Core Courses
SRFC 101a The World of Old Testament Biblical Spirituality
Aim:
To introduce the students to the multifaceted spirituality of the Old Testament. The course focuses primarily on the spirituality of the Deuteronomic tradition and seeks to explore the ancient Hebrew understanding of God as one who intervenes and participates in Israel’s history. A brief survey of other Biblical themes is provided to help students reflect upon the various traditions.
Content:
Introduction to Scripture with emphasis on the basic structure of the Bible, inspiration, and revelation; major themes in the Deuteronomic tradition, especially the Pentateuch and historical books; important biblical themes found in the prophets, wisdom literature, and canonical apocalyptic books; biblical themes such as creation, sin, alienation, slavery/exile, exodus and covenant, social justice, public prayer, God’s freedom, priesthood and prophecy, God’s love and the human vocation, messianic expectation, wisdom, hope and God’s future.
SRFC 101b The World of New Testament Biblical Spirituality
Aim:
To introduce students to the multifaceted spiritualities of the New Testament that provide the fundamental patterns of renewed human existence. The course helps students to reflect more deeply on the transformative process of personal and communal engagement with the Gospels and other sacred books of the New Testament.
Content:
Introduction to both the major New Testament traditions (Gospels/Acts, St. Paul’s letters, Catholic epistles, Revelation) and the major New Testament themes such as the reign of God, repentance, prayer, signs/miracles, parables, authority, baptism, eucharist, wealth and poverty, discipleship, mission, love, suffering, discernment, the cross and resurrection, new creation.
SRFC 102 Human Development
Aim:
A one-semester course designed to provide an integrated programme of Western, African and Christian theories and practice of one's own human development. The course: a) exposes students to a number of theories of human development relevant for religious working in cross-cultural contexts; b) encourages exploration and appreciation of human development in relation to the contexts in which the students have grown; and c) stimulates students to critically examine and work through areas of challenge in their development in light of God's redeeming grace.
Content:
Erikson's psycho-social theory of development, Freud's psycho-dynamic theory, family systems theory, African theories of development, Genogram, issues in human development including: abuse, addictions, relationships, sexuality, family and community conflict.
SRFC 103 History of Consecrated Life
Aim:
The course introduces the students to the movements of spirituality in the history of the church and their expression in religious life. The major type and sources of spirituality are examined. The history, growth, and/or decline of religious foundations that flowed from these movements are reviewed. The influence of major historical eras and diverse cultural forces are considered.
Content:
Biblical background, age of the desert, Greek influence, Benedictines, Mendicants, Franciscan and Dominican spiritualities, consecrated life in the Catholic Reformation, Ignatian spirituality, Carmelite Spirituality, French Revolution, Congregations of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Vatican II renewal, post-Vatican developments.
SRFC 105 Doctrinal Foundations of Spirituality
Aim:
This course introduces the students to the basic beliefs and principles of Christian spirituality. It shows how these doctrinal foundations both shape and challenge the lived experience of the Christian life as a way to closer union with God.
Content:
This course explores: the meaning of “spirituality” and “spiritual theology”; human existence as understood in the light of Christian revelation, especially as it concerns Trinity, creation, sin, redemption through God's self-communication (grace) that achieves its fullness in Jesus Christ, and final glorification; the spiritual life as a journey in Christ guided by biblical, psychological and ecclesial principles and using such means as sacraments, prayer and good works; the presuppositions of African spirituality as a particular way for Africans to love and express their faith in Jesus, rooted in their contemporary socio-cultural situation.
SRFC 106 Religious Life in Africa: a Challenge for the Future
Aim:
The course aims at introducing students to a deeper understanding of religious life in its African context and exposing them to the challenges that contemporary cultural changes pose to the religious identity today.
Content:
This course deals with: the understanding of religious life; religious life in its biblical context; the history of religious life in Africa; religious life and African culture; the face of African Christian religious life; the contemporary cultural revolution and religious identity in Africa today; the contemporary situation of the continent and religious identity; and what the laity expect of the religious in Africa today.
SRFC 107 Methodology of Spirituality
Aim:
To enable students to understand what the study of spirituality is, how it carries out research, how it analyzes and codifies data in order to arrive at a new body of knowledge, and how it applies this new knowledge to particular situations in order to test its accuracy and applicability. Students are introduced to the basic study and writing skills and research tools they will need to complete their programme at ISRF.
Content:
Understanding the study of spirituality, methods in the study of spirituality, four characteristics (theoretical, qualitative, directional, dynamic) in the knowledge of spirituality, specific research methods (foundational, dialogical, integrational), research skills and tools (using the library and Typographical Norms, listening and note-taking, academic writing style, planning and writing a research paper).
SRFC 109 Spirituality of African Traditional Religions
Aim:
To expose students to the insights of the formative wisdom of traditional Africans and to help them discover ways of integrating their Christian spirituality with African traditional wisdom.
Content:
Topics include: the rise of an African sense of identity and the response of the church; the understanding of African spirituality; elements of African belief (hierarchy of divinities, ancestral spirits, magico-religious world); African belief and daily life; African prayer (African belief and prayer, occasions of prayer, forms of prayer); African community (the African understanding of person and corporate existence); the journey towards human maturity (marriage and procreation, stages of maturity, death and the hereafter).
SRFC 111A Integration Group
Aim:
The aim of this course is to help students improve those interpersonal skills required of anyone in a people-oriented occupation. The process is also designed to help students come to a practical awareness of their characteristic ways of relating to others, including both strengths and weaknesses. Each student participates actively in the group process in order to develop core interpersonal skills.
Content:
Basic interpersonal skills one needs to perform effectively in all interpersonal situations and especially in groups: self-disclosure, concreteness in communication, expression of feeling and emotion, listening and responding, genuineness and respect, the skills of challenging, effective group participation.
SRFC 111B Personal Counselling
Aim:
To give all diploma students the opportunity to work at an individual level with a qualified counsellor on personal issues, in order to grow in their own self-understanding. As a result, it is hoped the students will be better equipped to accompany others on their journey of self-awareness and healing.
Content:
A maximum of ten weeks of personal counselling with one of the approved counsellors of the Institute. A reflection paper on the experience will be written by the student at the end of the programme.
SRFC 111C Personal Growth Group
Aim:
To provide the students with the experience of a group that has for its focus the growth of each of its members. This experience is intended to support the ongoing work on self-awareness begun in the personal counselling sessions.
Content:
Personal awareness exercises on such issues as: self-knowledge and how it is attained; self-esteem and how it is increased; threats to one's self-esteem; the place of dreams in self-awareness; recognising defensive attitudes and behaviour in oneself; acceptance and constructive use of criticism; learning to respond appropriately and knowing the difference between aggression and assertiveness; sympathy and empathy; being alert to the presence of gender, ethnic, or religious prejudice in one's attitudes and thinking processes; understanding the different 'roles' people play in group situations and how to handle them for the good of the group; creating interpersonal trust, confidentiality and group responsibility in each member.
SRFC 111D Group Supervision
Aim:
To assist the students to develop supervision skills within a group so as to be able to both receive and give competent guidance to their fellow professionals.
Content:
The course helps students to develop the following skills: listening skills (attentiveness, inner calm, empathy, respect), responding skills (accurate reflecting back, attention to feeling words, summarising without interpretation, clarifying) attending skills (staying with the person, refraining from judgement), self-evaluation skills (awareness of feelings, judgments, defenses), skills in receiving feedback (from the directee, the formatee, the supervision group), skills for learning from feedback (developing a 'growing edge' of self –awareness).
SRFC 112 Human Sexuality, Celibacy and Religious Life
Aim:
This course seeks to help students develop a positive self-concept about their own sexuality and celibate commitment within an environment of understanding, respect and personal enrichment. It also seeks to provide a forum within which participants can come to embrace the personal invitation to integrate the sexual-celibate dimensions of their lives.
Content:
Topics include: the gift of sexuality as an energy for relationships; the call to celibacy as a living response to God; understanding the biblical and historical grounding for celibacy; the theological foundations of celibacy; Vatican II and church documents on celibacy and sexuality; understanding the role of intimacy, contemplation and compassion within the lives of celibates (supported within a community of trust); celibacy as an authentic and distinctive form of intimacy with others and with God; the challenges of consecrated celibacy in Africa today (from ambiguity to integrity).
SRFC 120 Spirituality of the Psalms
Aim:
The basic aim of the course is to enable the students to pray the psalms in the Christian context of both personal and liturgical prayer. To achieve this end the psalms will be presented in their historical context as the prayer of God's people and in the light of God's self-revelation in the corporate and individual experience of Israel.
Content:
The historical and religious context in which the psalms were written and prayed; the composition of the Book of Psalms; the various types of psalms, their characteristics and spirituality; analysis of, and Christian reflection on, individual psalms of each type.
SRFC 125 Biblical Understanding of Discipleship
Aim:
The purpose of the course is to bring the students to a deeper understanding of the biblical theology that is contained and implied in the call to Christian discipleship, in the nature of the discipleship to which the Christian is called, and in the qualities that are demanded of the disciple.
Content:
Since the essence of the biblical theology of discipleship is contained in Jesus' instruction to his disciples in the synoptic Gospels, the course will concentrate on analysing that instruction in those gospels and in examining Jesus' disciples' reaction to his teaching and their growth in discipleship.
SRFC 130 Spirituality and Prayer
Aim:To address aspects of prayer in theory and practice, and to help participants to grow in their own prayer lives by: exploring their own understanding and practice; developing the ability to reflect on and verbalize their experience; exploring different methods of prayer; studying theories of growth in the spiritual life and learning how to give practical help to others with their prayer.
Content:
Topics include: getting in touch with one's own prayer history; prayer as personal relationship; images of God and of self and how they affect prayer; the biblical basis of prayer; prayer in the tradition of the church; prayer and discernment; praying our experiences; awareness examen relating prayer and life; making vocal prayer meaningful; using the Scriptures for prayer; difficulties in prayer; prayer and asceticism; stages of spiritual growth; importance of guidance; prayer and psychological development; liturgical prayer and the sacraments.
SRFC 142 Principles of Accompaniment
Aim:
This course is designed to assist people in becoming practitioners of the art of personal accompaniment in the areas of formation and spiritual development, by providing a theoretical and practical approach.
Content:
Topics include: the history of mentoring; mentoring and transformation; the helping relationship; establishing rapport; understanding the individual; responding; attending to the needs of the disciple; the concept of a 'soul friend'; discerning the 'call'; communication skills.
SRFC 150 Spiritual Discernment
Aim:
This course explores contemporary writings on Ignatian discernment along with Bernard Lonergan's cognitive structure and transcendental precepts, building an understanding of human decision-making as the basis for Christian discernment.
Content:
Topics covered include: the structure of human understanding and decision-making; the influence of cultural values on the human decision-making process; Ignatian principles of discernment; discernment of spirits; virtues necessary for proper discernment; understanding the movements of the spirit and the place of prayer in discernment.
SRFC 226 St. Paul: Forming Communities through Personal Experience
Aim:
To discern the spirituality of St. Paul, students will journey with Paul and discuss how Paul's image of God was defined and redefined by his experiences. Out of these experiences they will see how Paul develops his theology and how he forms his communities. Class discussion will be concerned with the practical implication of a Pauline spirituality for us today.
Content:
This course will deal with: Paul, the person on a journey; the call of Paul and grace; the formation of Pauline communities; The Council of Jerusalem and the missionary Paul; crisis and conflicts in the life of Paul; Christ and the law and freedom; Paul's later theology; Pauline formation for today.
SRFC 227 The Gospel of John: A Dialogue with the Word
Aim:
The aim of the course is to help students appreciate and appropriate the uniqueness of John's understanding of Jesus. The major themes of the gospel will be explored as well as some characteristics of the way in which John presents his story of Jesus as a story of encounter. Particular attention will be given to the mode of Jesus' dialogue with various characters, as a model of faith journey accompaniment.
Content:
Topics include: the Word becomes flesh;Jesus, the sent one; signs: the revelation of life and the response of faith; the glory of God; Jesus says farewell: love and the Spirit; the hour of glorification; mission.
SRFC 235 The Foundations of Christian Mission Spirituality
Aim:
To engage the students in a dialogue with some of the dominant themes, concerns and attitudes of spirituality for mission. Inherent in this spirituality is a call to the transformation necessary to embrace the multicultural and universal dimensions of Christ’s mission as well as to aid others who wish to commit themselves to Christ’s mission.
Content:
Themes include: the nature and scope of missionary spirituality; missionary spirituality of the early church; Matthew: missionary spirituality and disciple-making; Luke-Acts: missionary spirituality and practising forgiveness and solidarity with the poor; Paul: missionary spirituality and the invitation to join the eschatological community; missionary spirituality of the eastern church; missionary spirituality and monasticism; missionary spirituality and the rise of apostolic religious life; spirituality of 19th century founders of missionary groups; profile of 20th century missionary spirituality; contextual missionary spirituality; towards a personal synthesis.
SRFC 236 The Spirituality of Religious Vows
Aim:
This course first contextualizes the practice of religious profession over time; participants then consider the impacts of historical consciousness and Vatican II on the understanding of religious life.
Content:
The introductory section includes an examination of the biblical foundations for religious life. The course then focuses on each of the vows, their meaning and mystery, the biblical models, and how they are understood in the contemporary church. The course concludes with a consideration of temporary vs. permanent commitment, and friendship in the lives of consecrated celibates.
SRFC 238 Trinity and the Spiritual Life
Aim:
The life of grace comes to us from the Father, through the Son and in the Holy Spirit. We appropriate God's gift and respond to it by means of faith, love of God and neighbour, prayer, liturgy, moral life and dynamic involvement in the church's mission. All these activities, taken together, constitute our "spiritual life". In the Spirit and through the Son we return to the Father and live in a communion with him that tends to transform and 'divinise' us interiorly. Grace and spirituality are, therefore, Trinitarian in structure. The aim of the present course is to make students more deeply aware of this Trinitarian structure of our new life in Christ, by exploring the mystery of the Trinity itself and showing how we participate in it
Content:
Topics include: The Trinity in Scripture; the church fathers’ reflection on this mystery and its dogmatic formulation; the Trinity in the writings of mystics and theologians, both ancient and modern; the African context: the Trinity as 'Divine Family'; the Trinity in the liturgy and in prayer; the Trinity in religious life and in the church's mission; the Holy Spirit as inner principle of divinization in the life of Christ, in the church, in our individual spiritual lives, in world religions, and in secular society.
SRFC 245 Spiritual Guidance
Aim:
This course builds upon “SRFC 142: Principles of Accompaniment” and addresses the needs of the more specialised Spiritual Guidance Process.
Content:
Topics include: the meaning and purpose of spiritual guidance; the role of the guide/director; the history of spiritual guidance and the various styles/families in the church; the centrality of religious experience and criteria for evaluating religious experience for a healthy spirituality; the relationship between God and the individual; interior movements (consolation and desolation); the basis of the spiritual guidance relationship; review of prayer; gender issues in spiritual guidance; the place of suffering in spirituality; the role of narrative in spiritual guidance; the problem with problems.
SRFL 100 Long Essay
Diploma students are granted six credits for successful completion of their long essay or comparable project (e.g., development of a formation retreat or formation programme, compilation of a formation file/kit).
SRFL 101 Long Essay Seminar
Aim:
This one-credit course for diploma students ensures that they are able to comply adequately with the requirements for successful completion of the long essay.
Content:
Topics include: Developing a timetable and outline for the long essay; following Tangaza requirements regarding Typographical Norms, avoidance of plagiarism, etc.
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