DPLS 775fa09 Leadership, Discernment, and Vocation

Course:  DPLS  775 Leadership, Discernment  and Vocation           

Professor:  Silvia Behrend

Semester:    Fall 2009                                             Email: revdocsil@gmail.com

Phone:             360 259 3971                                  Office Hours: by appt.               

Dates:  Thursdays, 6-10pm:  September 3, 17, October 1, 15, 22, November 5, 19, December 3

Mission of the Program

The Doctoral Program in Leadership at Gonzaga University is premised on the belief that leadership is based on a deep understanding of the self and of the core values that drive one's actions. Thus effective leadership requires the development of a compelling personal vision that engages others by offering meaning, dignity, and purpose. The ultimate aim of leadership is the building of more humane relationships, organizations, and societies.  Effective leaders need to develop the critical imagination required to embrace individual, organizational, and global change from a stance of hope and courage.

Course Overview & Description:

In everyday life, then, we must hold ourselves in balance
We should not fix our desires on health or sickness,
Wealth or poverty, success or failure, a long life or a short one.
For everything has the potential of calling forth in us
A deeper response to our life in God.

St. Ignatius of Loyola

http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/prs/stign/prayers.html

One is asked, then, to accept the human condition, its sufferings and its joys, and to work with its imperfections as the foundation upon which the individual will build wholeness through adventurous creative achievement.  For the person with creative potential there is no wholeness expect in using it.  And, as Camus explained, the going is rough and the respite is brief. (Greenleaf & Spears, 1977)

These two quotes form the foundation for this class.   It is designed to function as a spiritual retreat based on the Ignatian principle of discernment through awareness of the holy in one's life.   The core beliefs of this class are:

• Each person has creative potential
• Leaders have a responsibility to strive toward wholeness.
• Leaders must have a firm foundation, a faith stance that provides the inner stability required to lead in difficult times.
• The process of becoming whole includes study and reflection, science and creativity, silence and work in the world.
• Leadership is built on relationships that enhance the well-being of all. The relationships to nurture are: self to self, self to others and self to the Divine.

           One of the many ways to listen to the deep call of vocation/Spirit is to engage deeply in contemplation of one's role in the world through art, music, dance and prayer in community.  Thus, class time is dedicated to the experience of discernment in a living community that supports and sustains each student's vocation.  

The goal of the readings is to prepare students for forming their personal theologically based spiritual practice which will inform their praxis of servant-leadership.  We will be engaging in various forms of creative exploration in various media.  There is a $50.00 materials fee payable to Silvia Behrend for art supplies due the first week of class.

Course assignments:

Silvia Behrend The art of community, the community of art.  (Unpublished Doctor        of  Ministry dissertation, Meadville/Lombard Theological School 2005)   available as a reader on Blackboard.  Behrend describes the tenets of process theology and its relationship to creativity. Assignment:  articulate your understanding of this theology of creativity in a 3-5 page paper.  Due by September 17, 2009.

Rollo May.  The Courage to Create.  New York:  W.W. Norton.  (1994.) Creativity is the freedom of artists to give all the elements within themselves free play  (76)  Create an activity that will engage the class in some form of free play.  We will discuss this assignment in more detail in class.  Due:  October 15, 209

James Wakefield. Sacred listening: Discovering the spiritual exercises of Ignatius Loyola. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books. (2006).  Wakefield presents a cogent and easy to follow spiritual practice based on Ignatius of Loyola.  Assignment:  Complete Units 2 and 3.   These two units lead you on a course of meditation with specific biblical texts.  Feel free to use any book that is holy for you.  It can be secular or religious.  We will make use of these charts sometime during the class.  The instructions and charts schema are posted on Blackboard.  Begin this at least by October 11, 2009, as we will use it on October 29. 2009

Parker Palmer. Let your Life Speak:  Listening for the Voice of Vocation.  San Francisco:  JosseyBass (2000)  Write a 3-5 page pager allowing your inner self to speak about your life:  who are you now and who are you called to be?   What does your soul need in order to become who you would be?  Due:  November 19, 2009.

Final assignment:  Based on the readings and the class experience, write a 10-12 paper that answers the following questions:

• What is your theological belief system?
• How does your theology inform your spiritual practice?
• How does the above affect your understanding of the praxis leadership?
• How do you plan to incorporate a spiritual dimension to your work, both as a doctoral student and as a leader in your field of work?
• Due: December 18, 2009.

Grading and attendance:

To receive an A students must:

• Complete and send in all assignments on time.
• Attend and be prepared to participate in all scheduled class times
• Contact me if unable to attend before the absence (as possible)
• Excessive absences (more than two absences) will result in a lower grade.

References:

Greenleaf, R., & Spears, L. C. (Eds.). (1977). Servant leadership:  A journey into the nature of legitimate power and greatness (25th Anniversary Edition ed.). Mahwah: Paulist Press