Illness, Health and Healing

This course invites students to listen for the voices of the ill, even when those voices are full of pain or have been long ignored. Students will develop spiritual care skills and practices to promote health and healing in their ministries and their lives. The course will draw from narrative medicine as well as scriptures and healing stories from a variety of religious traditions.

The class will be online, using an asynchronous format on Moodle, while also encouraging students to meet together periodically through Zoom. The course is experiential, counter-oppressive, and multi-religious. Students will engage with texts that include readings, poetry, art, and videos. They will also engage in weekly spiritual practice exercises. Evaluations will be based on student posts, reflections, and a final project. This course is designed especially for those preparing to be chaplains and/or spiritual leaders in congregational and/or community settings.

The course will satisfy SKSM’s Threshold 5 on “Spiritual Practice and Care” and the Unitarian Universalist Ministerial Fellowship Committee requirement #2 “Pastoral Care and Presence.”

Enrollment is limited to 20 students maximum. Prior faculty consent is required. Faculty: Rev. Christine Fry