Spectacular not just Fabulous: Florence Designs A Syllabus
Despite the contemporary influence of spirituality, no current course at William & Mary explores "spirituality" or the rising trend of the "spiritual not religious" identity in the West with the attention these interrelated topics deserve.
This summer I worked with Religious Studies Professor Patton Burchett to start a new course beginning in Spring 2019 which will delve into these topics and their many facets. The new course will explore topics from diverse manifestations of spirituality and the spiritual not religious to thought-provoking deconstructions of spirituality's relationships with consumer capitalism, orientalism, and more.
To help establish the course "Spiritual, Not Religious," I read many texts on spirituality and other closely interconnected themes. From these readings, I disentangled the many ideas and experiences surrounding spirituality and the spiritual not religious, integrating them into the final products of a draft narrative and syllabus for "Spiritual, Not Religious."
Through this project I greatly improved my knowledge surrounding spirituality, learned to work through a professor's lens, and further cultivated my skills to integrate and illustrate complex themes and ideas through coherent communication. Overall, an incredible, illuminating project!
