CSP 606W Number of Credit Units: 1
Instructor: Jill Martin Instructor’s contact telephone number: (510) 451-5455
Email address:
Course Description: This course will immerse the participants in a discovery of the sacred in an urban context. The ways in which Spirit is moving in the midst of urban reality will be explored. Drawing on the wisdom of the four paths of Creation Spirituality, students will explore the experiences of beauty, pain, strength, community, creativity and justice in a city environment.
Course Objectives: Together, as a learning community, we will endeavor to realize multiple ways in which Spirit uniquely reveals itself within the urban experience, and we will affirm the distinctive gifts that cities and their inhabitants contribute to the development of a life-affirming consciousness. We will further develop ourselves as compassionate leaders in an ever-increasing urban, diverse, complex world.
Course Requirements:
1. Attendance and Participation ……………………………………………..…... 30%
(Attendance at each session of the weekend is required in order to gain credit for the course.)
2. Readings (evidenced in papers and discussions)……………. 30%
3. Final Paper (4-5 pages)..……..……………………………… 40%
Creative Projects in lieu of papers are not permitted for this course.
3. Other …………………………………………………...…… 0 %
Total Requirements …………………… 100%
List required reading: To Be Determined. Instructor is evaluating various reading resources. Required text will most likely be a set of articles and excerpted materials.
List recommended reading:
Ordinary Resurrections: Children in the Years of Hope, Jonathan Kozol, ISBN 0-06-095645-3 or
Bearing Witness, Bernie Glassman, ISBN 0-609-60061-3
Course Outline: Saturday Morning – Via Positiva and Via Negativa – What is Urban Spirituality? What are the gifts and challenges to us for experiencing Spirit in an urban context? How are our souls shaped, for better or for worse, within the city’s larger reality?
Saturday Afternoon – Via Creativa – Intro to Open Space Technologies – Group generated curriculum
Sunday Morning – Via Transformativa – What can we do to contribute positively to the soul of our cities? Field Trip – Glide Memorial Church or Fellowship Church
Art As Meditation: “Acts of the Spirit” (David Sharp, D. Min.)
September 20, 3:30-6:30 p.m.
“Acts of the Spirit” is a profound method of connecting with the cosmos, using the skills that actors use to create and mold character. We will learn how to embody creation…and we will see that the universe is truly ours, when we pause to let it fill us.