EL 4510 Novels: A Resource for Reflection and Teaching
Thursdays 1:10-4:00 p.m.
NW 251
Instructor:
Patricia Lull
NW 120
651-641-3229
Course Description
Novelists, in the development of their plots and characters, invite readers to compare and contrast their own view of reality with that found in their novels. Participants in this course are asked to discover the view of God, humanity, sin, faith and church evoked in fiction, and then learn to reflect on those views in terms of their own convictions. The materials and the process in the course provide participants with resource material for teaching.
Teaching-Learning Goals
1. Establish skills for noting and responding to theological themes and images in fiction.
2. Articulate a critical understanding of the relationship between faith and fiction.
3. Engage several contemporary works of fiction as texts that challenge and clarify an understanding of theological themes.
4. Demonstrate proficiency in designing and leading a discussion group for responding to theological themes in a contemporary novel.
Requirements
Basic: do the assigned reading, attend class, participate in discussions and practicum experiences. Class
attendance and active participation is expected for all six weeks of the
course. Since much learning happens in this group context, students are asked
to confer with the instructor if absence from class is necessary. (25%)
There are four short writing assignments or responsibilities for leading discussions. Writing assignments are due at the beginning of the class on the date indicated on the syllabus. (25%)
A final project is due on Monday, December 15, 2008 at noon. Students will present an overview of their project during the final class session on December 11, 2008. The final project will be based on a novel selected by the student and will consist of a two-page book review, a two-page commentary on one or more theological themes addressed in the book, a one-page guide for introducing this novel for use in an adult reading group, a confirmation class, or in another specific ministry context, and one-page of questions to prompt discussion. (50%)
Course Resources
Required reading:
Listening for God, Vol. 2, ed. Paula J. Carlson and Peter S. Hawkins
Wendell Berry, Jayber Crow
Frederick Buechner, Faith and Fiction
Brett Lott, Why Have
We Given Up the Ghost? Notes on Reclaiming Literary Fiction
Flannery O’Connor, Novelist and Believer
Katherine Paterson, Making
Meaning
Recommended reading:
Jennifer Holberg, editor, Shouts and Whispers: Twenty-One Writers
Speak about Their Faith and Their Writing
Students will also select one novel to read and present as their final
project. Parameters for this selection will be discussed during the first class
session.
Detailed Outline of the Course
October 30: Week One Introduction to the participants and the course, exercise in listening to fiction, in class reading of Paterson’s Making Meaning; discussion of the impact of story and our experience of the Christian faith;
Assignment: Prior to class think of two novels that have been
life-shaping for you. These will be shared in class.
November 6: Week Two Overview of the pedagogical
principles used in Listening for God;
group discussion of Carol Bly, After the Baptism; Henry Louis
Gates, Jr., Saved; and Tobias Wolff, The Rich Brother; discussion of
Frederick Buechner, Faith and Fiction and Brett Lott, Why Have We Given Up the Ghost?;
Assignment: Read selections from
Listening for God, Vol. 2, Frederick Buechner,
Faith and Fiction, and Brett Lott, Why Have We Given
Up the Ghost?
Be prepared to lead the discussion of the assigned excerpts.
November 13: Week
Three Off-site visit to a Twin Cities
bookstore; discussion of “top ten” lists and the readership of the American
public; discussion of additional selections from Listening for God, Vol. 2
Assignment: Read Listening
for God, Vol. 2
Be prepared to lead the discussion of one of the selections.
November 20: Week Four Discussion of the fiction writing as a Christian vocation and reading as a discipline of the Christian life; discussion of how to write a book review; introduction to the work and witness of Wendell Berry; first discussion of Jayber Crow;
Assignment: Read O’Connor, “Novelist and Believer” and Jayber Crow (Part I pp. 1-106)
Write a 1-2 page statement of your own understanding of the theological
relationship between fiction and faith.
November 27:
Thanksgiving Break – no class
December 4: Week Five Discussion of Jayber Crow in its entirety; comparison of the world of Wendell Berry’s literary imagination and the worlds represented in the selections in Listening for God, Vol. 2;
Assignment:
Bring to class one page of notes, comparing
December 11: Week Six Class participants will each introduce the book selected for the final project, emphasizing the theological theme(s) and context for its planned use;
Assignment: Be prepared to give an overview of the final project.
Final Projects are
due at noon on Monday, December 15, 2008.