PRAYING & PRAYERS IN XIAN WORSHIP (LSSP-4400)
(01/31/2022-05/20/2022)
Course Memo
When Christians pray, they are speaking not only to God but to themselves, one another, the community, and the world. They recount the story of God's saving actions, describe their self-identities and struggles, express their aspirations, and nurture hope. Praying creates and cultivates multifaceted relationships between believers, God, creation, and others, articulating theology using poetry and prose, word and music. This course will introduce students to the history, practices, elements, theology, and vocalization of Christian prayers from a wide variety of times, places, and traditions. Topics will include pre-Christian prayer models; connections between scripture, theology and praying; literary and dramatic elements of prayer; cultural aspects of praying; praying in diverse contexts (private, public, and civic; devotional, liturgical, and sacramental); and formative aspects of praying.
Designed for advanced MDiv, MA, and PhD students, this course will combine lecture and seminar discussion. Students from traditions with established collections of prayers will be challenged to look at them from new perspectives but need not compose new texts; students from traditions that utilize original prayers will be free to apply the principles and techniques in composing their own texts. Evaluation will be based on class participation, one in-class presentation, two short prayer analyses, and a final synthesis paper.