is a research paper approximately 30-40 pages in length.
II. One, but not both, of the other two Special Comprehensive exams
may be fulfilled by taking two courses in the field and writing a doctoral
level paper for each of those courses. These graded papers are submitted
as part of the comprehensives dossier and will be subject matter for the
Oral Exam.
III. With the exception of the exam in “The Field of Christian Spirituality,”
the Special Comprehensive Exams may take any of the forms permitted by the
GTU (e.g., paper, open book exam, closed book timed exam, teaching a course,
etc.)
IV. Ordinarily one of the Special Comprehensive Examinations will be
a timed, closed -book exam.
PREPARATION FOR SPECIAL COMPREHENSIVE
EXAMINATIONS
Before preparation for the special comprehensives is begun, the general comprehensive
exams must be satisfactorily completed and the languages certified.
Committee
Unlike the general comprehensive exams which are completed under the direction
and supervision of the academic adviser, special comprehensive exams are
completed under the direction and supervision of a specially formed committee.
The committee must have at least three and may have as many as four members.
The composition of the committee is as follows:
1) The chair of the committee is one of the members of the core faculty in
Christian Spirituality.
2) One of the committee members must be from an external institution
which is normally UCB and must be approved by the GTU Dean if the external
institution is not UCB.
3) The committee should have at least two professors (including
the Chair) who are conversant with and competent in Christian Spirituality,
ideally members of the core faculty.
4) The committee should include someone competent in the area of Christian
theology (which may well be the Chair or another core faculty person).
The composition of the committee is approved by the Christian Spirituality
Area faculty.
The student then works with the committee to formulate a proposal for meeting
the requirements of the Special Comprehensive Exams. This proposal,
when it has been unanimously accepted by the members of the committee, must
be presented at an Area Meeting and approved by the faculty in Christian
Spirituality. Topics and bibliographies are chosen in the three areas
listed below on the basis of student interests and the guidelines provided
for each area.
AREAS OF THE SPECIAL COMPREHENSIVE
EXAMS
I. THE FIELD OF CHRISTIAN
SPIRITUALITY
PURPOSE
This exam allows the student to focus on his or her particular research interests
as well as demonstrating readiness to proceed to dissertation in the field
of Christian Spirituality. Therefore, the student must demonstrate
the following:
4. appropriate definition of a problem or topic in the field of Christian
Spirituality;
5. ability to build a bibliography in the field relative to the particular
topic, issue, etc.;
6. ability to integrate, with methodological integrity, Scripture, history
of Spirituality, and theology as well as other appropriate disciplines in
handling the topic;
7. knowledge of basic research tools in the field;
8. ability to carry out and organize the results of research, to write effectively,
to correctly use critical apparatus (notes, bibliography, etc.).
FORM OF EXAMINATION
This exam is to be a research paper approximately 30-40 pages in length.
TOPIC
1. the topic is to be specifically in the field of Christian Spirituality.
2. The topic is to be significant in scope and depth.
3. The topic should, insofar as possible, be related to the student’s
area of dissertation research but not a piece of that work.
For example: If the general research interest is prayer, the topic for the
Special Comp might be: “Discursive Prayer in the Teaching of Post-16th Century
Europe Manuals of Spirituality” or “The Role of the Imagination in Teresa
of Avila’s Teaching on Prayer in The Interior Castle” or “New Understandings
of Prayer in Post Vatical II American Catholicism” or “The Role of Personal
Prayer in the Post-Conversion Spirituality of Pentecostals,” or “The Spirituality
Revealed in Luther’s Writings on the Lord’s Prayer.”
II. A FIELD RELATED TO SPIRITUALITY
4. The student will select a field of study outside the field of Christian
Spirituality. The field will ordinarily be within one of the following
clusters:
1. the human and social sciences
2. the natural sciences
3. literature and the arts
B. The student will select a sub-discipline within
this field.
For example:
1. Developmental psychology, cultural anthropology, or sociology;
2. Cosmology, medicine, or biology;
3. Architecture, poetry, or music.
C. The student may choose to fulfill this exam by
taking two courses in the sub-discipline and writing a doctoral level paper
at the conclusion of each. The paper should demonstrate that the student
has achieved significant learning in the field which is relevant to the students
interests in the field of spirituality
D. Alternatively, the student may choose to fulfill
this requirement by preparing an examination, according to any of the accepted
formulae of the GTU, following these guidelines:
The student selects an exam topic within the sub-discipline. This is
a specified topic of investigation and not a narrowly focused question.
For example:
1. Transformation rituals among the Navajo
2. Freud’s concept of religion
3. Genetic engineering as a moral dilemma
4. “Big Bang” theory of cosmological origins
5. The use of journal writing in the personal development of May Sarton and
Thomas Merton
6. Romanesque and Baroque cathedrals as carriers of cultural and religious
meaning.
Thus a student would formulate the exam topic for this comprehensive by moving
from CLUSTER to FIELD to SUB-DISCIPLINE to TOPIC.
For Example: CLUSTER: Social Sciences to FIELD: Geography
to SUB-DISCIPLINE: Human Geography to TOPIC “Geography of Utah and the Development
of Mormonism”
III. A SPIRITUALITY NOT
WITHIN THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION
PURPOSE
In this Special Comprehensive Exam, the student will acquire a broad yet
relatively deep acquaintance with a spirituality that is not within the Christian
tradition. The purpose of this learning is not “comparative,” i.e.,
to compare this spirituality to Christian spirituality or to find equivalences
between elements of the two spiritualities, but to achieve a dialogical understanding
of how another spirituality exists, functions, and transforms its practitioners.
It is in understanding the “other” as other that we often understand ourselves
more deeply. This relative competence in another spirituality should
also enable the student to participate in the increasingly cross-cultural
conversation in the field of spirituality.
DIALOGUE PARTNERS
Ordinarily, the dialogue partner will be chosen from one of the following
three clusters:
1. Native Spiritualities (e.g., American Indian, African tribal, Eskimo,
Australian aboriginal, Maori, Polynesian, etc.).
2. World Religions Spiritualities (e.g., Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Taoist, Buddhist,
etc.).
3. Contemporary non-religious spiritualities (e.g., feminist, male, ecological,
New Age, Twelve-Step, etc.).
GUIDELINES FOR SELECTION
1. The spirituality studied should be significant, i.e., something which
might form an area of teaching specialization or future research.
2. There must be resources at the GTU and/or UCB for a responsible study.
3. It is the spirituality (not theology, sociology, etc.) of the religion
or movement which is to be studied.
4.
METHOD
1. The student may choose to fulfill this requirement by taking two courses
in the religious tradition selected and writing doctoral level papers for
the courses in which the student researches and discusses the spirituality.
(See above under “A Field Related to Spirituality”).
2. Alternatively, the student may choose to meet this requirement by any
of the means approved by the GTU. In that case, after selecting the
specific spirituality to be studied, the student will select a topic or issue,
the study of which will be sufficiently inclusive to permit the student to
acquire some real understanding of “the other.”
For example:
1. Meditation in Zen Buddhism
2. The Understanding and Role of the Black Messiah in African American Religion
3. The Role of God and Community in the Spirituality of Recovery
4. The struggle Around Violence/Non-Violence in the Ecological Movement
5. Spirit and Nature in Feminist Spirituality.
PRACTICUM IN THE PROGRAM OF CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY
The Practicum is designed to provide students with practical involvement
in the lived spiritual experience of Christians during the time of their
studies. It will normally be completed before special comprehensives.
Students engage, during the time of General Comprehensives, in a practicum,
i.e., some specified, supervised experience of practical involvement in the
lived religious experience of Christians. The project is formulated by the
student in consultation with the supervisor of the practicum. Both the practicum
and supervisor are approved by the Area faculty. At the conclusion of the
practicum the supervisor submits a brief written report on the student’s
learning within the experience and the student submits a report on her or
his learning. The proposal and concluding reports are kept by the adviser
in the student’s file.
A student who has been actively engaged, immediately prior to entering the
program, in practical experience specifically in the area of Christian Spirituality
may petition for retroactive acceptance of that experience as the fulfillment
of the practicum requirement. The faculty of the area will evaluate the petition
and inform the student of their decision as quickly as possible.
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