Into the Lenten Desert: A Distance Learning Course with Dr. Jason Baxter

Lent, said Pope Benedict XVI, “is a period of spiritual ‘combat’ which we must experience alongside Jesus, not with pride and presumption, but using the arms of faith: prayer, listening to the word of God and penance.”

Few Christians knew how to wield those weapons of prayer, listening, and penance than the Medieval Masters. These were the priests, bishops, theologians, monks, and hermits who defined the great doctrines of our faith, established many of the traditions we still follow today, and distinguished themselves as spiritual warriors against the world, the flesh, and the devil.

This Lent, join Dr. Jason Baxter as he introduces great saints of that era and shares what they can teach us about prayer, penance, and spiritual warfare.

Dr. Baxter’s first lecture will be posted on Thursday, February 27 and then weekly for a total six weeks ending the Thursday before Holy Week.

• • February 27: Introduction: The Soul from Whom God Hides Nothing
  • March 5: How Did We Get Here: Why We Need the Medieval Masters
  • March 12: Pagans Grope Toward God: Piety and Prayer in Classical Antiquity
  • March 19: The Interior Turn: What Augustine Learned from the Pagans
  • March 26: Dionysius the Areopagite and the Darkness of God
  • April 2: Praying with the Whole World: Evagrios and “Natural Contemplation”
  • April 9: How to Perform Scripture: Lectio Divina and Reading with the Heart

Lectures will be available on the Distance Learning page of the College’s website and as weekly episodes of The After Dinner Scholar podcast.