Course Description

This course offers an introduction to the Christian spiritual tradition up to the modern period. For two millennia Christians have been praying and responding to the self-giving love of God in Jesus Christ by the gift of the Holy Spirit. This response to God has taken place under the conditions of our humanity and it is therefore possible to trace a lived history of spiritual experience. This history exposes us to resources, exemplary models, and warnings of which we might not otherwise be aware.

This course is about more, though, than history. We begin with the Scriptures and their witness to God’s culminating revelation in Jesus Christ, for if spirituality is to be Christian it must start and end with Christ. We also ask ourselves what it means for us to encounter Jesus Christ today and to be formed into his likeness.

The course therefore has two parallel tracks as we journey together through the semester. The first half of each class will be a pilgrimage through history, tracing some of the key themes in the history of Christian tradition; the second half of each class will address our personal pilgrimage, our interior journey with Christ.