SP2040 Introduction To Christian Spirituality
Through Diverse Spiritual Practice

1. To experience a spectrum of personal spiritual disciplines and begin to integrate into one's life patterns those that are most helpful. To share the experience of the variety of spiritual practices in a group setting.
2. To articulate an understanding of Christian spirituality that includes both its uniqueness and its variety, its practice as well as its study.
3. To develop a holistic understanding of spiritual formation.
4. To reflect upon the implications of goals 1-3 for ministry.

1. Mastering and participating actively in discussion of assigned readings. 
2. Experimenting at least one time with each week’s spiritual practice; writing a brief  (one paragraph to one page) reflection on the experience that will be shared orally in the “debriefing” and handed in to the instructor, who will make brief comments on them. (The class may elect to share these comments with all through the internet; if this option is selected, the discussion will center more on the themes and issues discerned in the sharing via internet.) These reflections must be completed as part of the class, but will not themselves be graded. In two classes, Sept. 25 and Nov. 27, these papers will be replaced by content-oriented response papers. (The class may elect to post these papers on line, as well)
3. Two content-oriented response papers of 3-4 pages typed:
   1. State your working definition of spirituality both as a phenomenon and as an academic discipline and your understanding of spiritual formation in relation to spirituality as you have defined it. One way to approach this paper is to discuss spirituality in light of the various topic headings for the weeks of class prior to this date. Due on Sept. 25 (no spiritual practice response due today).
   2. State your understanding of the holistic nature of spirituality, commenting on physicality, culture, vocation, nature, etc. Due on Nov. 27 (no spiritual practice response due today).
4. A final integration paper (approximately 15 pages) which addresses, in any way chosen by the student, the following topics:
   1. What description of Christian spirituality most communicates your current understanding?  What criteria would you use to identify such a spirituality
   2. How is your understanding of Christian spirituality related to the Bible, the church and the world? (Locate it critically in some part of the scholarship.)
   3. What "rule of life" or embodiment of spirituality have you adopted at this point in your life?  What benefits and struggles have ensued from this process?
   4. How might spirituality affect your future ministry?

Spiritual practices: Silence and Spiritual Journal

Read:  Rayan,  “Spiritual Formation,” Ministerial Formation, Programme on Theological Education, World Council of Churches (Sept. 1987: 4-13. (on reserve). See also the brief description of the author filed with the reserves.

Schneiders, “Spirituality as an Academic Discipline,” Christian Spirituality Bulletin (Fall, 1993): 10-15 (on reserve).

McGrath, Christian Spirituality, Ch.1, 2.

Sheldrake, Spirituality and History, Intro, Ch. 2, 8.

Spiritual practice: Spiritual Reading (You might wish to use the Rayan article or some other devotional material from your personal library or from Scripture as the spiritual reading.)

Read: Rice, Reformed Spirituality, Intro and Ch. 1-5, 7.

Spiritual practice: Closet/“Secret” Prayer

Write: Your working definition of spirituality, both as phenomenon and as academic discipline, and your understanding of spiritual formation in relation to the above. Due Sept. 25.

Read:  McGrath, Ch. 5

Mulholland, Shaped by the Word, Ch. 4-5,10-13 (on reserve)

Schneiders, “Biblical Spirituality: Life, Literature and Learning,” in Doors of Understanding: Conversations in Global Spirituality in Honor of Ewart Cousins, ed. Steven Chase. (New York: Franciscan Press, 1997): 51-76 (on reserve)

First reflection paper due (See Sept. 18). No written debriefing of spiritual practice due today.

Spiritual practice: Lectio Divina

Read:  McGrath, Ch. 3-4

Schneiders: “Theology and Spirituality: Strangers, Rivals or Partners?” Horizons 13: (Fall, 1986): 253-274 (on reserve)

Spiritual practice: A Study Prayer

Read:  Sheldrake, Ch. 1, 3-4, 7

McGrath, Ch. 7

Spiritual practice: Recalling Spiritual Mentors 

Read:  Callahan, "Noisy Contemplation" Wind is Rising: Prayer Ways for Active People. Washington DC: Quixote Center, 1978 (on reserve)

Rice, Ch. 6

Spiritual practice: Noisy Contemplation

Read: Paulsell, Honoring the Body

Spiritual practice: Lectio with the Body

Read:  Oliver, Conjugal Spirituality, Ch. 1-7

Rice, Ch. 6

Spiritual practice: A Prayer of Light for the Active Life

Read:  Stewart, Soul Survivors

Write: Second reflection paper on the holistic nature of spirituality, commenting on physicality, culture, vocation, nature, etc. Due Nov. 27.         

Spiritual practice: Laments of the World

Read: Mc Fague, Super, Natural Christians, Intro, Ch. 1-2, 5-7.

Second reflection paper due today: on holistic nature of spirituality and spiritual formation; see Nov. 13 for details. (No written debriefing of spiritual practice due today).

Spiritual practice: Prayer With a Natural Object

Spiritual practice: Awareness Examen

Integration Papers due December 12 by 5:00 p.m. 

• knowledge of and respect for the Church and its mission; knowledge of, respect for, and intelligent use of its manifold tradition; a sense of how and why theological reasoning has been done in earlier times.  In particular, students should become aware of and experience spiritualities out of which theology grows.  Students should articulate, at a beginning level, the spirituality of the tradition to which they belong--for example, the particular characteristics of Reformed spirituality.  This course touches upon the historical tradition from the point of view of spirituality, but its main goal with respect to this virtue is to raise consciousness that spirituality is indeed an essential aspect of the lived tradition of the Church.
• personal integrity, reflecting a healthy sense of self, healthy relations with other persons in which ethically appropriate behavior is enacted, boundaries respected and compassion exercised, and a well nurtured relationship with God.  In particular, students should learn ways to foster their own relationship with God; such a relationship fosters and sustains a healthy sense of self.  This course offers a model of collegial spiritual companionship upon which other ministerial support groups may be based. 
• a sense for grounding theology in practical reality; awareness that theoretical reflection builds on practical wisdom and theological propositions must be tested by their consequences for the persons or congregations that hold them.  In particular, students should learn to balance both experiential and critical approaches to spirituality without reducing one to the other.  Students should also begin to articulate the relationship between their own experience of God and the theological language with which they articulate that experience
• sensitivity to contrasting experiences and cultures and respect for otherness in the faith.  In particular, students should gain some sense of the variety of personal responses to a given spiritual discipline, and to respect the responses which differ from their own. 

• articulate personal faith and nurture the spiritual life of the congregation.

• lead a congregation in (Reformed) worship
• preach literate, thoughtful scripture-based sermons
• educate a congregation in the faith
• provide pastoral care and counseling