Naropa University Oakland

Master of Liberal Arts Program in Creation Spirituality

ENGAGED SPIRITUALITY:
REVOLUTIONARY PRACTICES

CSP 693W                                                                            Number of Credit Units: 1

 

Instructor: Ken Butigan                       Instructor’s contact telephone number: 773-777-7246

                                                                                      

Email address:

Class Schedule: February 28-29, 2004

Saturday: 9:00-noon  and 1:00-3:00 (Seminar)

3:30-6:30 p.m. (Art as Meditation)

Sunday: 900-10:00 a.m.  (Process Group)       

10:00-1:00 (Seminar)

Course Description: What personal disciplines and collective strategies help us to confront structures of oppression and violence?  We examine various remarkable movements which enlist spiritual power for social change.  These may include: liberation theology and base communities in Latin America; post-apartheid reconciliation work in South Africa; and the United Farm Workers in California.  We consider how their stories and teaching can be applied in our own lives, inspiring practices to sustain the vision, ignite our courage, and build strength and solidarity.

Course Objectives:  In this course, students will:

·        Become familiar with a series of recent nonviolent liberation movements

·        Analyze the spiritual power and dimensions of these movements, and

·        Reflect on ways to draw on, integrate and apply this vibrant spirituality of personal and social transformation in their own lives and in the life of the world

 

Course Requirements: 

1.   Attendance ……………………………………………..….......................                 20%

(Attendance at each session of the weekend is required in order to gain credit for the course.)

2.      Readings (evidenced in papers and discussions)………………………                               20%

3.      Class participation……….………………………………………………                         20%

4.   Final Paper (4-5 pages; due March 15; email it to Ken Butigan at [email protected])..……..……………………………                               40%

 

Total Requirements ……………………………………………..                                      100%

 

Required Reading:  Moyer, Bill, Doing Democracy (New Society Publishers, 2001)

Butigan, Ken: articles available at Naropa Oakland

l. “Learning Together the Practice of Peace in a Time of War” (Fellowship 

Magazine, Sept. 2002)

“The Spiritual Journey of Christian Nonviolent Resistance” (Response Mag-

azine, November 2002)

Recommended reading: Tutu, Desmond. No Future Without Forgiveness (New York: Doubleday/Random House, 1999).

Butigan, Ken. Pilgrimage Through a Burning World: Spiritual Practice and Nonviolent Protest at the Nevada Test Site (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2003).

Outline of class themes, activities and assignments:

Saturday morning 9-noon:

Theme: The Spiritual Journey of Nonviolent Change

·        De-centering and Re-centering the War Self

·        The Two Hands: Challenging the Paradigm of Personal and Structural Violence

·        Woundedness and Sacredness

·        The Stages of Successful Nonviolent Social Movements

·        The Spirituality of Nonviolent Peace and Justice: The South Africa Experience

 

Video: “Freedom in Our Lifetime: South Africa 1984”

Activities:

·        Reflection on Our Own Journeys;

·        Reflection on the Stereotypes and Attributes of Nonviolence

 

Assignment:

Having already read all the assigned readings

 

Saturday afternoon 1-3:00

Theme: The Spiritual Grounding of Nonviolent Change

·        Neither Passivity nor Violence: The Third Way of the US Civil Rights Movement

·        The Power of Stubborn Love to Transform Fear and Hate

·        Transforming Us vs. Them Thinking and Doing

·        The Spirituality of the Stages of Social Movements

 

Video Clip: “Interview with John Lewis,” The News Hour with Jim Lehrer

Activity:

·        The Circle of Truths

 

Assignment:

·        Having already read all the assigned readings

 

 

Sunday morning 10-1:00

Theme: The Spiritual Practice of Nonviolent Change

·        Identifying Key Practices: Chile; Serbia; The United Farm Workers

·        Gratitude, Awe, Peaceful Defiance, and Acting Our Way into Thinking

·        Building Community

·        Constructing the Future Together: What Stage Are We In and Where Do We Need To Go?

 

Slide Show: “Many Movements for Change,” Resources Advancing Initiatives for Nonviolence (RAIN)

Video: “Bringing Down the Dictator”

Activity:

·        Envisioning Nonviolent Community

 

Assignment:

·        Having already read all the assigned readings