09.08.10
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Title: Finding Your Calling: The Renaissance Within   
Author: Diane Dreher
Synopsis: Vocation, or calling, is a vital theme in theology and literary history, developed over five centuries ago in Early Modern Europe when Renaissance theologians moved beyond the Medieval belief that only a few were “called” by God to celibate religious lives as priests, monks, and nuns. Renaissance reformers claimed that all men and women were called to use their talents (or “gifts”) as part of the divine plan. Vocation, for Martin Luther, John Calvin and their contemporaries, included everyone from kings to commoners: artists, artisans, diplomats, doctors, domestic servants, farmers, lawyers, merchants, ministers, students, teachers, and people like you and me. As English theologian William Perkins explained, “every person of every degree, state, sex, or condition, without exception must have some personal and particular calling.” Because Renaissance men and women expected to discover their callings, in remarkable ways, they found them. Their vocations illuminated their lives as they combined ideals and action into unprecedented creative contributions to science, religion, politics, and the arts.

This course will study the relationships between vocation and Early Modern history, culture, faith, and identity, examining how Renaissance men and women developed their vocations and drawing parallels to our lives today. Reading and reflecting on Renaissance literature, we will explore the creative awakenings that occur when people balance action with contemplation, discover their gifts, detach from impediments, and discern their deepest values, then chart new directions in life. You will read about vocation in the lives of St. Ignatius as well as Renaissance writers and artists, do an in-depth study of the quest for vocation in one Renaissance life, then report on your findings in an oral presentation and course paper. You will also have the chance to practice contemplation and Ignatian discernment, reflecting on the quest for calling in your life.

  Sections

   Finding Your Calling: Required Texts
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Required Texts

One Renaissance biography or autobiography of your choice from the course list.

Easwaran, Eknath. Meditation. Tomales, CA: Nilgiri Press, 1991.

Hardy, Lee. The Fabric of This World: Inquiries into Calling, Career Choice, and the Design of Human Work. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1990.

Ignatius Loyola, St. The Autobiography of St. Ignatius Loyola. Ed. John C. Olin. Trans. Joseph F. O’Callaghan. New York: Fordham Univ. Press, 1992.

Perkins, William. A Treatise of the Vocations or Callings of Men (1603). In The Work of William Perkins (pp. 441-476). Ed. Ian Breward. Abington, Berkshire, England: Sutton Courtenay Press, 1970. (Eres/Reserve reading)

Vasari, Giorgio. The Lives of the Artists. Trans. Julia Conaway Bondanella and Peter Bondanella. New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1998.

Walton, Isaac. Lives of Doctor John Donne and George Herbert. New York: Bartleby.Com, 2001. http://www.bartleby.com/15/2/. (Read on-line)

Selections from: Buonarotti, Sonnets; Donne, Holy Sonnets; Herbert, The Temple; Marvell, “The Garden;” Milton, Sonnets 7, 19, 23; Traherne, Centuries of Meditation.

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