Bread for the Journey:

Imaginative Literature for
Preaching, Teaching, and Formation

2008 Summer Continuing Education

June 2-6, 2008

Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest

Austin, Texas

The Diocese of Texas will award 12 CEUs (professional) for completion of this program

Persons from other dioceses should consult with the person responsible for administering CEUs to see if their dioceses will also approve this Continuing Education Program for CEUs.

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Stories and poems hold power for us for many reasons: they can serve as dramatic illustrations for sermons, provide rich resources for teaching and counseling, and can broaden and deepen our own humanity as we enter into and experience them.

In this summer course designed for clergy, educators, and lay leaders, we will examine novels, spiritual autobiographies, poems, films, and other imaginative literature to discover how they can heighten our awareness of God, the Church, and ourselves, and how we might use those understandings in the work to which we have been called.

The week will include lecture, discussion, sample teaching and preaching sessions, and imaginative worship to introduce participants to new works and to demonstrate how imaginative literature might be useful in their pulpits and parishes.

Dr. Greg Garrett will lead the 2008 Summer Continuing Education Program at the Seminary of the Southwest. Greg is the author of the critically-acclaimed novels Free Bird and Cycling, the spiritual autobiography Crossing Myself, and non-fiction books on religion and imaginative literature including The Gospel According to Hollywood and The Gospel Reloaded (with Chris Seay). He is also, with Seay, Brian McLaren, Lauren Winner, and other writers, a lead writer for The Voice, a Bible project from Thomas Nelson for the Emerging Church; Greg is personally responsible for Mark, Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, and other books of the Bible with a strong narrative strain.

Greg is Professor of English at Baylor University, where he has twice won university-wide teaching awards, Writer-in-Residence at the Episcopal Theological Seminary, where he received his M.Div., and a lay preacher and teacher at St. David’s Episcopal Church in Austin. He teaches, speaks, and leads retreats or workshops on narrative, religion, imaginative literature, and spirituality across the US and abroad.

Recommended preparation for this workshop will include a short suggested reading list, a viewing list of films, and Greg’s book The Gospel According to Hollywood, which we will employ as an introduction to reading texts for spiritual meaning.

Participants will also compile and share a list of imaginative works that have been formative in their personal and spiritual development or important in their work. We will compile and distribute a list of these works to all participants as a resource.

Information

DATES: The session begins on Monday evening, June 2, with registration and dinner, and concludes Friday, June 6, after lunch.

SESSION COSTS: Tuition for this week-long program is $325.00. An additional $150.00 Room & Board charge includes three daily meals and on-campus housing at the seminary. Campus housing is limited. For those persons who do not need seminary housing, an additional $25.00 fee will provide noon meals through the week. Payment is by check or cash only. Registration deadline is May 23.

Questions? Contact Nance Busbey by email or 512.439.0322.

Bread for the Journey –

Imaginative Literature for Preaching, Teaching and Formation

Literature and Films that will be covered during the session

Reading or viewing as many of these as you can will enhance your

experience in June

 Note that this list is not required reading and viewing

Interpretation –

The Gospel according to Hollywood – Greg Garrett

Fiction –

“Cathedral” – “A Small, Good Thing” – Where I’m Calling From: Selected Stories – Raymond Carver

A Lesson before Dying – Ernest Gaines

 The Heart of the Matter – Graham Greene

 To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee

Gilead – Maryanne Robinson

Non-fiction –

“Knocking on Heaven’s Door” – “Ashes” – “Traveling Mercies” – Traveling Mercies – Anne Lamott

 Leaving Church – Barbara Brown Taylor

Poetry –

Compass of Affection – Scott Cairns

R.S. Thomas (Everyman) – R.S. Thomas

Films –

Batman Begins

 The Bourne Identity

 Crash

 Dead Man Walking

 Magnolia

Million-Dollar Baby

 Munich

 Pulp Fiction

 Spider-Man II

 Stranger than Fiction

A recent Continuing Education Program drew 37 participants
from 20 dioceses across the country

Past Continuing Education programs at the Seminary of the Southwest have included:

"Stirring the Pot: Exercising the Liturgical Imagination" with the Rev. Dr. William Seth Adams, professor-emeritus of liturgics and Anglican studies and Dr. Russell Schulz, associate professor of chuch music, organist and choirmaster -- both from ETSS.

"Doing Theology As If People Mattered -- History, Culture and Context" with the Rev. Dr. Stephen B. Bevans, SVD, and "When Optimism Dies: Preaching Hope in a Time of Conflict" with the Rev. Dr. Roger Paynter in 2004.

"Seeing the Unseen" with writer Nora Gallagher and artist Marie Schoeff and "Hard Questions: Whatever to Say," a program that explored all perspectives on lay presidency at the eucharist, the blessing of same sex unions, and the question as to who is welcome at the table with ETSS professor William Seth Adams in 2002.

"Organic Anglicanism" with the Rev. Mark Harris, author and executive director of the Global Episcopal Mission and "Conversation in the Canon," a look at the similarities between early days of Christianity and the present day with ETSS professor Cynthia Kittredge in 2001.

"Torah Piety" with the Rev. Dr. William J.A. Power, professor-emeritus of biblical studies at the Perkins School of Theology and "Walker Percy: Priest as Diagnostician" with ETSS professor Charles James Cook in 2000.

A joint session in 1999 with ETSS and Virginia Seminary featuring four discussions: "Seeing & Believing: Religion and Values in the Movies" with Margaret Miles, dean of the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley; "The Gospel of Mark: From Preaching to Praxis" with Raymond Pickett, New Testament faculty at the Lutheran Seminary Program in the Southwest; "Tell the Old, Old Story" with Pablo Jiménez, then faculty member at ETSS; and "Attending to Call" with Marjory Bankson, president of Faith at Work.

"Can Hymns Survive When Choruses Thrive? -- A Pastor's Theology of Congregational Song" with the Rev'd Dr. Brian Wren and "Liturgical Planning and the Imagination" with ETSS professor William Seth Adams in 1998.