File 2154 - Spiritual Reading and Spiritual Writing handouts for 1984 lecture course

0.3 cm of textual records

File consists of four typed pages of summary lecture notes. The title of these lectures are "Spiritual Reading" and " Spiritual Writing". They are labeled '4' and '5'.

Annotated copies of these lectures can be found in the 1984 bound volume, file 2175.
There is a sound recording for the lecture on spiritual reading. See Accession 2002 41. In this sound recording, the lecture is dated February 16, 1984.

Title based on contents of the file.
This document contains three-hole punches.

Introduction to the Spiritual Life (course code 2543) was the first full course Nouwen taught at Harvard Divinity School as a professor of Divinity during the spring semester of 1984. The course was held Tuesdays and Thursdays between 11:00 am and 1:00 pm. He had been present at Harvard since the late fall of 1982 but under the Horace De Y. Lentz Lectureship, Nouwen was only expected to give public lectures and informal discussions.
The Gospel of Luke was the basis for the course and there was no other required texts. The course was divided up into 5 sections: Waiting in Expectation, Compassion and Hiddenness, Healing and Confrontation, Death and Resurrection, and The Holy Spirit in Worldwide Mission. Students were encouraged to commit to the course and their small groups. Each student was required to write a personal spiritual commentary on the Gospel of Luke as well as a spiritual diary that had to be read by at least three other people, one of whom had to be a member of the class. Students were also required to attend small group discussions of six to eight people. Students were also instructed to seek out a 'spiritual friend' to share with. No grades were given for the course, instead students who fulfilled the requirements received three credits. Teaching Assistants for this course included Jeff Coppage, Pat McCallum, Michael O’Laughlin, Jim Smith, and Peter Weiskel.

Revised by L Joson, 14 November 2018