Master of Arts

Domestic & International Course Offerings

Tucson, Arizona

(Spring 2010)
THEO 60240 Contemplation and Action Syllabus
Instructor: Prof. Matt Ashley
Location: Tucson, Arizona, Redemptorist Renewal Center
Dates: December 27, 2009-January 8, 2010
What is the relationship between contemplative prayer and action on behalf of others? The tendency in the Christian tradition has been to see prayer as superior to action, since it is there that one experiences, however fleetingly, that union with God that is our ultimate beatitude and destiny. However, there have been innovative attempts in the history of Christian spirituality to break down overly rigid barriers between these two essential components of the Christian life. This course will look at a cross-section of views on this question. We begin with scriptural loci for considering the relationship between prayer and action, and then move to Greek thought, with the distinction between theoria and praxis. We then consider how this conceptual pair was taken over in the history of Christian spirituality in some classic understandings of the relationship between the vita contemplativa and the vita activa. We will focus in particular on patristic and medieval homilies on Martha and Mary (Lk 10: 38-42). Figures in this section include Augustine, Bernard of Clairvaux, Thomas Aquinas, and Meister Eckhart. In the next section of the course we consider the late-Medieval and Reformation spiritualities of Catherine of Siena, Ignatius of Loyola and John of the Cross. We conclude with three contemporary figures who have attempted to interrelate contemplation and action: Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day, and Gustavo Gutiérrez.
Syllabus for course (pdf document)

Costs: $1,590 for room and board (12 nights, includes meals and 24/7 beverages, coffee, tea, juices)
$1,092 tuition ($364 per credit hour)
$ Cost of travel to and from the Redemptorist Renewal Center