Writing Faith and Doubt

INSTRUCTOR:Catherine Vance

TIME: Two Sundays, July 23, 30, 3:00–6:00 p.m. CDT

PRICE: Early bird price: $85 for members, $100 for nonmembers. The deadline for early bird pricing is Tuesday, July 18. After Tuesday, July 18: $100 for members, $115 for nonmembers. Become a memberhere. Apply for a scholarship here.

LOCATION:Writespace, 1717 Michigan St, Houston, TX 77006 (map)

LEVEL: All Levels

CAP: 15

To paraphrase Oprah, “What is one thing you know for sure?” And on the other hand, what keeps you up at night, wondering what to believe or what is true?

We all have struggles with faith and doubt. Answers and insights can come from our religious or spiritual traditions. They can come from literature and poetry too, or from our own thoughts and intuition. Maybe that’s the hardest thing of all, to have a knowingness that originates from within. This course welcomes perspectives from all over the map. We will be writing our spiritual inquiry, our exploration, our desire to clarify just what makes up our North Star, and/or our journey toward peace with the unknown. Join us for some existential meaning-making and journaling.

Participants are asked to bring a small piece of text to share (again, it can be from the Bible or the Qur’an, from a favorite novel, poem or song…maybe it’s a quote from your mom) that either serves as a compass or is burning a question in your brain. We will look at some short passages from spiritual thinkers, respond to some prompts, talk about possible projects, and hopefully connect on the path and help light the way for one another.

Catherine Vance has taught for Writespace since 2019. She is a trained interfaith chaplain who is completing her ministry studies at Iliff School of Theology in Denver. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Washington University in St. Louis and her first novel, The Mountains Under Her Feet, has just been released.