St. Bernard’s School of Theology & Ministry                                         David A. Stosur, Ph.D.

Summer 2007 (9:00am-12:15pm, Wednesdays May 9-June 13)                     271-3657 x299; Rm 106

 

Course Description: An exploration of liturgical and sacramental themes and the process of conversion as depicted in selected literary and cinematic narratives. The course will investigate narrative theory and theology, and will examine selected works of fiction and poetry and view films that highlight the role of ritual and narrative in human and Christian transformation, with a view to a deepened understanding of the dynamics of liturgy and sacrament.

 

Course Requirements:

Literary Works:

      Coelho, Paulo.  The Alchemist.  HarperCollins, 1993.

 

      Dillard, Annie.  “An Expedition to the Pole.” Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters.  Harper & Row, 1982.

 

      Kidd, Sue Monk.  The Secret Life of Bees.  Penguin Books, 2002.

 

      Lowry, Lois.  The Giver.  Houghton Mifflin/Walter Lorraine Books, 1993.

 

      Malone, Michael.  Handling Sin. Sourcebooks, 2001.

 

Theology Texts:

Haughton, Rosemary.  The Transformation of Man: A Study of Conversion and Community.  Springfield, IL: Templegate Publishers, 1967, 1980.

 

*Anker, Roy M.  Catching Light: Looking for God in the Movies.  Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2004.  (*Recommended text for all; required text for those choosing review of this text for final paper.)

 

**Johnston, Robert K.  Reel Spirituality: Theology and Film in Dialogue, 2^nd ed..  Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006.  (**Recommended text for all; required text for those choosing review of this text for final paper.)

 

Students should purchase or borrow personal copies of the required readings above for the duration of the course.  Other required readings are listed in the course schedule below, and are available on reserve in the Russell Reading Room and online through the University of Rochester/Rush Rhees Library website.

 

Films to be viewed in class:

      Finding Neverland (2004; dir. Marc Forster; PG)

 

      The Mission (1986; dir. Roland Joffé; PG)

 

      Ordinary People (1980; dir. Robert Redford; R)

 

      Stranger Than Fiction (2006; dir. Marc Forster; PG-13)

 

      La Vita È Bella (Life Is Beautiful) (1998; dir. Roberto Benigni; PG-13)
 

Class Participation: Students will have read the assigned materials, and will come to this “seminar style” class prepared to answer the following questions on the theological texts:

 

·         What new information (facts, concepts, and methods) did you learn from the material?

·         What are the theological themes/issues emphasized?

·         From what point of view does the author operate?  Is it different from or similar to your own?  What are its positive and negative aspects?

·         Do you disagree with any of the author's arguments?  Why?

·         What implications does the reading have for Christian life, or for sacramental and liturgical theology or practice (including preaching)?

·         What aspects of the reading were unclear or required further explanation?  To what resources did you turn with your questions?

 

along with the following questions on the literary works:

 

·         What are the sacramental and theological themes/issues emphasized?

·         What narrative programs (plots and subplots) can be detected, and how do these relate to Christian ritual/conversion?

 

The class time will be spent in dialogue over these questions and others that emerge in the course of reading and discussing the material.  The instructor will provide material from outside of the reading as appropriate; the primary purpose of the class meetings, however, is to discuss the assigned readings.  It is therefore essential that the material be read before each class.

 

 

Written Assignments (please follow guidelines of the St. Bernard’s Style Sheet):

 

Short discussion papers (2 per student, one on a theological text and one on an assigned novel): Two-pages each, first half-page consisting of three to five bulleted items highlighting significant points from the reading/novel, remainder consisting of a double-spaced theological/pastoral reflection on one of the issues highlighted.  (See “class participation” for appropriate types of theological/pastoral reflection questions.)  Copies to be distributed to all class members.  Assignments/due dates will be decided the first day of class.

 

Final paper (8 pages minimum, double-spaced, due on or before June 27.): Each student will choose one of the following (or may propose an alternative topic for approval of the instructor by May 30):

 

      1) a narrative analysis of a liturgical rite including some examples (of themes, plots, characters) from film or literature that connect theologically to the analysis (see closing page of this syllabus for a possible approach)

                        or

      2) a narrative-theological analysis of the film Babette’s Feast, including some discussion of religious ritual/liturgical parallels

                        or

      3) a review of Robert K. Johnston’s Reel Spirituality or Roy M. Anker’s Catching Light: Looking for God in Movies, including references to other course material and class discussions

 

 

 

Course Instructional Methods: The methods utilized to help involve the students in the learning process include: a predominantly seminar-style of class discussion and participation (see class procedure and presentations, above); lectures to provide material supplementary to the readings; the viewing of films to allow material into the discussion that goes beyond the verbal/textual; individual dialogue with the instructor by appointment; and written assignments and a presentation that help to integrate the course material. 

 

 

Course Outcomes: Successful completion of the requirements for this particular course will provide the student with the following specific competencies:

 

1)   A basic familiarity with narrative analysis, particularly for theological use;

 

2)   An understanding, enhanced through personal and class reflection, of the various relationships between narrativity, conversion, daily life, and liturgy/ritual;

 

4)   An initial appropriation of a method for approaching ritual texts in their present form with a view to interpreting and implementing it on a firm theological basis;

 

3)   An appreciation of the plurality of ways that narrative analysis can be applied (e.g., liturgical, homiletic, catechetical, spiritual, ethical and pastoral issues and questions);

 

5)   An ability to reflect theologically on narrative structures as integrating the personal and communal dimensions of Christian life and spirituality;

 

6)   Improvement of skills in written and oral expression.

 

 

Methods of Assessment: The student's performance will be assessed on the basis of critical attentiveness to and integration of assigned readings and material presented in class, and on the quality of the student's written and oral expression.  Evidence of these criteria is to be given by the student as appropriate to the various course requirements:

 

·         reading assignments/class participation (20% of course grade)

·         discussion papers (40% [20% each] of course grade)

·         final paper (40% of course grade)

 

 

 

 

Course Schedule and Reading Assignments:

 

May 9       Introduction to the Course: Theology and Narrative Analysis

 

Recommended:   

            Michael Skelley, “The Liturgy of the World and the Liturgy of the Church: Karl Rahner’s Idea of Worship,” Worship 62 (1989) 112-132.

 

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May 16     Narrative     

                  (class will view Stranger Than Fiction)

 

Read:   Haughton, pp. 3-84.

 

            Stephen Crites, “The Narrative Quality of Experience” in Why Narrative?: Readings in Narrative Theology, eds. Stanley Hauerwas and L. Gregory Jones, pp. 65-88.

 

            Louis-Marie Chauvet, “Symbolic Exchange” in The Sacraments: The Word of God at the Mercy of the Body, pp. 117-127.

 

Recommended:   

            Johnston, Ch. 6: “In Film, Story Reigns Supreme,” pp. 135-162.

 

            Paul Ricoeur, “Life: A Story in Search of a Narrator” in A Ricoeur Reader: Reflection & Imagination, ed. Mario J. Valdés, pp. 425-437.

 

 

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May 23     Anamnesis and Everyday Life; Conversion and Convention

                  (class will view Ordinary People)

 

Read:   Annie Dillard, “An Expedition to the Pole”

 

            Lois Lowry, The Giver

 

            Haughton, pp. 85-150

 

            Mark Searle, "The Narrative Quality of Christian Liturgy," Chicago Studies 21:1 (1982): 73-84.

 

Recommended:   

            Anker, Ch. 11: “‘Of Angels and Headaches’: The Unexpected God of Grand Canyon,” pp. 318-344.

 

            Johnston, Ch. 4: “Why Look at Film? A Theological Perspective,” pp. 87-115.

 

            David A. Stosur, “Liturgy and (Post)Modernity: A Narrative Response to Guardini’s Challenge,” Worship 77 (2003) 22-41.

 

 

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May 30     Pilgrimage; Fiction and Eschaton

                  (class will view Finding Neverland)

 

Read:   Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

 

            Haughton, pp. 153-210.

 

Recommended:   

            Anker, Ch. 4: “‘The Wings of a Dove’: The Search for Home in Tender Mercies,” pp. 124-142.

 

            Mark Searle, “The Journey of Conversion,” Worship 54 (1980): 35-55.

 

 

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June 6       Comedy and Sacrifice; History, Ritual, Identity

                  (class will view La Vita È Bella)

 

Read:   Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees

 

            Haughton, pp. 210-280.

 

Recommended:   

            Anker, Ch. 7: “‘In the Regions of the Heart’: The Meeting of Art and Belief in Babette’s Feast,” pp. 191-214.

 

            Nathan Mitchell, “Being Beautiful, Being Just” in Gabe Huck, et al., Toward Ritual Transformation: Remembering Robert W. Hovda (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2003), 71-89.

 

 

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June 13     Reconciliation

                  (class will view The Mission)

 

Read:   Michael Malone, Handling Sin

 

Recommended:   

            Anker, Ch. 6: “‘The Laughter Beyond Tears’: Loves Redemptive Call in The Mission,” pp. 163-190.

 

 

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June 27 (not a class day) Final paper due.  

 

 

Selected Bibliography on Narrative and on its relation to Ritual/Liturgy:

 

Anderson, Herbert, and Edward Foley.  “Liturgy and Pastoral Care: The Parable of Dying and Grieving.”  New Theology Review 1 (1988): 15-27.

 

Cavanaugh, William T.  “The World in a Wafer: A Geography of the Eucharist as Resistance to Globalization.”  Modern Theology 15:2 (April 1999): 181-196.

 

Chauvet, Louis-Marie.  The Sacraments: The Word of God at the Mercy of the Body.  Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2001.

 

----------.  Symbol and Sacrament: A Sacramental Reinterpretation of Christian Existence.  Trans. Patrick Madigan and Madeleine Beaumont.  Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1995.

 

Chicago Studies 21:1 (1982) (entire thematic issue: "Storytelling and Christian Faith")

 

Clader, Linda.  “Preaching the Liturgical Narrative: The Easter Vigil and the Language of Myth.”  Worship 72 (1998): 147-162.

 

Detweiler, Robert.  Story, Sign, and Self: Phenomenology and Structuralism as Literary-Critical Methods.  Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1978.

 

Duffy, Regis.  "American Time and God's Time."  Worship 62 (1988): 515-532.

 

Hauerwas, Stanley, and L. Gregory Jones, eds.  Why Narrative?: Readings in Narrative Theology.  Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1989.  (Reprinted Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 1997.)

                       

Horne, Brian.  “Theology in the Narrative Mode.”  In Campion Encyclopedia of Theology, ed. Peter Byrne and Leslie Houldon.  London and New York: Routledge, 1995.  Pp. 958-973.

 

Hughes, Kathleen.  Saying Amen: A Mystagogy of Sacrament.  Chicago: Liturgy Training Publications, 1999.

 

Jenson, Robert W.  “How the World Lost Its Story.”  First Things 36 (October 1993): 19-24.

 

Kearney, Richard.  On Stories.  London and New York: Routledge, 2002.

 

Kilmartin, Edward J.  "The Catholic Tradition of Eucharistic Theology: Towards the New Millenium."  Theological Studies 55 (1994): 405-57.

 

LaVerdiere, Eugene.  “The Eucharist in the Early Church – XI.  Telling What Happened: The Genesis of a Liturgical Narrative.”  Emmanuel 101:1 (1995): 3-14.

 

Loughlin, Gerard.  Telling God's Story: Bible, Church and Narrative Theology.  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.

 

Lukken, Gerard.  “Liturgy and Language: An Approach from Semiotics.”  Questions liturgiques 73 (1992): 36-52.

 

Mitchell, Nathan D.  “Ritual as Reading.”  In Joanne M. Pierce and Michael Downey, eds.  Source and Summit: Commemorating Josef A. Jungmann, S.J.  Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1999.  Pp. 161-181.

 

Navone, John.  Seeking God in Story.  Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1990.

 

Power, David N.  Sacrament: The Language of God’s Giving.  New York: Crossroad, 1999.  See especially Ch. 5, "Verbal Polyphony," pp. 149-177.

 

----------.  Unsearchable Riches: The Symbolic Nature of Liturgy.  New York: Pueblo, 1984.  See especially Ch. 5, "Myth, Narrative, Metaphor," pp. 108-143.

 

Ricoeur, Paul.  Figuring the Sacred: Religion, Narrative, and Imagination.  Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1995.

 

----------.  “Life: A Story in Search of a Narrator.”  In A Ricoeur Reader: Reflection and Imagination, ed. Maril J. Valdés.  Toronto and Buffalo: University of Toronto, 1991.  Pp. 425-437.

 

----------.  "The Narrative Function."  In Hermeneutics and the Human Sciences: Essays on Language, Action and Interpretation.  Ed. and trans. John B. Thompson.  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, and Paris: Editions de la Maison des Sciences de l"Homme, 1981.  Pp. 274-96.

 

----------.  Oneself as Another.  Trans. by Kathleen Blamey.  Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992.

 

----------.  Time and Narrative, 3 vols.  Trans. by Kathleen McLaughlin and David Pellauer.  Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984-1988.

 

Schaeffler, Richard.  "'Therefore we remember. . . .' The Connection between Remembrance and Hope in the Present of the Liturgical Celebration. Religious-philosophical Reflections on a Religious Understanding of Time."  In Angelus A. Häussling, ed.  The Meaning of the Liturgy.  Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1994.  Pp. 15-39.

 

Scholes, Robert, and Robert Kellogg.  The Nature of Narrative.  Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1966.

 

Searle, Mark.  “The Journey of Conversion.”  Worship  54 (1980): 35-55.

 

----------.  "The Narrative Quality of Christian Liturgy."  Chicago Studies 21:1 (1982): 73-84.

 

Shea, John.  Stories of God: An Unauthorized Bibliography.  Chicago: Thomas More Press, 1978.

 

Stosur, David A.  “Bread of Life, Justice of God: Eucharistic Structures and the Transformation to Christian Justice.”  Liturgical Ministry 7 (Fall 1998): 182-189.

 

----------.  “‘Filling in the Blanks’: Liturgy, Story, and Catechesis,” TLC: Today’s Liturgy with Children (Spring 2007): online at http://www.ocp.org/en/TLC/2007/3/17421.php.

 

----------.  “Liturgy and (Post)Modernity: A Narrative Response to Guardini’s Challenge,” Worship 77:1 (January 2003): 22-41.

 

----------.  The Theology of Liturgical Blessing in the Book of Blessings: A Phenomenologico-Theological Investigation of a Liturgical Book.  Doctoral dissertation.  University of Notre Dame, 1994.

 

Stroup, George W.  The Promise of Narrative Theology: Recovering the Gospel in the Church. Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1981. (Reprinted Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 1997.)

 

Taft, Robert.  Beyond East and West: Problems in Liturgical Understanding.  Washington, D.C.: The Pastoral Press, 1984.

 

Tilley, Terrence W.  Story Theology.  Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1985, 1990.

 

van den Hengel, John.  "Paul Ricoeur's Oneself as Another and Practical Theology."  Theological Studies 55 (1994): 458-80.

 

Vogels, Walter.  Reading and Preaching the Bible: A New Semiotic Approach.  Wilmington, DE: Michael Glazier, 1986.

 

Zimmerman, Joyce Ann. “Liturgical Assembly: Who is the Subject of Liturgy?” Liturgical Ministry 3 (Spring 1994): 41-51.

 

----------.  Liturgy as Language of Faith: A Liturgical Methodology in the Mode of Paul Ricoeur’s Textual Hermeneutics.  Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1988.

 

 

 

Analyzing Liturgical Rites

 

(The following questions are intended to aid but not limit one’s analysis of a particular rite.)

 

What is the specific purpose of the rite?

Explain the function of the rite you are analyzing as distinguished from others with the same sacramental/liturgical focus.  (E.g., if Rite I of the Rite of Penance is your subject, what is its purpose in juxtaposition to the other rites of reconciliation?  If the Rite of Confirmation is your subject, what is its role within the complex of initiation rites? If one part of the Eucharistic liturgy is your subject, how does it relate to other parts structurally and functionally?)

 

Explain and evaluate the (liturgical) theology the rite expresses.

What basic liturgical principles (e.g., active participation, communal and ecclesial context/identity, etc.) are evidenced (or presupposed) in the rite?  What theological understanding emerges from the introduction to the rite and from the prayers, responses, gestures and actions of the rite itself? (E.g., what is the operative christology or soteriology?  How does the rite express the relationship between God and human beings?)

 

How well does the ritual text correspond to the principles set forth in the praenotanda?

The praenotanda, or theological and pastoral introductory notes to the rites, try to give some description of the rites and their underlying meaning.  How well does the introduction correlate to the rite itself?  Are there points at which the praenotanda emphasize one thing while the rite seems to be saying something different or even conflicting?

 

Suggest ways in which the rite can be implemented and/or adapted for effective celebration.

Liturgy is not a book or a text.  What is presented in the text must be translated into action, living and dynamic, something to be seen, heard, touched, smelled, tasted and entered into.  What can be done to bring this ritual text to liturgical life?  The ways in which one has experienced this celebration before or in which one can anticipate its celebration in one's own worshipping community—for good or for ill—are important starting points for reflection on this question.

 

Suggestions for Reading Ritual Texts

 

1)         Make marginal notes in your study edition as you read along, noting the rite's outline (what headings are used, and how well do they describe what is happening in the rite?), as well as gestures, postures, actions and silences.

 

2)         Locate important issues or questions for theology and practice.

 

3)         Note any "surprises," i.e., items or statements of which you had not been aware, or that seem incompatible with your understanding and experience of the rite.

 

4)         Note points in the text that appear problematic for, as well as those which you feel deserve emphasis in, parish life and liturgical celebration.

 

5)         Note any inconsistencies contained in the rite or in its introduction.

 

6)         Be aware of options presented in the text (e.g., alternative prayer formulas, scripture selections, places where there appears to be room for elaboration or abbreviation).