The Nature of Guilt: Center for Faith and Learning Winter Seminar Retreat

Full-time faculty and exempt staff are invited to apply for the 2024 Center for Faith and Learning Winter Seminar Retreat for a discussion of "The Nature of Guilt," which will be held from 9 AM Thursday, January 4, to 3 PM Friday, January 5, 2024, at Mary & Joseph Retreat Center in Rancho Palos Verdes. The retreat will be led by Jennifer Smith, associate director for Center for Faith and Learning.

Apply by November 28, 2023, at 5 PM on the 2024 Center for Faith and Learning Winter Seminar Retreat application page.  There is space for 12 faculty and exempt staff and participants will be chosen from all areas of the University.

Through a selection of short readings, this seminar explores the nature of guilt, especially its social component. When do we identify moral failures in ourselves? How do we atone for such mistakes? How should we respond to moral failures in others? Do we have an obligation to provide what has historically been called "fraternal correction"? When is such judgment acceptable? How do we reconcile our own faultiness with a desire to guide or protect others?

Readings to be discussed include:

• A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (1843)
• The Minister's Black Veil by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1836)
• The Lottery by Shirley Jackson (1948)
• The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. Leguin (1973)

Participation includes a $250 stipend, a copy of the reading selections to read in advance, and room and board at the retreat center, including lunch and dinner on Thursday and breakfast and lunch on Friday.