The Seminar on Vocation Class
Why should we be concerned with vocation? Is it wondering about our "calling" just an additional worry, like the poor fellow who was fretting because his writing teacher said the class would write prose the next day - and all he had written were sentences!
Raising the issue of vocation is a matter of correction. What needs correcting is not your education but the education we hope to provide for you. Vocational reflection is something people do, have always done, and benefit from doing. We realize, however, that in our effort to make a "formal" education program we may have overlooked this vital element. Our goal is to develop the ability of students to reflect on their lives and their talents in relation to the great needs and demands of human life and community. In this class we will read about people who find God's call to do remarkable things - in fact our western and American tradition draws heavily on the sense of meaning that comes with following a divine call or divine leading into some great work. So this course on vocation is an effort to correct our educational program, not to correct your failing. Many academics have lamented that our education focuses on some skills, what the Greeks call techne, and less on the larger motivations for good thinking and action, which the Greeks call wisdom or sophia, perhaps even well-being, eudomonia that we translate happiness.
Syllabus for the Seminar on Vocation
Description:
This course introduces the idea of vocation through readings and discussions. The reading includes scripture, biography, theology and philosophical texts. The purpose of the course is to develop the student’s understanding of vocation as a reflective theme and to have access to rich sources for exploring the idea of vocation.
Texts:
- The Bible
- Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.
- Gandhi, Autobiography or the Story of My Experiments with Truth
- Long Loneliness, Dorothy Day
- In Tune with the World: A Theory of Festivity, Josef Peiper
- Mountains beyond Mountains: The man who would cure the world, Tracy Kidder
- Readings from: Saint Augustine, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Henri Nouwen, John Howard Yoder, bell hooks, Jonathan Woolman and Nicholas Wolterstorff.
Plan of the course:
- The God Who Calls Week 1-3, reading Biblical accounts of Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, Saint Augustine’s conversion, and Henri Nouwen’s introduction to The Prodigal Son.
- The World that Calls Week 4-6, reading Gandhi, Dorothy Day and Martin Luther King.
- Called as Community Week 7-9, reading Bonheoffer, Yoder, and Woolman.
- Called as People Week 10-12, reading Pieper, bell hooks, Wolterstorff, and Kidder.
- Student presentations of Vocation Narratives Week 13-15
Requirements:
Reflective essays. Students will write an essay for each reading. These essays are usually one to two pages single spaced. (60%)
Spring break travel and journal. Students will choose a mission or service trip over spring break and keep a journal of their thoughts and experiences. (10%)
Research paper. Students will write a research paper (6-7 pages, 10 sources) that develops a theme or a problem raised in the course material. (20%)
Vocation Narrative. The culmination of the course is a vocation narrative. Students will write and present their thoughts about their questions, dreams, and plans related to their vocation. (10%)
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