YOUTH INITIATIVE HIGH SCHOOL
Waldorf Initiative in Viroqua, Wisconsin, USA
COURSES AND CLASSES
Modern Religious
Thought
10th and 12th Grades
March 2007
Teacher: Lars Bergan
In this class we will read works from great religious writers of the 19th and 20th centuries. Our particular focus will be the hope represented by the ecumenical movement—the willingness of modern religious leaders to reach out to each other. We will see how modern communication technology and widespread translation have allowed great thinkers of the different traditions to develop themes and ideas that combine . We’ll read the book Awareness, by Anthony de Mello, a Jesuit Catholic priest who was born and raised in India. This book will help each of us to examine closely our own lives, beliefs, fears, and hopes, and to see how “worldly” values eventually lead to anger and disappointment.
Each class will have three components. Each day for the first twenty minutes of class we’ll engage in prayer or meditation. Generally this will be led by the teacher but one some days we’ll have a guest speaker, and students who are interested may volunteer to lead the class in meditation. The second portion of the class will be a discussion of the previous night’s reading, and the third will be a lecture on a person or event relevant to this subject (see below).
Students will be expected to hand in two things on the last day of class: a daily journal containing at least 12 entries, and a 3 page paper on a subject relevant to this class. Enrichment activities, including solitude and sensory deprivation experiences, will be available but not required. A list of possible topics will be distributed the first week of class, and students must hand in their first paragraph and topic sentence by Friday, March 30.
Class Schedule:
Monday: Intro—our historical moment and the role religion is playing
Tuesday: Reading pgs. 1-19; The life of Dorothy Day
Wednesday: Reading pgs. 19-42; The life of Freidrich Nietzsche
Thursday: Reading pgs. 42-62 The life of Rudolf Steiner
Friday: Reading 62-84; The life of Leo Tolstoy
Monday: Reading 84-103—The life of Mother Teresa
Tuesday: Reading 103-126—Guest presenter
Wednesday: Reading 126-147—The life of Thich Nhat Hanh
Thursday: Reading 147-168—Guest presenter Lisa O’Connor
Friday: Reading 168-end. First Paragraphs Due.
Monday—the writings of Mahatma Gandhi
Tuesday—The writings of the Dalai Lama
Wednesday—The writings of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
Thursday—The writings of Pope John Paul II—Papers and Journals Due