BA in Liberal Studies, Spiritual Studies

Awaken your spirituality. Serve the world’s spiritual needs.

The Spiritual Studies concentration is designed for those students whose main concern is the study of religious traditions and how to live a spiritual life.  Special emphasis is given to study of the psyche, and how to connect the interior life of the soul to the needs of the world through “engaged” or “incarnational” spirituality.  Classes  approach the sacred with an attitude of “deep ecumenism” in which all religious and spiritual traditions are welcome as long as they acknowledge the element of mystery that resides in the heart of the divine.

This degree is offered by AU Seattle.

Program Overview

This Spiritual Studies concentration is well suited for students who wish to continue a path into the helping professions, who wish to ground their politics in a spiritual context, as well as those who seek to deepen their own spiritual life.

Degree Requirements

A Spiritual Studies concentration requires a minimum of 45 credits. Students take at least one class in each of the six areas of learning listed below. Electives, at least 2 credits of internship/field-based learning and a senior synthesis project round out the concentration.

Core Coursework:

• Eco-Psychology/Eco-Spirituality
• Depth Psychology
• Transpersonal Perspectives
• Myth, Symbol & the Sacred
• Comparative Religion
• Spiritual Practices

Possible Antioch Electives:

• Inquiry Into Love, Soul and Spirit
• The DaVinci Code: A Contemporary Grail Quest
• Theories of Personality
• The Spiritual Psychology of the Human Heart
• Spirit in Action
• Alchemy and Science: Towards the Re-Imagination of Nature

Sample Transfer Electives:

• Introduction to Zen Buddhism
• Women, Gender & Religion
• Biblical Studies: Hebrew
• African Diaspora Religion & Culture
• Christianity & Art

Sample Community/Field-Based Learning Experiences:

• Internship with a youth rites-of-passage program
• Create and implement a workshop on Right Livelihood
• Set up a martial arts dojo
• Lead a meditation group in a prison
• Produce a video with Tent City participants
• Apprentice in a hospice care program or nursing home

Sample Synthesis Projects:

• Write an essay on the spiritual foundations of addiction
• Present a workshop on spirituality and social change
• Go on a vision quest or pilgrimage and write about the experience
• Facilitate meditation sessions and write an essay on “Mindfulness East and West”
• Analyze world events from an Archetypal perspective
• Exhibit a series of paintings based on dreams

For detailed curriculum, degree requirements, and course descriptions, please visit the AUS catalog

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