Multi-Religious Intensive

Catalog description

Taught by SKSM. Multireligious Intensive: Amidst the Blessing of the Ancestors weaves teachings on organic multireligiosity from Ibrahim Baba (Dr. Ibrahim Farajae) with practices of ancestor reverence and healing. According to Ibrahim Baba, organic multiregliosity "interrupts practices of considering religions as monolithic, rigidly-separated traditions in conflict with one another [and] rather understands them as having complex and constantly-morphing relationships in successive generations and in ever-widening geographical and cultural contexts." His intensive focuses on embodying multireligiosity in personal practice, tending multireligiosity in spiritual leadership and public worship, and engaging multireligiosity toward countering oppression and cultural (mis)appropriation. The intensive engages embodied practice around ancestor reverence and healing - in spiritual lineage and family / blood lineage - as a way of anchoring multireligious expression, countering oppression, and aligning to blessing. Each day of the intensive combines conceptual exploration of multireligiosity, embodied practice of counter-oppressive devotion and tending work in ancestral lineage ritual and repair. Course texts include multi-media selections from Ibrahim Baba, The Cave of the Heart by Swami Abishiktananda and Ancestral Medicine by Daniel Foor. Prior to the intensive, students are expected to complete selected readings as well as to submit a reflection paper on personal experiences of multireligiosity and ancestral tending. At the completion of the course, students submit a second reflection paper weaving together their learning and experiences in the intensive. This is a required course for SKSM MDiv and MASC students. Relates to SKSM Thresholds 1 & 2 and MFC Comps 3, 5 & 7. [Faculty consent required; 20 max enrollment; Auditors excluded]