History of Christian Thought: Vocation

Spring 2010 Friday Sessions

Leading Lives That Matter: Contemporary Reflections on Vocation

Text: Leading Lives That Matter: What We Should Do and Who We Should Be (eds. Schwehn and Bass).

Beginning to think about Vocation

Week 1 January 15^th        Reading:  Introduction (1-9); Prologue (9-14) and selection by William James, “What Makes a Life Significant?” (14-28).

                                      First journal reflection due by Saturday at noon (via Moodle).

Week 2 January 22^nd     Reading: Selection by Albert Schweitzer, “I Resolve to Become a Jungle Doctor” (29-36).

                                      Journal reflection 2 due by Saturday at noon (via Moodle).

How We Talk about It: Vocabularies

Week 3 January 29^th      Reading: Introduction to Part I (39-46); and selections on the idea of authenticity by Charles Taylor and Elizabeth Cady Stanton(49-62).

                                      Journal reflection 3 due by Saturday at noon (via Moodle).

Week 4 February 5^th      Readings: On Virtue by Aristotle and Theodore Roosevelt (65-86).

                                      Journal reflection 4 due by Saturday at noon (via Moodle).

Week 5 February 12^th     Readings: Selections on Vocation from Matthew, Hardy, Badcock, Bonhoeffer, Buechner, Campbell (89-113).

                                      Journal reflection 5 due by Saturday at noon (via Moodle).

Important &Relevant Questions

Week 6 February 19^th     “Are Some Lives More Significant Than Others?”

                                      Reading: Introduction to Part II (117-123) and selections by Lewis, Aristotle (124-130), Martyrdom of Perpetua and Dorothy Day on Therese (144-166).

                                      Journal reflection 6 due by Saturday at noon (via Moodle).

Week 7 February 26^th     “Must My Job Be the Primary Source of My Identity?”.

                                      Reading: Introduction (181-187) and selections by Frost, Piercy and Wells (196-215) and Wordsworth (222-227).

                                      Professor Hale will be leading the discussion.

                                      Journal reflection 7due by Saturday at noon (via Moodle).

Week 8 March 5^th          “Must My Job Be the Primary Source of My Identity?” continued.

                                      Reading: Selections by Muirhead and Sayers (188-1959), Heschel (216-221) and Meilaender (229-243).

                                      Journal reflection 3 due by Saturday at noon (via Moodle).

Spring Break                

Week 9 March 19^th        “Is a Balanced Life Possible and Preferable to a Life Focused Primarily on Work?” Readings: Introduction (245-254) and selections TBA.

                                      Journal reflection 9 due by Saturday at noon (via Moodle).

Week 10 March 26^th      “Is a Balanced Life Possible and Preferable to a Life Focused Primarily on Work?”  Continued. Selections TBA

                                      Dean Jakoubek will be leading the discussion.

                                          Journal reflection 10 due by Saturday at noon (via Moodle).

Week 11 April 1^st          No class on Friday (Easter Break)                                                   

Week 12 April 9^th          “Should I Follow My Talents as I Decide What to Do to Earn a Living?” Reading: Introduction to section and selections from the Book of Matthew, Milton, Kant, Gaskell, Damon and Affleck and James Baldwin (313-357).

                                      Journal reflection 11due by Saturday at noon (via Moodle).

Week 13 April 16^th        “To whom should I listen?”

                                      Reading: Introduction (359-363) and selections (364-425).

                                      Journal reflection 12 due by Saturday at noon (via Moodle).

Week 14 April 23^rd        “Can I Control What I Shall Do and Become?”

                                      Reading: Introduction (428-433) and selections by Henley, Lynch, Dun, The book of Jonah, Ballou, Yevtushenko, and Merton (434-450).

                                      Guest: John Huxtable (MC ’04)(tentative)

                                      Journal reflection 13due by Saturday at noon (via Moodle).

Week 15 April 30^th        “How shall I tell the story of my life?”

                                      Readings: Introduction (451-457) and selections by Frost, Bateson, Berry, Steinbeck, McAdams and Kaufman (458-485).

                                      Journal reflection 14 due by Saturday at noon (via Moodle).

FINALS WEEK           Final meeting scheduled for Wednesday, May 12^th at 9 am.

                                      Final discussion of course material and themes.

                                      Reading: Epilogue, selection from The Death of Ivan Ilych (487-539). Journals due at this time (including final journal reflection).