Autobiography and Spirituality
Religious Studies 303
Saint Martin's College
Main Campus
Fall 2002

To say, then, that a New Testament parable is an extended metaphor means not that the parable "has a point" or teaches a lesson, but that it is itself what it is talking about (there is no way around the metaphor to what is "really" being said). Thus to say that the parable of the Prodigal Son is a metaphor of God's love suggests that the story has meaning beyond the story of a human father and his wayward son, but that only through the details, the parable itself, are we brought to an awareness of God's love that has the shock of revelation. (Speaking in Parables, p. 5.)

Our purpose this semester is to explore autobiographies as a theological rather than a historical or literary enterprise, in the hope of learning something about life and about ourselves. We will, of course, at times use literary, historical, psychological, or even anthropological tools. To understand better what we are reading, but these methods will be servants to a theological enterprise.

While the people studied in this class are primarily Christians, effort has been made to include variety. One of them died condemned as a heretic. Another was a French young woman of Jewish heritage who argued that conversion to Christianity would shut her off from pagans and heretics alike. A third was a Secretary-General of the United Nations whose spirituality was private and who drew upon mystical writers from around the world. One was a well-known scientist fascinated by religion but critical of the Christianity of his pastor-father.

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General Education

This course qualifies for general education credit at Saint Martin's College.  The aims and objectives of general education at Saint Martin's College include the goal that "Saint Martin's College graduates will have an understanding of religious and philosophical concepts and principles, and of the moral and ethical questions they will face in society and the professions."  The Problem of Evil raises questions that have driven theologians and laypersons alike to seek answers from God concerning God's purposes in human life.  These questions have frequently led human beings to seek depth in understanding the ways of God.  The course is intended to equip students for life through reflection upon issues that will concern many over the course of life.

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Texts

• Augustine, Confessions, trans. R. S. Pine-Coffin (Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin, 1961).
• Betty Radice, trans., The Letters of Abelard and Heloise (Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England:  Penguin, 1974).
• Dag Hammarskjöld, Markings, trans. Leif Sjöberg and W. H. Auden (New York: Ballantine Books, 1983).
• Simone Weil, Waiting for God, trans. Emma Craufurd (New York: Harper and Row, 1973).
• Thomas Merton, The Seven Storey Mountain (New York: Mentor, 1948).
• Carl G. Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections (New York: Vintage, 1963).

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Requirements

The student will be expected to produce three focus papers, five pages in length, centering on issues that emerge from reading assignments and class discussion. These will count for sixty percent of the final grade. Another twenty-five percent of the grade will come from a term paper or project eight to ten pages in length. The topic for the term paper (or project) is to be determined in consultation with the professor. It could deal with a specific autobiography or the student's own effort at writing an autobiography in order to determine what she or he is becoming (given Don Capps's definition of an autobiography). Class participation will count for fifteen percent. Students will be expected to participate in various small group activities and presentations, including a presentation of an autobiography in addition to the ones read by the entire class. All written work must be the student's own, and words and ideas derived from others must be properly referenced. Violations of the college's policies on academic dishonesty as printed in the college catalog will lead to failure of the assignment or the course, depending upon the severity of the offense in the evaluation of the professor.

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Schedule of Topics and Assignments

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