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St Benedict’s Wisdom in the Modern World (8 Feb 2022)

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Home Short Courses Contemporary Spirituality St Benedict’s Wisdom in the Modern World (8 Feb 2022)

About the St Benedict’s Wisdom in the Modern World (8 Feb 2022) course

The Rule of St Benedict addresses the shortcomings of the modern world through a healthy spirituality that gives the right attention to body and interrelations. In this short course we will explore the ways in which the Rule of St Benedict might be applied today and what we can learn from this ancient rule of life that prioritises ‘healthy’ spirituality.

The modern world is characterised by disembodiment and abstraction, which in turn influence the ways we understand ourselves. Understood properly, the Rule of St Benedict addresses the shortcomings of the modern world through a spirituality that can be captured by the epithet ‘healthy’, in the sense of ‘respecting and promoting the human flourishing of the whole person’.

Many modern readers are nonplussed by the extent to which a spiritual text like the Rule is far more concerned with the body than with inner life. Indeed, Benedict spends most of his time talking about eating, sleeping, working, reading, talking, smiling, and especially about toiling in community life. And yet all these factors are deeply ‘spiritual’ in Benedict’s mind. For him, the healthiest way of seeking God is through community life because he knows that there is no way to flourish, other than through interaction with our environment and others, and no relation with God other than through the mediations of body, fellowship, history, and Scripture.

Course leader
Fr Luigi Gioia was a Benedictine Monk for 25 years in Italy and France and is now Assistant Priest and Head of Formation at the Anglican Parish of St Paul Knightsbridge in London. He was a professor of systematic theology at the Pontifical University of Sant’Anselmo in Rome for many years and now is a research associate at the Von Hügel Institute for Critical Catholic Inquiry at Cambridge University (UK). A retreat leader in several countries, he is the author of several books of spirituality, including Say It to God: In Search of Prayer (the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent Book 2018), Touched by God: The Way to Contemplative Prayer (2018) and The Wisdom of St Benedict. Monastic Spirituality and the Life of the Church (2020)

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The Salisbury CMD course #2592 ticket sales has ended!

Details

Dates & Times

08 Feb 2022
Expired!
10:00 am - 4:00 pm

Category

Contemporary Spirituality

Course code

2592

Other Notes

This course is now sold out.

To accommodate the high demand, it is being repeated on 28 February 2022. Please go to that date on the course calendar to book your place.

What our students say

Netflix, Theology and Pastoral Practice

Peter Butchers on his MA in Theology, Imagination and Culture student experience

How do cultural tropes, like those found in Black Mirror, help bridge the gap between what academic theology espouses and what the everyday Christian believes? In his research as a student on the MA in Theology, Imagination and Culture, Peter Butchers explored platonic philosophy, digital theology and eschatology, and pastoral practice around death and dying.

Read more 

Rewarding Sabbatical Stay

The Revd Greg Syler, is Rector of Ascension & St. George’s, Resurrection Parish in the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, DC USA, spent part of his ministry sabbatical at Sarum College in spring 2022.

His account of the experience begins: ‘I loved spending nearly three weeks of my ministry sabbatical at Sarum College earlier this year.

Not only did I rest, and rest well in the comfortable care of the Sarum College staff, I experienced very significant renewal and fresh insights.’

Read more

The Road Not Taken

Sarum Graduate Mike Truman

January 2022

Five years ago, I told my Warden of Readers that I would not be renewing my licence when it expired in 2019, as I thought my faith was becoming too unorthodox for a Church of England licensed lay minister. As someone who knew me well, she challenged me to actively explore what I did still believe. Thus started the journey that ended last August with the dissertation completing my MA in Theology Imagination and Culture (MATIC) at Sarum College.

Read more 

Clergy Study Breaks

The opportunity for clergy to get away occasionally from their own context, to have an overnight stay in the beautiful setting of Sarum College and all that the Salisbury Cathedral Close offers is hugely valuable. All the clergy I have suggested who have spent 24hrs at Sarum College have benefit greatly from the experienced mentoring where they can talk, reflect, think, plan and pray.

The support and encouragement they receive is excellent and has a positive on their on going ministry. This is something the Diocese of Rochester encourages and supports financially in preparation for their clergy preparing for Extended Ministerial Development Leave (Sabbatical).

— Canon Christopher Dench, Diocese of Rochester Director of Formation and Ministry

Retreats and Private Stays

When I arrived, exhausted and sensitive, I was grateful not to be asked by Reception were I came from, whether I had had a good journey etc. That was the kind of hospitality I needed: a non-intrusive welcome that was found in ancient cultures and still survives in some societies today, where the host asks questions about a stranger and his journey only when the visitor has rested and been given food and drink.

— guest on a private stay

Biblical Study Breaks

I just found it very refreshing – as a leader of a church I don’t get as many opportunities to step out and do courses (my fault, not the church!) and so I loved it. I think it was run really well online – which is a difficult medium to work with.

Pádraig Ó Tuama (pictured) was outstanding in his balance of getting us to engage and sharing his learning. Also the quick availability of resources provided by Sarum College Librarian Jayne Downey was excellent.

— course participant, Story Theology: Narrative Approaches to Scripture

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