Religion

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Course Learning Outcomes for Unit

Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:

1. Assess the control one has over one’s own life. 2. Assess the control one does not have over one’s life. 3. Evaluate how much who one is and what one does is a matter of choice and a matter of

circumstance.

Reading Assignment

Leading Lives that Matter: What We Should Do and Who We Should Be

“Invictus”, p. 434-435

“Passed On”, p. 435-437

“The Last Hours”, p. 438-439

The Book of Jonah, p. 440-443

A Letter to His Wife, 1861, p. 444-446

“Weddings”, p. 447-449

Thoughts in Solitude, p. 449-450

Unit Lesson

There are two opposing traditions that are fundamental to American culture. One is democracy; the other is Christianity. Democracy emphasizes an open future in which one can become whatever one wants. Christianity, on the other hand, reminds its adherents that human power is limited, and believers even pray, “Thy will be done.” We live in this tension aware that we can control some of life and aware that there is much we cannot control. This conflict raises interesting questions as to how much of who we are is the result of deliberate choice and how much is the result of influences people, culture, events, and circumstances have on us. The same questions apply to what we do. How much of what we do is a free independent choice and how much is dictated by circumstance?

The first reading, a poem by Henley, claims ultimate control of the self over/against all of the things that are beyond one’s control. Here we have stated one extreme that I am the master of my own destiny. This unit ends with the polar view in a prayer by Merton. This poem expresses great humility and a deep awareness of human limitations. The human does not even know the will of God nor when one is operating in alignment with it or against it. The other readings all express sentiments between these extremes.

In “Passed On,” Thomas Lynch recounts how a boy and his descendants chose to run funeral homes. Vocation and fit are parts of the story, as are questions about how one discerns one’s vocation and hears the call from God.

UNIT STUDY GUIDE

Vocation & Control Over One's Life

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UNIT x STUDY GUIDE

Title Stephen Dunn, in “The Last Hours” recounts being and doing all he set out to do in the corporate world and in the end knowing just one thing – what he does not want.

In the book of Jonah, we meet a man who insists on not doing God’s will. In the end, God’s will is done and Jonah wants to die, not just because God’s will was done but because God was true to God. God acted according to his being and was slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

The next reading assignment turns to war and the way it tears control away from life. We read the letter of Federal soldier, Sullivan Ballou, fighting in the Civil War. He writes a letter to his wife before he departs for battle realizing that his future is not in his hands and that his future may be very short.

Yevgeny Yevtushenko, writes also of war but not one in which he is about to fight. He is a dancer performing at weddings. He finds himself dancing at hurried weddings – weddings taking place just before soldiers go off to war. He examines his vocation under such circumstances.