Loyola Marymount University B.A. Religious Studies – RS160: Exploring Christian Mysticism – Fall 1976

In 1976, in one of my first undergraduate courses I had the privilege to study under the guidance of Fr. Herbert Ryan, who had determined that it was foolish to expect undergrads to write position papers on questions that have overwhelmed scholars for centuries. Instead, he believed that it was more important that students learn how to do research, and therefore assigned semester-long research journals, during which the student would actively investigate a chosen subject and then write about the process and progress. At the end of the semester and journal the student would write a single journal entry on how he might approach writing a research paper on the subject studied were he to write said paper. The following research was my submission for RS160: Exploring Christian Mysticism for my Religious Studies degree at Loyola Marymount University. Enjoy. (2023-11-16).

What Is Religion?

Over an arid and unchanged land, dark foreboding clouds cluster. There is a humid gust of wind and then stillness. Overladen with moisture the clouds unload their burden to the parched and thirsty ground below. Each droplet finding its home in the dust of the earth. The darkened sky is suddenly lit by a long thorny finger of lightning. The dampened soil shines as polished silver under the radiant light. In a neighboring village old men can be heard offering up thanksgiving and praise to the God of their Fathers for the much needed rain. To these men, weathermen and barometers mean nothing, for the answers lies in the God of their Fathers.

The spirit of curiosity overcomes a man as he observes a bee. fly from flower to flower. He marvels that an insect thatis as small as such has the ability to propel itself from place to place with such accuracy. The question of why and how this may be burns deep into his heart. The unanswered man is left, however, with a simple three letter word, God. Religion is man’s built-in answer to the unanswerable.

In an ancient city a man walks over to a crowded pool. By the pool, the man encounters a man that has been an invalid for thirty-eight years. During the course of their conversation the first asks the latter, “Would you like to be able to walk?” and just as easily as the question was spoken, so the invalid found himself walking. Amazement and wonder filled those that knew the one-time invalid. The miracle and the man are explained as being of God.

Man has left on this planet at least four-thousand years of recorded history. And in that period of time, his concept of God and of true religion has changed drastically. But one thing remains the same, As long as there are unanswered question, there will be those proclaiming the God of answers.

Link to PDF version: https://archive.org/download/1976LMURS160ExploringChristianMysticismHandouts/1976%20LMU%20RS160%20Exploring%20Christian%20Mysticism%20essays.pdf

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