Content

In this unit, students will explore how the three interconnected elements of Ignatian spirituality — identity, vocation and mission — play out in their lives. Students will be guided to address such fundamental questions as: Who am I before God? What are my deepest desires? With whom am I called to be? Where do I belong? What am I called to do? How am I generative in my life? Answers to these questions will be informed by the Christian vision of the world rooted in the experience and writings of the sixteenth-century Basque saint, Ignatius of Loyola. He documents his encounter with God is these writings particularly in the Spiritual Exercises. The dynamic of the Spiritual Exercises will be used as a template for spiritual growth.

Unit code: DS9109J

Unit status: Archived (New unit)

Points: 24.0

Unit level: Postgraduate Elective

Unit discipline: Spirituality

Delivery Mode: Face to Face

Proposing College: Jesuit College of Spirituality

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Learning outcomes

1.

Analyse use of the graces prayed for in the four “Weeks” of the Spiritual Exercises as a guiding matrix

2.

Describe the Ignatian understanding of the interplay between imagination, desire and mission

3.

Outline the development of a discerned sense of missional identity as informed by prayer and spiritual conversation

4.

Synthesise their lived experience with the identity, vocation, mission dynamic of the Spiritual Exercises

Unit sequence

Prohibited combinations: Old code: DS9110J

Pedagogy

Lectures, seminars, tutorials, facilitated interaction in small groups.

Indicative Bibliography

  • Alphonso, Herbert, The Personal Vocation. 9th ed, Rome: Editrice Pontificia Universita Gregoriana, 2006.
  • Barry, William A. Finding God in All Things: A Companion to the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria Press, 1991.
  • Decrees of General Congregation 35 http://www.saintpeters.edu/jesuit-identity/files/2012/08/GC35_Decrees.pdf (Accessed 26 July 2016).
  • Eakin, Paul John, How Our Lives Become Stories: Making Selves, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1999.
  • Erikson, Erik H., Identity and the Life Cycle. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company, 1994.
  • Fleming, David L., What is Ignatian Spirituality?, Chicago, IL: Loyola Press, 2008.
  • Grondin, Christian, “Ignatian Identity in Transition”, The Way, 42/4, October 2003, 32-45.
  • Linn, Denis, Matthew Linn, and Sheila Fabricant, Healing the Eight Stages of Life, New York, NY: Paulist Press, 1988.
  • Modras, Ronald, Ignatian Humanism: A Dynamic Spirituality for the 21st Century, Chicago, IL: Loyola Press, 2004.
  • Munitiz, Joseph & Philip Endean, Saint Ignatius of Loyola: Personal Writings, London, UK: Penguin Classics, 1996.
  • Palmer, Parker J., A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey Toward an Undivided Life, San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2009. (Recommended for purchase)
  • Traub, George W. An Ignatian Spirituality Reader: Contemporary Writings on St. Ignatius of Loyola, the Spiritual Exercises, Discernment and More*. Chicago, IL: Loyola Press, 2008. (Recommended for purchase)
  • Traub, George W., “Do You Speak Ignatian? A Glossary of Terms Used in Ignatian and Jesuit Circles,” in A Jesuit Education Reader, ed., George W. Traub, Chicago IL: Loyola Press, 2008.

Assessment

Type Description Word count Weight (%)
Essay

6000-word integrative essay

6000 100.0
Approvals

Unit approved for the University of Divinity by John Capper on 19 Oct, 2017

Unit record last updated: 2019-10-03 11:34:42 +1000