Faith Web Assignments for Major Each Section of the Course

Web assignment for the first section of the course:
Introduction and Prelection

• "My Cave"
  The Cave in Plato's allegory is the place where people are prisoners of ignorance and darkness. What is your your own personal cave? What do you need to be liberated from? What holds you in darkness or ignorance? Have you had an experience of being liberated from a particular cave? (Examples: racism, fear, some kind of addiction, hatred, selfishness --these things come to mind-there are many more options). Consider how you might be released from this cave.
  
• "My Human Condition"
  You completed a web site on your idea of the human condition. How does this all apply to you here and now? Reflect upon a few of the most important aspects of the human condition that affect you and what are the effects of this upon you.
  
  
• "Living a Deliberate Life"
  Thoreau spoke of living a deliberate life. Aristotle said that most men lives lives of ships in the sea without rudders. Plato said the unreflected life is not worth living. Pascal believed most men busied themselves with distractions in order not to face the major questions of life. What about you? To what degree are living a deliberate life? To what degree are you guiding your own ship?

• Write a short story or create a conversation illustrating the "five common thinking errors" from the text. Each must be used at least once. Identify each with a endnote explanation It might be good to do this from your own experience.
• Write a short story illustrating the "five steps to critical thinking." Identify each with an endnote explanation.
• Cite a literary or cinema character whose story illustrates well the "process of knowing." Identify each with an endnote explanation.
• Here is one more. This is the one I hope you choose. The Right Speech Experiment. Do some experiential learning. This is an assignment many of my students say is valuable and enlightening.
  What you are asked to do is to observe your own speech and monitor it. Watch the words that come out of your mouth. Ask yourself what your words reveal to your about yourself. Are you honest? Do you try to be truthful? Are you kind? Open? Rational? More detailed information is on the back of this sheet.

• Create a web site on a person who is a modern model of faith.
  
  • Must have at least one picture of the person.
  • Must have the story of the person's growth in faith, centering on the events, people and experiences which molded and challenged their faith.
  • Must have links in your writing.
  • Must have at least three good sources. If the sources are internet, you much list these as workable links.
  Let me give you guidance and advice as you build the page.
• "The State of My Faith"
  Reflect for a while on the state of your faith. Some questions to consider -- How is your faith life? It faith an important part of life? Is your spirituality/faith a dimension of life that you seldom think about? You can do this on two levels but both need to be reflecteded upon. Are you a man who has faith? On the human level can you have faith in others, in communitites, in life, in yourself? � What about religious faith? Do you have faith in God? Are you grappling with particular questions about God, your faith, or religion in general? Is the sacramental life of the Church (esp. the community of believers and the Eucharist) a significant part of your life?
• An essay on the movie we saw in class The Mission in RB.