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Perfecting Eloquence: Jesuit Pedagogy in the First-Year Writing Classroom

More on gratitude in the spirituality of St. Ignatius

Ignatius saw gratitude as more than a civil action towards our Creator. Instead, he understood it as a motivating force that, when properly directed, could bind the world together and bring it closer to perfection.

The following comes from a culminating point in St. Ignatius's Spiritual Exercises, which is known as the "Contemplation to Attain the Love of God." In it, Ignatius instructs the reader to:

"Ask for interior knowledge of all the great good I have received, in order that, stirred to profound gratitude, I may become able to love and serve the Divine Majesty in all things." [SE #233]

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Assignment #2: Encomium 31 plain 2023-05-09T14:11:24-07:00
Assignment #2: Encomium ("Essay in Praise of...")
Perfecting Eloquence: Jesuit Pedagogy in the First-Year Writing Classroom
DUE DATE
Assignment Background
In this assignment, you will experiment with the ancient genre of the encomium by composing an essay in praise of some person, place, or thing. Encomia, while ancient in origin, are used quite frequently in everyday life: funeral eulogies, wedding speeches, birthday texts, Mother’s Day Cards, and more. While these contemporary variations show the possibilities of the genre, traditionally, encomia would’ve been speeches or written works composed in seven parts:
1. Prologue introducing the setting and purpose of the speech
2. Announcement of the class of person, place, or thing to be praised
3. Consideration of the person’s origins (nationality, native city, ancestors, parents)
4. Education and interests
5. Achievements (virtue, beauty, athleticism, power, wealth, popularity, etc.)
6. Comparison (or the inability to draw a comparison)
7. Epilogue concluding the piece
By extolling the goodness of a chosen subject, writers are invited to 1.) Analyze a person, place, or thing that interests them 2.) Provide written context about that person, place, or thing, and 3.) Develop their comfort and familiarity with the creative essay form.
Jesuit Inspiration
In the Jesuit tradition, gratitude is everything. Indeed, in The Spiritual Exercises, St. Ignatius goes so far as to say that all joy comes from gratitude and that all sin is, in essence, a lack of gratitude. That’s why, every single day, twice a day, Jesuits are asked to reflect on and offer praise for the good that God has placed in their lives through a prayer called the Examen.
By centering their lives around gratitude, Jesuits strive to forge a deeper relationship with God, gain a better understanding of creation, and build the foundations of a moral life. Jesuits profess that we find fulfillment by offering praise for the good things in life and that we make our lives darker and more difficult by failing to acknowledge these good things at all.
Prompt: Reflecting on the things you are grateful for, write an essay in praise of something (i.e., an encomion) that explains both what it is (historical context, uses, etc.) and why you think it is praiseworthy.
Assignment Goals
After completing this assignment, students should be able to...
- Identify people, places, and things in their life for which they are grateful
- Conduct research on a topic that interests them
- Articulate their gratitude for these things in the form of an essay
- Write persuasively to inspire emotion and goodwill towards a particular subject