ENGL 5579 Topics in Creative Nonfiction: Writing Spiritual Autobiography

Using short readings from St. Augustine, Margery Kempe, John Muir, Leo Tolstoy, Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, Mahatma Gandhi, Simone Weil, C. S. Lewis, Thomas Merton, Thich Nhat Hanh, Kathleen Norris, Anne Lamott, and others, students will write three autobiographical essays corresponding to 1) early spiritual consciousness or crisis, 2) formation and intellectual dialogue, and 3) centering their belief or non-belief.