cibi.ie

Module 2A What is Spirituality?

This course is part of the Distance Learning Website of

the Carmelite Institute of Britain and Ireland

This module, entitled What is Spirituality? has five units. The first surveys the spiritual landscape today, looking at the context within which we live our lives. Unit 2 goes on to consider, in a general way, the basic teaching of the Bible as God’s passionate care for his people – ‘God refuses to be God without us.’ Unit 3 deals with some of the central themes of Christian spirituality – Creation, Incarnation, Trinity, Spirit, Vocation/Call, Body of Christ/Church, Eucharist. In unit 4, an overview (necessarily brief) of the history of spirituality is offered. And in the final unit, an attempt is made to describe what Christian spirituality precisely is.

I offer a suggested reading list below but a helpful book that could be used as a basic text is Understanding Christian Spirituality by Michael Downey (1996 Mahwah, New Jersey, Paulist Press). [See also for general consultation The New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality, ed. Michael Downey, The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, USA, 1993].

Reading list:

The New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality, ed. Michael Downey, The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, USA, 1993. 

Ronald Rolheiser OMI, Seeking Spirituality: Guidelines for a Christian Spirituality for the Twenty-first Century, Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1998 

Rolheiser, R, The Restless Heart, Doubleday Books, New York, 2004 

Rolheiser, R., The Shattered Lantern, Hodder & Stoughton 1997  

Sheldrake, Philip, A Brief History of Spirituality, Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, 2007 

Richard Woods OP, Christian Spirituality: God’s Presence through the Ages, Orbis, Maryknoll 2006 

The Priory Institute, Tallaght: Theology for Today, Introduction to Christian Spirituality 

Dwyer, Peter O.Carm., Towards a History of Irish Spirituality, Columba Press, Dublin 1995. 

Collins, Pat CM, Spirituality for the 21st Century: Christian Living in a Secular Age, Dublin, Columba Press, 1999 

Collins, Pat, Finding Faith in Troubled Times, Dublin, Columba Press. 

Spirituality, published 6 times a year by Dominican Publications, 42 Parnell Square, Dublin 1

Course Tutor: Thomas Jordan OP

The course is divided into 5 units of input and, at the end, you may complete a Questionnaire, write a Learning Journal, or write an Essay.

Once posted, each unit will be available until the end of the module. The dates on which each of the units, and the other material for this course, will be available are listed below:

From the date corresponding to the relevant Monday (see main web page of www.cibi.ie), you can click on the relevant unit to access it. Each module includes links to other internet sites of various kinds related to the material being covered.

    Once you have successfully accessed and studied the material in each module and received the Essay titles and the questionnaire, pleace complete either the Questionnaire, write a Learning Journal, or write an Essay based on one of the Essay titles given, and return it to to the course administrator: admin@cibi.ie

Copyright: CIBI holds the copyright to this material (text, graphic and other); distribution to family or friends, or publication (including on internet) of any part of the material is not permitted without the CIBI ’s explicit written permission.