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COURSE PROPOSAL

GOD TALK NOW:

A JOURNEY TOWARD CONTEMPORARY THEOLOGY

Presented to

The Foundation for Contemporary Theology

On

January 11, 2009

By

Alan Jay Richard, Ph.D.


2508 Cleburne Street
Houston, TX 77004
(281) 974-5230

Proposed for Fall Semester, 2009

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Table of Contents

Course Title and Subject Matter................................................................................ ..................3

Teaching Qualifications............................................................................................................ ....5


Educational background...................................................................................................5
Teaching experience.........................................................................................................6

Teaching philosophy and style.............................................................................................. ......6

Research in preparation for the course......................................................................... .............7


Bibliography....................................................................................................................7
Experiences related to the subject matter.......................................................................11

Reason for wanting to teach in this program................................................................. ..........12

Complete syllabus..................................................................................................... .................12

................................................................................................................................................. ....16

Textbooks.................................................................................................................... ................17

Anticipated expenses..................................................................................................... ............17

Classroom size and setup....................................................................................................... ...17

Equipment needed................................................................................................................ ......17

Enrollment expectations......................................................................................... ...................17

Number and frequency of sessions........................................................................ ..................17

Length of each class session..................................................................................... ...............17

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Course Title and Subject Matter
Working Title: God Talk Now: A Journey Toward Contemporary Theology

” The true image of the past flits by. The past can be seized only as an image that flashes up at
the moment of its recognizability, and is never seen again. For it is an irretrievable image of the
past which threatens to disappear in any present that does not recognize itself as intended in that
image.” Walter Benjamin, “Theses on the Philosophy of History,” 1940

Subject Matter: Our contemporary world is technological. This world surrounds us and has
shaped us. On a fundamental level, our technological world depends on the intergenerational
reproduction and refinement of an iterative process of theoretical modeling and controlled
observation commonly called the “scientific method.” Unlike its medieval predecessors, modern
scientific explanation excludes any appeal to a Supreme Being to explain phenomena. This
methodological atheism has furthered scientific and technological progress while attempts to
circumvent it have impeded such progress. Moreover, the many practical benefits of science and
technology have facilitated the spread of methodological atheism far beyond the laboratory.
Although relatively few of us are scientists, we have come to trust scientific and technological
naturalism more than we trust supernatural explanation. When we get sick, we seek
technological solutions rather than religious ones. This does not mean that we have stopped
praying or engaging in religious ritual, but we have become everyday methodological atheists.

The everyday atheism of our technological world clashes with some of our highest aspirations.
This clash has not resulted in the abandonment of those aspirations or even in their compromise.
On the contrary, they reappear in ever more extreme and violent religious and quasi-religious
forms. Even some of the best Christian theology spoken and heard among today’s non-academic
adherents – whether liberal or conservative – is that of the sacred canopy. Today’s Christians are
less theologically sophisticated than their 19th century evangelical and liberal forbears and more
suspicious of theological thinking, a paradox that testifies to a clear tension between what
contemporary Christians “believe” religiously and what they actually believe to be the case, voting
with their feet. Today’s Christians are trying to live in two different times at once; they are not
their own theological contemporaries. At the same time, the hope of secularists for a gradual
withering away of religion shows no signs of being fulfilled. Not only is the world becoming more
religious as it becomes more technological, the fastest-growing varieties of religion are also the
narrowest, least rational, and least tolerant ones. Values and beliefs that feed technological and
scientific progress are themselves imploding as the loss of transcendent authority erodes our
confidence in progress, language, and even our own sense of dignity. Under these conditions,
religion roars back to life.

Is it possible to develop a Christian language that rejects the false ideological refuge of a golden
age, a post-apocalyptic dénouement, or a supra-temporal eternity and embraces the
contemporary? What would it mean for Christians to think theologically about and from a
contemporary world? What are the minimal conditions for the possibility of a contemporary
theology?

This course will closely examine the issues of time, language, and Godhood that the phrase
“contemporary theology” raises when it is taken seriously. We will be drawing on the work of
noted thinkers associated with postmodern philosophy, a movement that has become highly
influential in academic settings over the past 30 years and for which the issues of time, language,
and, most recently, God are crucial. We will also demonstrate through participatory exercises
why these issues are not merely academic but express the lived tension of our times. Finally, we
will use all these resources to develop our own contemporary theological work.

The goals of this course are: (1) to render visible the issues hidden in the phrase “contemporary
theology;” (2) to stimulate student attention to the often overlooked ways these issues pressure
us in our everyday lives; (3) to examine premodern, modern, and postmodern approaches to

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these issues; and (4) to motivate students to develop theologies that address these questions
from within their life experience. By the end of the course, students will be able to:

 Intelligently and critically discuss what makes a statement theological and what makes a
theological statement contemporary, marshalling both conceptual and historical
arguments;

 Clearly state why theological statements or “beliefs” about time, language, and God do or
do not matter for human existence, using concrete examples from their own experience;

 Compare and contrast pre-modern, modern, and postmodern understandings of time,


language, and God;

 Give a historical and conceptual account of the emergence, acceptance, and


disintegration of premodern and modern understandings, and the rise of
“postmodernism,” supporting this account with reasons and data;

 Evaluate the importance of postmodern understandings of time, language, and God for
theology, supporting this evaluation with reasons and data; and

 Develop a theological “credo” that addresses the student’s own understanding of time,
language, and God, discusses the positive or negative relationship between this
understanding and one or more religious traditions, and tells why this understanding is
theological and contemporary.

The course is divided into 10 two-hour sessions. The first three sessions focus, respectively, on
the words “theology” and “contemporary,” tracing the historical emergence of theology from
mythology and of the problems of time and speech, and focusing on the circumstances that
prompted this emergence. Excerpts from “classical” premodern and modern philosophy will be
used to frame these two sessions. Texts for all subsequent sessions will address work on
religious topics from secular thinkers who are commonly understood as “postmodern.” Three
sessions will focus on the unraveling of the modern world-picture that purported to replace the
hierarchical, pre-modern one but harbored hidden hierarchical assumptions at its core, and three
sessions will critically examine postmodern perspectives that open into a new understanding of
our theological tradition and its stakes. The final session will involve the development of personal
and interpersonal credos, not as statements of beliefs but as expressions of pressing concerns.
Three topics – time, language, God – will be addressed three times, once in their modern
formulation, once in their modern unraveling, and once in their postmodern transformation.

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Teaching Qualifications

Educational background
SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY, Syracuse, NY
Ph.D. in Religion, June 1996
Dissertation: “Theology, Reflexivity, and Desire in Aristotle’s Metaphysics and
Nichomachean Ethics.”
This dissertation argues that Aristotle introduces an important methodological innovation in order
to counter Plato’s assertion that the divine can only be discussed mythologically. This innovation
forms the conditions for the possibility of a separate theological “science” and is one of the
sources for Western antihomosexual logic. The dissertation further argues that, for Aristotle, the
necessity of theological science lies in its resolution of an ontologico-political contradiction within
classical Athenian erotics that haunted much of Plato’s work as well as much of the classical
Athenian political rhetoric that survives. This contradiction pits the valorization of erotic
idealization as an image of democratic virtue against the denial of citizen penetrability entailed by
that very image. Aristotle appears to resolve this contradiction within the image of democracy by
abstracting it completely from the realm of the body, positing desire’s ultimate object as “thought
thinking upon itself,” the Unmoved Mover. A close reading of Aristotle’s argument indicates,
however, that abstraction doesn’t so much resolve the contradiction as displace it into a realm far
enough removed from political stakes to preserve his philosophy from being tainted by the
contradictions of Athenian democracy, as was Plato’s philosophy.

Dissertation Advisor: Dr. Charles E. Winquist


Dissertation Committee: Dr. Patricia Cox Miller, Dr. James B. Wiggins, Dr. Linda M. Alcoff

Comprehensive Examination Areas:


Fifth Area Paper: “AIDS and the Penetrable Body: Theology as Transgressive Re-Inscription.”
Exams: John Calvin and Reformation Theology – Dr. James B. Wiggins
Gilles Deleuze and Postmodern Theology – Dr. Charles E. Winquist
Contemporary Melanesian Religion – Dr. Charles H. Long
Japanese Religion in the Tokagawa Period – Dr. Richard B. Pilgrim

UNIVERSITY OF DENVER Denver, CO


M.A. - University of Denver, Denver, CO, 1988
Field: Religious Studies

Master’s Thesis: “Technological Religiosity and the Logic of the Odinic: A Theological
Excursus Post Mortum Dei”
The author argues that many distinctive features of Western European Christianity are
unrecognized survivals of indigenous Germanic mythological and heroic narratives, themselves
sublimations of the historical trauma (the Hun invasion) that spawned the Germanic tribal culture
of late antique and early medieval Europe. After the demise of Christendom and the emergence
of a technological milieu, the author argues that these distinctive features have retained their grip
on the Western imagination. Key secondary sources used include comparative philologist
Georges Dumézil’s three-volume Mythe et épopée, J.M. Wallace-Hadrill’s work on “the barbarian
west” in the period between 400 – 1000 C.E., and Fernand Braudel’s The Mediterranean.
Primary sources included the Poetic Edda, and John Scotus Eriugena’s De Divisione Natura.

Thesis Advisory: Dr. Carl A. Raschke


Thesis Committee: Dr. William B. Gravely, Dr. James A. Kirk, Dr. Alexandra Olsen

B.A. - University of Denver, Denver, CO, 1982


Major 1: Religious Studies Major 2: Literature Minor: Theater

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Teaching experience
Director, Bering Academy Lay School of Theology, 2006-present
Courses Developed and Taught: Questioning Faith, Spring 2007, Fall 2007, Fall 2008
New Monasticisms I, Spring 2008
Seminar on Kant’s Critical Philosophy, 2008 –2009
Founder, Host, and Rotating Discussion Leader, Montrose Christian Resurgence Circle
Past Studies:
Theresa of Avila, Interior Castle
John Caputo, What Would Jesus Deconstruct?
David C. Korton, Post-Corporate World
Current Study:
Saul Alinsky, Rules for Radicals
Past Ancient Text Studies:
Exodus
Mark
Current Ancient Text Study:
Amos
Adult Education Coordinator, Bering Memorial United Methodist Church, 2005-2007
Courses Developed and Taught: Theology of War and Peace, 2005
Weekend Seminars Developed: Globalized Christianity, with Dr. Carl A. Raschke, 2007
Instructor, Department of Religion, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, 1988-1992
Courses Taught: Japanese Religion, with Richard Pilgrim, 1989
Buddhism, with Richard Pilgrim, 1989
Shamanism, with Daniel Merkur, 1990
Jewish Mysticism, with Daniel Merkur, 1990
` Intro to Religion, 1990
Courses Developed and Taught: Religion and Sexual Orientation, 1991
Theologies of the Disenfranchised, 1991

Teaching philosophy and style


When I teach, my purpose is twofold. In contrast to some contemporary approaches critical of
traditional instruction, I embrace the notion that real learning involves the acquisition and
retention of new knowledge and skills. I assume that people who take a course on a given
subject want to acquire some knowledge about that subject and some skills for evaluating it. I
assume that people who have chosen to take a course from me expect me to have at least some
knowledge and/or skills that they want to acquire, and that they expect me to transmit that
knowledge and/or skills to them. Thus, one of my purposes in teaching a course is to ensure that
people come to know something that I already know about the subject of that course, or come to
be able to do something I already know how to do.

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I do not, however, think that acquiring information and skills are sufficient for teaching theology.
Theology is the product of a passion, and that passion arises when something becomes, in the
words of Paul Tillich, “a matter of being or not-being for us.” As long as we move along the
smooth surface of our lives, we will never become theologians, and our thought will never
become theological. It is only when that surface is complicated by folds, fissures, and gaps that
life can become a matter of being or not-being for us. Thus, my second purpose in teaching is to
stimulate students’ attentiveness to the aspects of their lives that give life its texture and its
complexity. These tend to be precisely those aspects of their lives many of us ignore, dismiss, or
suppress.

In my experience, neither of these purposes is best served through lecture alone. When teaching
knowledge and skills, I combine brief mini-lectures (10-15 minutes each) with visual aids
(projected images and diagrams), in-class group exercises, student-formulated questions
addressed to students, class discussion, and games. For stimulating student attentiveness to
overlooked, dismissed, or suppressed aspects of their own lives, I use student in-class artistic
expression and interpretation, individual and group kinesthetic exercises in various forms of
attention and focus, mutual critique, and “grounding questions” that ask students to place specific
theological formulations taken from texts or in-class discussion in the context of concrete
experiences and personal narrative.

Research in preparation for the course

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Winquist, C. E. (1986). Epiphanies of darkness: Deconstruction in theology. Philadelphia:
Fortress Press.
Winquist, C. E. (1995). Desiring theology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Winquist, C. E. (2003). The surface of the deep. Aurora, Colo.: Davies Group.

Experiences related to the subject matter

• Raised in a traditional but not particularly fundamentalist religious environment; found


myself unable to believe its doctrines in adulthood;

• Disillusionment began to extend further than Christianity, toward the questions about
reason and certainty raised by reflection on language and time;

• Studied this problem in Nietzsche, Hegel, and Kierkegaard under philosopher of religion
Carl A. Raschke and historian of modern theology James B. Wiggins;

• Studied the theological implications of postmodernism and deconstruction under


philosophers of religion Carl A. Raschke and Charles E. Winquist and historian of religion
Charles H. Long;

• Dissertation dealt with Aristotle, language, and theology;

• Founded lay school of theology at Bering Memorial United Methodist Church “Bering
Academy” for “teaching ourselves and others to recognize and develop theologies that
honestly confront life’s deepest questions;”

• Developed Bering Academy curriculum for teaching about the 20th century theological
breakthroughs that were attentive to the relationships between the questions of God,
time, and language

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Reason for wanting to teach in this program
Wes Seeliger’s posthumous voice drew me to the Foundation for Contemporary Theology.
Though I was not privileged to know Wes while he was alive, I share the core convictions he
expressed in his “Reflections of an Elder” talk, which I’ve read over and over online at The Center
for Progressive Theology’s website. These convictions include:

 “Theology is the heart and soul of the strategic problem with the church.”
 “If we ever got through to the mainstream the profound theological insights of the
twentieth century- - - it would be an entirely new ball game.”
 “The basic issue in our day, theologically, is the question of God. It is not ‘how you get
saved?’, or ‘what are the sacraments?’. It’s ‘what the devil do you mean by the term
God?’.”
 “We need to get with philosophical theology.” (Amen to that!)

I think I see these convictions reflected in FCT’s mission to “people who have spiritual interests
and longings, but who cannot accept the dogma and literalism they associate with Christianity,”
people like me. I am also interested in FCT’s more recent focus on historical work in Christian
origins, which provide valuable resources for theological reflection.

Finally, I think I can bring something to FCT in my own small way. I believe that my training has
exposed me to currents within philosophical theology with which few current FCT members are
familiar. These currents are fed by streams of philosophical work coming out of Europe, streams
that draw from the same philosophical sources – Kierkegaard, Husserl, and Heidegger – that
inspired the twentieth century theological insights of H. Richard Niebuhr, Rudolf Bultmann, Paul
Tillich, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the insights that inspired Wes Seeliger. These philosophical
streams retain what is valuable in those insights, while addressing the weaknesses that led a
generation of American theologians to abandon them in favor of modified nineteenth-century
liberalisms and ecclesial versions of process thought. I was also lucky enough to have been
exposed to the history and phenomenology of religion as taught by Charles H. Long, a student of
Joachim Wach and along with Joseph Kitagawa a co-founder of the University of Chicago
program in the History of Religions. Long’s greatest contribution to the History of Religon’s is his
reformulation of the origins of “religion” within the modern world-system opened up by the
movement of peoples and goods in the Atlantic world, which eventually posed a new set of
religious questions that were unavoidably shared by all players in this world. This approach to
the History of Religions has much to offer contemporary theology, as evidenced in Long’s long
and fruitful dialogue with theologians such as Schubert Ogden, Langdon Gilkey, James Cone,
Gabriel Vahanian, Thomas J.J. Altizer, and Charles Winquist, and with philosophers like Jacques
Derrida, Gayatri Spivak, Ashis Nandy, Gilles Deleuze, and John B. Cobb.

In my wildest dreams, I do not imagine myself to be the equal of the giants who mentored me.
Still, it is my hope that the power of their thought has left its mark on my theological orientation,
and that I can make a small contribution to the mission of the FCT by sharing some of this
powerful theological legacy with ordinary people seeking ways of being Christian that also honor
openness, uncertain searching, spiritual humility, and social engagement.

Complete syllabus
GOD TALK NOW: A JOURNEY TO CONTEMPORARY THEOLOGY

COURSE SYLLABUS

Fall 2009

INSTRUCTOR: ALAN JAY RICHARD, PH.D.

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OFFICE: 2508 Cleburne
OFFICE HOURS: BY APPT.
EMAIL ADDRESS: alanrichard@comcast.net
CLASS HOURS: 7:15PM – 9:15PM Wednesdays

A. DESCRIPTION
We have entered the third century since the philosophers of the Enlightenment
announced the victory of reason over religion and of science over myth. Our immediate
environment, in which we live and which we take for granted, now depends on scientific
explanation, which remains methodologically atheistic regardless of the metaphysical
commitments of the researcher. We participate in this methodological avoidance of
appeals to the supernatural, this everyday naturalism, whenever we go to the doctor or
step into our car. As more and more people throughout the globe participate in this
environment, however, the more world-denying, reason-rejecting, and violent become the
dominant forms of religion and theology. Despite our reliance on the fruits of naturalism,
the same rigorous standards that erased the traditional picture of God have undermined
our trust in the arc of time and the innocence of language. Is an attempt to use language
to point to the divine (a “theology”) but that fully acknowledges and genuinely expresses
A “now” (a “contemporary theology”) possible? If so, what would be the minimal
conditions of its possibility?

In this course, students will grapple with the problems of language, time, and the divine
that a credible quest for a contemporary theology must face. Students will emerge from
the course with renewed confidence in their ability to speak theologically with intellectual
clarity, honesty, and passion.

B. ORGANIZATION
The course combines facilitated discussion of assigned readings, discussion of art
objects and film related to assigned readings, skits, interactive demonstrations, molding,
drawing, and painting activities, and word-and-image presentations. Participants need
have no prior experience or knowledge of Christianity or religion. The course is intended
to provide a safe space for any and all questions. In order to benefit from the course,
however, participants should be prepared to encounter ideas that may feel
uncomfortable. Participants should also commit to 4-6 pages of reading each week. An
additional 10-20 pages of weekly optional reading (2-3 pages a day) will be provided, and
doing this optional reading will greatly enrich participants’ experience of the course.

C. COURSE GOALS

(1) to familiarize students with the issues hidden in the phrase “contemporary theology;”

(2) to stimulate student attention to the often overlooked ways these issues pressure us
in our everyday lives;

(3) to examine premodern, modern, and postmodern approaches to these issues; and

(4) to motivate students to develop theologies that address these questions from within
their life experience.

D. COURSE TOPICS

The course will cover the following topics as they have been addressed in premodern,
modern, and postmodern thinkers:

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1. Time and Incompleteness
2. Language and Reality
3. God and Thinking

E. TEXTS

The reading material the course will consist of excerpts from important writings by key
thinkers, including Aristotle, Augustine of Hippo, Immanuel Kant, Emmanuel Levinas,
Jacques Lacan, and Jacques Derrida. These paragraphs are public domain documents
available for free on the internet or included in an anthology entitled Deconstruction in
Context, ed. Mark C. Taylor (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986). The exception
is the reading for the last section, which will consist of a transcription of a talk given to
children by philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy, and which stands as an outstanding example of
good contemporary theology addressing the use of the word “God.”

F. COURSE ETIQUETTE
1. Please turn cellphones on vibrate or off during class.
2. Please arrive at class promptly so that we can begin on time and finish on time. If you
cannot attend a class session or will be late, please email or call me to let me know at
least one hour before classtime.
3. You are encouraged to ask tough questions of the instructor or other students, especially
questions that call for clarification of the meaning of words in terms of experience that
can be shared. You are encouraged to speak up when the language we use in class
muddies rather than clarifies something you’ve experienced. Please do not engage in ad
hominem or personal criticisms of other students.
4. Please respect other students’ speaking time. Let the other person finish what they are
saying before you respond. Do your best not to interrupt other students, and hold each
other and the instructor accountable when you catch us doing so. Also, make your
observations as succinct as possible so that others may have a chance to speak.
5. Although expectations for reading are minimal, please do complete the reading
assignments prior to class each week.

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CLASS SCHEDULE

SESSION SOURCE TEXT TOPIC

Part I: Questions Emerge

Aristotle, Metaphysics, Excerpts; Saussure, Course in General Linguistics,


1 Excerpts Language
Augustine, Confessions, Excerpt, Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, Excerpts
Aristotle, Physics; Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason; Martin Time
2 Heidegger, Being and Time Time
Aristotle, Unmoved Mover paragraph, Kant, Critique of Judgment Excerpt,
3 Otto, Idea of the Holy, Excerpt God

Part II: Solutions Unravel

Ludwig Wittgenstein, Excerpts, Philosophical Investigations; Jacques Lacan,


4 “The Agency of the Letter in the Unconscious, or Reason since Freud” Language
GWF Hegel, Excerpt, Phenomenology of Spirit; Soren Kierkegaard, Excerpt,
5 Concluding Unscientific Postscript Time

GWF Hegel, Excerpt, Phenomenology of Spirit; Friedrich Nietsche, Excerpts,


6 The Will to Power and Truth and Lie in an Extra-Moral Sense God

Part III: Theology and the Contemporary Condition

Jacques Derrida, “Différance,” Emmanuel Levinas, Excerpt on Saying,


7 Otherwise than Being Language

Emmanuel Levinas, “The Trace of the Other,” Giorgio Agamben, paragraph,


8 The Time That Remains: A Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans Time

Jacques Derrida, “Faith and Knowledge: The Two Sources of 'Religion' at the
9 Limits of Reason Alone;” Jean-Luc Nancy, “In Heaven and on Earth” God

Contemporary
10 Class Presentations: Your own Credo Theology

See Next Page for Sample Session Plans

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Time Session 1 Session 2 Session 3

Opening Ritual, Introduction to Class, Review of Opening Ritual, Review of Syllabus, Opening Ritual, Review of Syllabus,
7:00 Syllabus Stimulus Questions Stimulus Questions

Small Group Exercise: Reflection on a


Image and Voice Presentation: paragraph from linguist Emile
7:15 Image and word presentation on theo-logos Augustine and Kant on Time Benveniste on the Greek word "theos"

Image and Voice Presentation:


Individiual Arts Exercises: Time and Archaeology of God, the Unity of
7:30 Large Group Discussion of Language & Theology Eternity Thought, & the Sublime

Celestial Monopoly Game: Language Large Group Discussion: God and the
7:45 Small Group Discussions: Language & trust and Time Experience of the Sublime

8:00 Break Break Break

Small Group Exercise: Formulate


Questions that Experientially Ground
8:10 Share results of small group exercise Breath Meditation Exercise Key Concepts in Key Paragraphs
Silent small Group Exercise: Draw a
Individual Exercise: Saussurian assessment of a Diagram of the word "Contemporary," Art Form Discussion: Turner, Arbus,
8:25 theological paragraph thinking about it in relationship to Time. Bacon

Stimulus Question: What does it mean


8:40 Share reuslts of indivdiual exercise in small groups to be in the moment? Art Exercise: Drawing God
Next Week's Assignments, Closing Next Week's Assignments, Closing
8:55 Next Week's Assignments, Closing Ritual Meditation Song

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Textbooks
Jean Luc-Nancy’s Noli Me Tangere: On the Raising of the Body ($20) must be purchased
because an entire essay from it will be read, and “fair use” legal standards may not cover
reproduction of this text. Used unmarked copies of Deconstruction in Context are available from
Amazon at $7.95 per copy. I will order these ahead of time and accept reimbursement in order to
reduce textbook costs of students.

Anticipated expenses

Item Cost
Clay, one five pound block,
assorted colors $10
Large color charcoal pencil
tin $40
Two Large Art Pads $32
Pens $34
2 Pckgs 12 Notepads $12
2 Pckgs 5 Whiteboard
Erasable Markers $12
Copying $68
TOTAL $208

Classroom size and setup


The classroom must be large enough to accommodate 12 to 15 persons seated around a square
table (or four rectangular tables arranged in a square, with room in between for a centerpiece and
ample room for each person to engage in art activities (approximately a foot and a half between
chairs. A classroom with a projection screen is desirable, but not necessary if a portable screen
is available. The classroom should be equipped with a blackboard or whiteboard. The classroom
should be relatively free of clutter.

Equipment needed
A projector, laptop, and dvd player will be needed. If the classroom has no built in projection
screen, a projection screen will be needed. If the classroom has no built in whiteboard or
blackboard, a portable whiteboard or at least a standing easel and pad will be needed.

Enrollment expectations
Twelve to fifteen students

Number and frequency of sessions


Ten sessions. The class will meet twice weekly during the first and last weeks, and weekly for the
6 weeks in between.

Length of each class session


For this course, I envision each session lasting two hours.

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