Spring 2011 Course Offerings
DLF6010 When the Trees Say Nothing: Thomas Merton’s Reflections on Nature
"Thomas Merton, Trappist monk and prolific author, is known for his writings on prayer and spirituality, peacemaking and social justice. Less well known are his insights about the creation. This class will offer students an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the wealth of Merton's writings in which he sees the divine presence in and through the natural world. We will explore the implications of such a sacramental vision of our earthly habitat, and will engage in prayer practices that will direct our awareness towards the natural world as God's handiwork and home."
February 7-March 25, 2011
Register Now
This course is taught by
Mary C. Earle
DLF6011 Finding God in Culture
People of faith--as well as people outside of faith traditions--are often drawn to the stories, images, and themes of literature and culture because they can provide powerful moments of connection to deeper spiritual realities even though we may not recognize them as such. This seven-week course is an introduction to sacramental theology, theological aesthetics, and close reading of literary and cultural texts for spiritual meaning. Students will learn to trace sacred themes, to appreciate beauty, and to form questions for discussion. Students completing the course will gain a new theological appreciation for literature and culture, as well as knowledge that may transfer to teaching, preaching, and personal formation.
February 7-March 25, 2011
Register Now
This course is taught by
Greg Garrett
DLH6001 On the Frontier: Emerging Ministry in a Post-Churchianity World
Leonard Sweet and others have used a metaphor to communicate to Modern church leaders that their models of ecclesiology and ministry are often irrelevant to Postmoderns: Western Modern Christianity has forever been the default...but not anymore. It's the Postmoderns who are now the cultural natives; The Church and its worldview are visitors, in the minority, who often don't speak the language. They build fortresses to stay safe. And go out, grab indigenous people, drag them inside, change their clothing and hair and language, and make them like those inside the fortress.
In this course we will look at that culture - the culture of the frontier, made up of expatriates from Modernity, explorers who left the Modern cities behind, and those who are natives in the Postmodern world, born there, who don't even know the Modern world Back East exists.
February 7-March 25, 2011
Register Now
This course is taught by
Dr. Rick Diamond
DLT6003 Preaching and the Scientific Imagination
Living as we do in a highly technical age in which science and technology have reason to occupy the prominent place in our culture, there must be some recognition of this fact from the parish pulpit as we seek to make the Gospel relevant to the lives of our parishioners. Many persons sitting in our pews at our weekend masses and liturgies are those who through the week engage in highly technological occupations and professions. Even one-pastoral farming and ranching is a highly scientific endeavor. What, then, are some practical ways in which the pulpit can engage these folk? Examining the ministry of our Lord, one realizes that He adapted his preaching to his audiences. This is a practice-oriented course that seeks to explore the implications of science and to assist the busy priest in honing her/his homilies to intellectually engage, spiritually challenge, and emotionally strengthen the 21st-century hearer.
February 7-March 25, 2011
Register Now
This course is taught by
Dr. Van Herd