Seminar co-sponsored by Commonweal
Participants will receive a free one-year subscriptions to Commonweal, a journal of opinion on politics, religion and culture.
“We must know how to doubt when it is necessary.” — Blaise Pascal
Doubt is inextricable from faith. Doubt is ancient, compelling and necessary. “O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, / and thou wilt not hear,” lamented the prophet Habakkuk. “Doubt wisely;” John Donne wrote, “in strange way / To stand inquiring right, is not to stray; / To sleep, or run wrong, is.”
Doubt is not the absence of belief. Instead, doubt is natural, inevitable and perhaps healthy. In the Catholic tradition, writers, artists and theologians have wrangled with doubt.
In this eight-week online course, we will join that essential tradition. It is a tradition that dates back to Christ, whose words on the cross — “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” — echo both the psalmist, but also our own doubts. In this course, we will consider how doubt exists along a continuum of uncertainty and how faith is not a state of achievement and permanence but a spiritual journey.
In this course, you will be invited to read, write, share, think and discuss. You will join a group of students who seek faith with complexity. You will read works of poetry, memoir and fiction, and then you will have the opportunity to choose the genre in which you want to pursue your own thoughts through original narratives. You will share those works in a supportive environment and will receive feedback from your peers and the instructor — an affirmation that our creative engagement with doubt is itself an act of faith.
Our course will run asynchronously online on the Wet Ink writing and workshop platform, which was designed for online instruction. Each week we’ll start with a posted lesson that prompts reflection through a narrative lecture focused on the topics and themes of that week, as well as course material. You will complete short exercises and participate in discussion forums. As a way to cultivate community, you may participate in two informal and optional Zoom meetings.
If you’re interested in the course but the enrollment fee poses a financial hardship, email Mike Jordan Laskey at jccucommunications@jesuits.org. You can also email Mike with any general questions about the course.
Online Seminar: Faith and Doubt in the Catholic Literary Imagination is full; to join a waiting list, email medialab@jesuits.org
Nick Ripatrazone is a writer, editor and teacher. He is the culture editor for Image Journal and a contributing editor for the Catholic Herald (UK).
