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Nets Stylesheet

Christian Spirit:

History, Theory and Practise

Course Description

Before Cornerstone disbanded over ten years ago, we had an outline for our Spiritual Formation Studies that included: Christology, Wisdom, Christian Spirituality and Theology. At Watershed, we have completed fairly comprehensive courses on the first two and are now entering the third subject of Christian Spirituality. We start with –Christian” Spirituality not because we discount other expressions of faith and life but because we are committed to the principle of digging deeply into the wells of our own experience before being refreshed by other traditions.

Christian spirituality can be studied on many levels and through many disciplines; therefore, we will make the effort to be both integral and interdisciplinary in our approach. Integral study includes looking at the objective and subjective aspects, along with the individual and corporate expressions of Christian experience. Disciplines of history, literature, sociology and psychology will all be called upon as dialogue partners but our main focus will be our direct personal and corporate encounter with God as revealed in the Human One Jesus Christ.

Our class is intended to be experimental, that is, to follow the practises of Scripture and the Spiritual Classics in order to test and taste for ourselves the flavor of Christian spirituality, and to develop our own contextually relevant expression of living life in Christ. Learning in the context of a living community allows us to connect the principles and practices of the spirit to a flesh and blood situation.

Instructor: Arthur Paul Patterson

Required Texts

  • Cunningham S. Lawrence. Christianity: Themes from Tradition. 1996
  • Holt, Bradley P. Thirsty For God: A Brief History of Christian Spirituality. 1993.

Class Schedule

  1. CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY: INTRODUCTION
    1. Toward A Definition of Christian Spirituality
      1. Course objectives, learning covenant, overall plan and a discussion of the definition of Spirituality.
      2. Summary of Text Chapter C.S. pp. 5-28
      3. First Round Definition: Survival: The Spirituality Definition Edition
      4. Reading:
        1. Cunningham: Chapter 1
        2. Recommended: Mursell, Tyson, McGrath
    2. Typology of Spirit
      1. Types of Christian Spirituality.
      2. Types of Prayer Chart ® Urban T. Holmes III
      3. Second Round of Definition
      4. Reading:
        1. Michael Cox. Handbook of Christian Spirituality. –The Nature of Mysticism.” pp. 19-41.
        2. Urban T. Holmes. A History of Christian Spirituality. pp. 1-13
        3. Philip Sheldrake. Spirituality and History. Chapter Eight Types of Spirituality pp. 196-218.
    3. Contextual Spirituality (Group)
      1. Survey: Christ and Culture Positions.
      2. Spirituality in Context
      3. Against Culture
      4. Christ in Culture Paradox
      5. Transformation of Culture
      6. Reading:
        1. Holt: pp. 1 -15.
        2. Recommended Reading: Christianity and Cultures: Transforming Niebuhr's Categories
    4. Christian Anarchy
      1. Anarchy: The Very Idea.
      2. In This Corner
      3. Against Culture
      4. Justice, Freedom and Grace: Fruits of Anarchy
      5. Reading:
        1. Vernard Eller. Christian Anarchy.
    5. Engaging the Powers
      1. Walter Winkęs Engaging the Powers.
      2. Watershed and the Powers Discussion
      3. Reading:
        1. Walter Wink. Engaging the Powers.
        2. Confronting the Powers That Be.
  2. HEARERS AND DOERS
    1. Word as The Root of Spirituality
      1. Word in the Bible
      2. Word in Worship
      3. Word in Spiritual Reading
      4. Word in Community
      5. Reading:
        1. Cunningham: pp. 29 - 46
        2. Recommended: Alister McGrath. Christian Spirituality. Biblical Images and Christianity. pp. 82-88
    2. Origen & Allegorical Method
      1. Origen: Biographical Overview
      2. On Interpreting Scripture
      3. First Principles and Song of Solomon
      4. Reading:
        1. Robin Mass and Gabriel OęDonnell. Spiritual Traditions for the Contemporary Church. (The Spiritual Exegesis of Scripture). pp. 35-36
        2. Recommended: Olivier Clement. Roots of Christian Mysticism: Scripture the First Sacrament. pp,97-103
        3. Recommended: Hans Kung. Great Christian Thinkers: The Great Synthesis of Antiquity and the Christian Spirit.,pp. 41-68.
        4. Recommended: Origen. On First Principles Chapter Three: Examples from Scriptures, .pp. 189-205.
        5. Recommended: Origen. Origen and the Holy Scriptures.
        6. Recommended: Frank N. Magill, ed. Christian Spirituality: Commentary on the Song of Songs. pp. 7-12
    3. Lectio Divina
      1. Monastic Reading: St. Benedict and Cistercian Spirituality
      2. Modern Day Lectio: Margaret Silf
      3. Group Lectio
      4. Reading:
        1. Thomas Keating. Practice of Lectio Divina
        2. Thelma Hall. Too Deep for Words: Rediscovering Lectio Divina. pp. 36-56
        3. Recommended: Gabriel OęDonnell. Spiritual Traditions: Practicum 1 Reading for Holiness.45-54.
  3. THE SPIRITUAL JOURNEY: SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT
    1. Journey Metaphor
      1. Journey Summarized
      2. Spirituality and Development ® An Eclectic Perspective: Horace Bushnell
      3. Education and Spirit: Mentorship and Learning - Discussion
      4. Reading:
        1. Cunningham. pp. 47-65
        2. Recommended: Horace Bushnell. Christianity as Life Process: Dynamics of Spirituality. pp., 16-23. or The Power of an Endless Life. pp. 119-148
    2. Scale of Perfection
      1. Medieval Way of Ascent
      2. Walter Hilton: Toward Image and Likeness
      3. Standing on the Scale- Discussion
      4. Reading:
        1. Karen Armstrong. Visions of God: III. Walter Hilton Ladder of Perfection. ,pp. 108-117
        2. Recommended: Elizabeth G. Melillo. Introduction to Walter Hilton and His Scale.
        3. Recommended: Scale of Perfection: Selected Readings.

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