Calling and Vocation
Spring 2001

To explore the phenomenon known as vocation
intellectually
theologically
experientially
personally
so that we might more clearly understand:
our own sense of vocation
the theological underpinnings of vocation
the skills of discerning vocation
the range and depth of vocation within the human experience
and the conceptual history of vocation.

We will meet five Saturdays from 9:30 to 4:00
plus two additional evenings to be decided.

Being Priest to One Another, by Michael Dwinell
Mapping The Soul, by Nina H. Frost

Each student will prepare an 8 to 10 page final written project planned in conference with your team and the instructor. With approval, the team may choose to join together for a final project.

Full-time attendance and active participation in all seven sessions.
Full participation in the work of the teams.
Completion of work on time.
Each student will take the Myers-Briggs test. The cost is $15 per person.
Grading will be pass/fail.

Because vocational discernment is both individual and communal, each one of you will become part of a team with two other classmates to explore the subject in the context of community. It’s important to plan to meet with your team on a regular basis outside of class. Team responsibilities:

1. Choose a person from the Greater Portland community who you perceive is living a vocational life. Arrange a lengthy interview with that person and make a written and verbal report to the class about the experience. The team will carefully prepare and design the interview in advance, specifically the set of questions to be used. This written work will be handed in before the interview takes place. The class report will focus on what you learned about vocation, including what questions produced useful discernment and what questions proved fruitless.
2. Provide regular feedback and support to one another about the progress of your final projects.
3. Each team will read two books and prepare a presentation on those two books both written (so that the rest of the class can take it with them – 2 pages per book) and verbal, comparing and contrasting the two books and speaking to their contribution to thought about vocation and calling. Each team is encouraged to be as creative as they wish.

Team 1 Spiritual Pilgrims, by Welch
The Passionate Life, by Sam Keen

Team 2 Owning One’s Shadow. By Robert Johnson
The Scapegoat Complex, by Silvia Perrera

Team 3 The Religious Function of the Psyche, by Lionel Corbet
(another book, perhaps a book about the Myers-Briggs and the 4 functions and how they manifest differently in spiritual practices)

Team 4 The Function of Prayer, by Ann and Barry Ulinov
Wherever You Go, There You Are, by J. Kabat-Zinn