Content

This unit builds on the learning done in the unit DD8202W Art of Spiritual Companioning I. Students will engage in advanced listening skills including body language and awareness, and how the unconscious impacts lived experience; stages of spiritual development; noticing and observing as a method of discernment; the relevance of contextual issues; ethics and professional standards and psychological issues such as anxiety, depression and trauma, including referral practices and Grief and loss. Practical work and supervision continue at a deeper level from the first unit.

Unit code: DD8203W

Unit status: Approved (Minor revision)

Points: 48.0

Unit level: Postgraduate Foundational

Unit discipline: Spiritual Direction

Delivery Mode: Face to Face

Proposing College: Whitley College

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Learning outcomes

1.

Demonstrate a working knowledge of the code of ethics and professional practices for spiritual companions

2.

Critically reflect on the basic spiritual practices including analysis of faith and doubt, revelation, conversion, divine images, and personal transformation for spiritual companioning practice

3.

Demonstrate a critical understanding of the stages of spiritual development and how they relate to the experience of people participating in spiritual companioning

4.

Identify and analyse a variety of contextual issues such as gender, sexuality, familial, cultural and religious backgrounds that influence the practice of spiritual companioning

5.

Critically reflect on their own experience of spirituality and its influence on how they companion those who attend spiritual companioning.

Unit sequence

The prerequisite unit for this unit is DD8202W Art of Spiritual Companioning I (Formerly named Art of Spiritual Direction 1) or equivalent. Prohibited combination: Art of Spiritual Direction 2

Pedagogy

Lectures, personal reflection, sharing in triad groups, supervised practice

Indicative Bibliography

  • = set texts recommended for purchase *
  • Carretto, C. I Sought and I Found: My Experience of God and of the Church. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1984.
  • Edwards, D. How God Acts: Creation, Redemption and Special Divine Action. Minneapolis, Minn.: Fortress Press, 2010
  • Fowler, J. Stages of Faith: The Psychology of Human Development and the Quest for Meaning, New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1995.
  • Fowler, J. Becoming Adult, Becoming Christian, Revised edition, San Francisco: Jossey Bass, 2000.
  • Hagberg, J. and R. A. Guelich, The Critical Journey: Stages in the Life of Faith. Dallas: Word Pub., 1989. *
  • Liebert, E. Changing Life Patterns. St Louis: Chalice Press, 2000.
  • Liebert, E. The Way of Discernment: Spiritual Practices for Decision Making. Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008.
  • Ruffing, J. Spiritual Direction: Beyond the Beginnings. New York: Paulist Press, 2000.

Assessment

Type Description Word count Weight (%)
Essay

Essay

5000 40.0
Book Review

Book review

3000 15.0
Journal

Reflection Journal

3000 15.0
Essay

10 Verbatim reports – 500 words each

5000 30.0
Approvals

Unit approved for the University of Divinity by Maggie Kappelhoff on 17 Sep, 2021

Unit record last updated: 2021-10-11 12:59:45 +1100