The Priory Institute

Online Summer school begins 14 August
Find out more and register here https://tinyurl.com/23-Online-Summer-School

Study Theology Online, is this for You?
Online Open Evening Thursday 2 December 7.00pm
Register here https://bit.ly/3wvB60f

Online Summer School 2020
Featuring 10 online talks by Fr Pat Collins C.M.

Theology, Spirituality and Religious Experience

This summer we are offering a two-week online summer school on 'Theology, Spirituality and Religious Experience'. The course consists of 10 online lectures by Fr Pat Collins C.M. given over two weeks and is very flexible as it is delivered entirely online so you can watch the talks when suits you and is offered twice.

13 - 24 July and

10 - 21 August

Participants can interact on our e-learning platform and there will be a streamed question and answer session following the final lecture. No previous knowledge of theology is required.
It could be argued that in contemporary Christianity the centre of gravity has shifted from the experience of religious authority to the authority of religious experience, whether theistic or non-theistic. Writing about the tension that exists between subjective religious experience and objective Christian truth, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (subsequently Pope Benedict XVI) wrote: “What is the relation between personal experience and the common faith of the Church? Both factors are important: a dogmatic faith unsupported by personal experience remains empty; mere personal experience unrelated to the faith of the Church remains blind.”[1] This course will not only look at the tension that necessarily exists between religious experience and Christian dogma, ritual, and spirituality, but also the danger it poses when one element prevails at the expense of the other. It will do so in an interdisciplinary way by having recourse to such topics as theology, Church history, anthropology, psychology, neuroscience and empirical research. The course will aim to demonstrate that when religious experience and Christian truth are kept in balance, the Christian life is animated by meaning and relevance. While each talk will be a standalone topic, the series will be interconnected.
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