| CODE | MRT1500 | ||||||
| TITLE | The Loving Bond of Friendship: A Spiritual Perspective | ||||||
| UM LEVEL | 01 - Year 1 in Modular Undergraduate Course | ||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 5 | ||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 4 | ||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Moral Theology | ||||||
| DESCRIPTION | Friendship connotes an altruistic relationship that involves affection, respect, loyalty and esteem between those engaged in this particular type of human bonding. Friends usually enjoy each others company to share tastes, common interests and mutual support in hardships of life. From classical antiquity up to the present time philosophers, spiritual authors, anthropologists, sociologists and social psychologists reflected on the bond of friendship which differs from association and acquaintances, holding it to be of a higher value. Today both the concept and practice of friendship are facing new challenges through the gender revolution and through progress in informational technology leading to the Virtual Age. The former challenges the way the bond of friendship is perceived, whilst the latter is contributing to the shift of preference from the bond of friendship to acquaintances formed and sustained through the virtual networks of communication. Is today still possible to hold on high esteem the loving bond of friendship as our forbears did? The study-unit attempts at answering this question mainly through the perspective of Christian Spiritual Theology and the spiritual works that inherited and developed classical philosophical reflections on the bond of friendship, handing over from one generation to the other a tradition rich in human wisdom. Study-unit Aims: The study-unit aims at providing an overview of the development of friendship through human history from both a philosophical and spiritual approach. Classical philosophical texts as well as Christian texts, past and present, will be presented and analyzed during lectures in an effort to grasp why was the bond of friendship held in high esteem and to propose the re-discovery of the underlying richness of friendship as a fundamental bonding capacity that enables and fosters human relationships. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: 1. Read and interpret philosophical and spiritual texts on friendship 2. Appreciate this particular form of human bonding 3. Challenge contemporary understanding of friendship through knowledge of what our ancestors held in high esteem 4. Re-propose the notion of friendship as a basic value for growth in human relationships 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: 1. Reflect on their own concepts, experiences and understanding of friendship 2. Get knowledge of and appreciate the richness of literature (secular and spiritual) on the subject 3. Be empowered to enter and invest in significant bonds of friendship Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: - AELRED OF RIEVAULX, Spiritual Friendship (=Cistercian Publications 5), 2005. (Carmelite Institute Library) - ALLAN, Graham, Friendship : developing sociological perspective, Harvester 1989. (University Library) - BILINKOFF Jodi, Related Lives. Confessors and their Female Penitents, 1450-1750, New York 2005. (Carmelite Institute Library) - BRAY Alan, The Friend, London 2003. (Carmelite Institute Library) - MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO, De Amicitia, Wauconda 2004. (University Library) - MYERS, Sylvia Harcstark , The bluestocking circle : women, friendship, and the life of the mind in eighteenth-century England, Clarendon 1990. (University Library) - The Letters of Abelard and Heloise , edited by Michael Clanchy, London 2004. (Carmelite Institute Library) - VON HILDEBRAND Dietrich, The Heart. An Analysis of Human and Divine Affectivity, Indiana 2007. (Carmelite Institute Library) |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture and Independent Study | ||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
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| LECTURER/S | Charlo Camilleri |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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