Assignment #6
While reading the assigned articles, think about the questions listed below. Come up with your own questions (2 questions per each article) and e-mail them to me by 9 pm.
Kallistos Ware, The Way of the Ascetics: Negative of Affirmative?
Discussion questions:
Discuss the citation from the Roman Catholic Raimundo Pannikar, ?The ascetic is the one who has no fear.? What does it mean to be free from fear? Why is it important?
How is Christian asceticism related to the asceticism of Greco-Roman society? What do we know about the ascetic systems of Stoics and Cynics?
What questions does Ware raise and opt to answer in his article?
What was the major goal of the ascetic withdrawal? Why was this withdrawal necessary at all? Is it feasible today?
What does Ware present as positive, affirmative asceticism?
What are his examples of negative asceticism?
Did Ware convince you that asceticism does not have to be selfish? Give examples of selfish and unselfish asceticism.
How do you understand Ware?s words that ?the ascetic in the desert? helps his fellow humans not so much by anything that he does, but rather by what he is??
Do ascetics need to suppress desire and anger? What did the Greeks (Stoics, Cynics) think about it? What does Theodoret propose? Whose argument in your opinion is more convincing?
Do you agree that asceticism is a vocation for all?
Elizabeth Clark, "Asceticism in Late Ancient Christianity"
Discussion questions:
What are/were the motivations for embracing the ascetic lifestyle?
How do we define the term asceticism? What is your own understanding of this term? Which of the proposed/listed definitions of the term asceticism make more sense to you?
How did the approaches to asceticism change in recent scholarship?
What varieties of asceticism (including its geography, forms, gender issues) are discussed in the article?
Can family life be embraced by the ascetics? Why?
What oppositions are played out in the ascetic lifestyle?
How is the issue of property treated in ascetic teaching? What is your opinion regarding this issue?
