Society for the Study of Christian Spirituality
Spiritual Formation – Rigorous, Transformative, Integrated:
What Does It Look Like and How Do We Get There?
Friday, November 18 - 3:30-5:15
Marriott Marquis Pacific Room H
This
workshop will
continue the energetic discussion on spiritual formation that began at
last year’s conference. Whether teaching an undergraduate
course in spirituality or facilitating a spiritual formation program in
a divinity school, teachers face recurring questions and
critiques about the character of spirituality as an academic
discipline. Does a course in spirituality stand on a par with
other courses in the theological
curriculum? Do personal questions, experiences, and
practices belong in the classroom and to what degree? How
does a teacher assess such material as part of the
curriculum? What style of pedagogy weaves together
the theoretical and analytic with the personal and experiential so as
to foster transformation? Panelists will address these
challenging issues and offer questions to prompt small group
discussion.
Panelists:
Andre Delbecq, Santa Clara University (bio and presentation)
>>How do we create links between societal leaders, social
scientists, and spirituality scholars that bridge the gaps between
practice, social science, and theology?
Ruben L.F. Habito, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University
Anita Houck, Saint Mary’s College (bio)
>>What aspects of spirituality are important
for you to assess in your own courses? What aspects might be
impossible to evaluate well?
>>What methods of assessment have been effective in your courses on spirituality?
Elizabeth Liebert, San Francisco Theological Seminary (bibliography and bio)
>>When discerners, whether students or others, work with the
social discernment cycle, they are almost routinely frustrated, even
discouraged, at how analytically difficult the work is--it doesn’t fit
the stereotype of “spiritual.” This easy eliding into the fuzzy uses of
“spirituality” in the culture, with its promise of easy and feel-good
transformation, confounds the task of doing spirituality in a rigorous
way, and—I believe—makes it less likely that people will do the hard
spiritual work that may allow them to experience a deep transformation
(assuming as I do that transformation is a work of grace). In other
words, the understanding of spirituality abroad in the culture
undermines not only the academic study of spirituality, but the
possibility of spiritualities to actually illumine paths that lead to
transformation. What strategies and pedagogies might make it into our
classrooms that would critique this cultural norm for spirituality?
Moderator:
Barbara Quinn, RSCJ, Boston College School of Theology and Ministry
Society for the Study of Christian Spirituality
Liturgical
Practice, Traditional Learning Technologies, and the Science of Human
Formation
Friday, November 18 - 7:15-8:30
p.m. program, followed by light reception
Led by Rev. Donald Schell
St. Gregory of
Nyssa Episcopal Church
500 DeHaro Street, San Francisco 94107
This workshop in St.
Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal’s purpose-built church will make an
experiential foray into fresh uses of traditional practices of
Christian and human formation for the liturgical assembly. We'll use
typical pre-literate strategies to engage together in singing,
movement, silence, touch, and dance, reflecting together on our
practice experience alongside neurological and evolutionary research in
the science of human formation.
All are welcome; however, those wishing to take the bus need to reserve a place by Monday, November 14, by writing to Anita Houck at ahouck@saintmarys.edu. Walk-ons will be welcome if extra space is available. The bus departs from the Hilton at 7:00 p.m.
Alternative means of transport:
1) taxi (approx. $10.50 plus tip)
2) bus ($2 with one transfer); leave 7:10, arrive 7:38. A MUNI trip
planner is available at http://www.sfmta.com/cms/home/sfmta.php
3) walking (free, not recommended for the single traveler or the
cautious, estimated time 47 minutes according to Mapquest)
Society for the Study of Christian Spirituality
Presidential Address and Business
Meeting
Saturday, November 19 -
9:00-11:30 a.m.
Marriott Marquis Salon Room 15
9:00
“Spiritual Identity and Narrative: Fragmentation,
Coherence, and Transformation”
The 2011 Presidential Address by Janet Ruffing (Yale Divinity School)
10:30
Business Meeting
Ann
Astell (University of Notre Dame), President-elect, presiding
All are welcome. For more information, please visit the SSCS website, http://sscs.press.jhu.edu/, or contact Anita Houck, Secretary,
at ahouck@saintmarys.edu.
Society for the Study of Christian Spirituality
Emerging Scholars Breakfasthttp://sscs.press.jhu.edu/annual_meeting/index.html
Sunday, November 20
7:30 a.m.
All graduate students, recent graduates, and pre-tenure faculty interested in the academic study of spirituality are invited to meet for breakfast on Sunday morning at 7:30 am. Directions to the breakfast location will be announced at the Business Meeting on Saturday morning. A subsidy is available for SSCS members. Please help us out by bringing cash--no credit cards can be accepted. For more information, contact Beringia Zen ( bzen@ses.gtu.edu ) or Tammy Wiens ( tammylws@gmail.com ).
Governing Board Meeting
Sunday,
November 20
3:00
- 4:30 p.m.
Parc55 Wyndham, Davidson
Christian Spirituality Group
Saturday
-1:00 pm-3:30 pm
A19-211
Moscone Center West, 3000
Theme: Michel de Certeau and
Mysticism/Spirituality: Twenty Five Years Later
Claire Wolfteich, Boston University School of Theology, Presiding
Panelists:
Charlotte Radler, Loyola Marymount University
Brenna Moore, Fordham University
Douglas Burton-Christie, Loyola Marymount University
Amy M. Hollywood, Harvard University
Responding:
Philip F. Sheldrake, Cambridge Theological Federation/Westcott House
Theme: Michel de Certeau and
Mysticism/Spirituality: Twenty Five Years Later
Claire Wolfteich, Boston University School of Theology, Presiding
Panelists:
Charlotte Radler, Loyola Marymount University
Brenna Moore, Fordham Universityhttp://sscs.press.jhu.edu/annual_meeting/
Douglas Burton-Christie, Loyola Marymount University
Amy M. Hollywood, Harvard University
Responding:
Philip F. Sheldrake, Cambridge Theological Federation/Westcott House
Elizabeth Liebert, San Francisco Theological Seminary
Christian Spirituality Group
Sunday - 1:00 pm-2:30 pm
A20-217
Moscone Center West, 3005
Theme:
Calvinism Deep and Green: A Review of Belden C. Lane's Ravished by
Beauty: The Surprising Legacy of Reformed Spirituality (Oxford
University Press, 2011)
Peter A. Huff, Xavier University, Presiding
Panelists:
William A. Dyrness, Fuller Theological Seminary
Barbara Brown Taylor, Piedmont College
Lauren F. Winner, Duke University
Randall C. Zachman, University of Notre Dame
Belden Lane, Saint Louis University
Christian
Spirituality
Group
Monday - 4:00 pm-6:30 pm
A21-318
Moscone Center West, 2010
Christian Spirituality Group and Latina/o Religion, Culture, and Society Group
Theme:
"Reconfigurando Contemporary Spirituality" The Contribution of Latino/a
and Hispanic Cultures
Timothy M. Matovina, University of Notre
Dame, Presiding
Gilberto Cavazos-Gonzalez, Catholic Theological Union
C. Vanessa White, Catholic Theological Union
Arlene Sanchez Walsh, Azusa Pacific University
Edwin David Aponte, New York Theological Seminary
Elizabeth Conde-Frazier, Esperanza College of Eastern University
11/18/11