Winter 2017/Pasadena
IS501
Peace
IS501: PRACTICES OF WORSHIP (4 Units: 160 hours). Richard Peace.
DESCRIPTION: Christian practices constitute the Christian life. The combined Christian practices of vocational formation, worship, community, and mission facilitate the integration of personal, spiritual, academic, and global formation into the vocational coherence of a Christian leader through reflection, relationships, and practices. IS501 is an integrative course that explores the identity and practices of Christian worship and prayer as a people called, gathered, and sent by God. Together, professor and students study and enact historic Christian disciplines necessitated by this distinctive identity (Sabbath-keeping, confession, praise, communion, enacting the prophetic, gathering & sending, prayer, reading & proclaiming the Word, and liturgical year) in order to form students who demonstrate capacities to cultivate a theologically reflective practice of Christian discipleship.
LEARNING OUTCOMES: (1) Students will have demonstrated capacities to critically reflect on their current and past experiences of Christian practices of worship and prayer. (2) Students will have demonstrated through participation in local contexts the capacity to engage in activities and exercises related to Christian spiritual disciplines and practices of worship and prayer. (3) Students will have demonstrated capacities to engage scripture, tradition, and contemporary resources to reflect theologically on historic and personal practices of worship and prayer. (4) Students will have articulated how practices of worship and prayer impact their response to the Central Integration Question (CIQ) and will identify exercises, habits, and disciplines to embody these practices within their sociocultural context.
COURSE FORMAT: This class meets once per week for three hour sessions for a total of 30 hours of classroom instruction for lecture and discussion (which includes 8 hours of required synchronous and/or asynchronous participation in vocation and formation groups) plus 10 hours of directed learning activities for a total of 40 instructional hours.
REQUIRED READING: 1,000 pp. of required reading and/or the equivalent time in viewing.
A. Required Textbooks
The Holy Bible. CEB, NRSV, or TNIV translation. [50 pp. assigned].
Anderson, Herbert & Edward Foley. Mighty Stories, Dangerous Rituals: Weaving Together the Human and the Divine. Jossey-Bass, 2001. ISBN: 978-0787956486, Pub. Price $18.95. [91 pages assigned].
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Life Together. Harper One, 1954, 2009. ISBN: 978-0060608521, Pub. Price $14.99 [93 pages assigned].
Caccamo, James F., and Todd Johnson, and Lester Ruth. Living Worship: A Multimedia Resource for Students and Leaders. Brazos Press, 2006. ASIN: 1587432951, Published Price: $27.99 [10 hours of viewing assigned].
Gilbert, Marlea & Christopher Grundy, Eric Myers, Stephanie Perdew. The Work of the People: What We Do in Worship & Why. Alban Books, 2007. ISBN: 978-1566993371, Pub. Price $20.00 [80 pages assigned].
Meyers, Ruth. Missional Worship, Worshipful Mission. Eerdmans, 2014. ISBN: 978-0802868008, Pub. Price $26.00 [131 pages assigned].
Nouwen, Henri. The Way of the Heart. Ballantine Books, 1981, 2003. ISBN: 978-0345463357, Pub. Price $13.00. [79 pages assigned]
Peterson, Eugene. Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity. Eerdmans, 1978. ISBN: 978-0802802651, Pub. Price $20.00 [98 pages assigned].
B. Core Practices
Sabbath-Keeping
Dawn, Marva. Keeping the Sabbath Wholly: Ceasing, Resting, Embracing, Feasting. Eerdmans, 1989. pp. x-16, 53-64, 101-110, 153-165. [55 pp.] In eReserves.
Smith, Christopher & John Pattison. Slow Church: Cultivating Community in the Patient Way of Jesus. InterVarsity, 2014, pp. 138-152. [14 pp.] In eReserves.
Confession
Bonheoffer, Dietrich. Life Together. Harper One, 2009. pp. 110-122. [13 pp.]
Anderson & Foley: Mighty Stories, Dangerous Rituals. Jossey-Bass, 2001, pp. 3-19, 167-183. [33 pp.]
Meyers, Ruth. Missional Worship, Worshipful Mission. Eerdmans, 2014, pp. 128-149. [22 pp.]
Foster, Richard. Celebration of Discipline, rev. ed., Harper, 1988, pp. 143-157. [15 pp.] In eReserves.
Praise
Ford, David & Daniel Hardy. Living in Praise: Worshipping and Knowing God. Baker. 2005, pp. 1-59. [60 pp.] In eReserves.
Gathering & Sending
Meyers, Ruth. Missional Worship, Worshipful Mission. Eerdmans, 2014, pp. 46-73, 181-196. [44 pp.]
Gilbert, Grundy, Myers, Perdew. The Work of the People. Alban Books, 2007, 19-43, 93-99. [32 pp.]
Reading & Proclaiming the Word
Mulholland, Robert. Shaped by the Word: The Power of Scripture in Spiritual Formation. rev. ed. Upper Room Books, 2000, pp. 15-30. [16 pp.] In eReserves.
Peterson, Eugene. Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity. Eerdmans, 1978, pp. 61-99. [39 pp.]
Meyers, Ruth. Missional Worship, Worshipful Mission. Eerdmans, 2014, pp. 74-107. [34 pp.]
Gilbert, Grundy, Myers, Perdew. The Work of the People. Alban Books, 2007, 45-70. [26 pp.]
Prayer
Nouwen, Henri. The Way of the Heart. Ballantine Books, 1981, pp. 1-73. [74 pp.]
Peterson, Eugene. Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity. Eerdmans, 1978, pp. 1-58. [59 pp.]
Laird, Martin. A Sunlit Absence: Silence, Awareness, and Contemplation. Oxford, 2011, pp. 1-57. [58 pp.] In eReserves.
Gilbert, Grundy, Myers, Perdew. The Work of the People. Alban Books, 2007, 71-92. [22 pp.]
Communion
Bonheoffer, Dietrich. Life Together. Harper One, 2009. pp. 17-75. [59 pp.]
Meyers, Ruth. Missional Worship, Worshipful Mission. Eerdmans, 2014, pp. 150-180. [31 pp.]
Enacting the Prophetic
Anderson & Foley: Mighty Stories, Dangerous Rituals. Jossey-Bass, 2001, pp. 20-35, 125-166. [58 pp.]
Bonheoffer, Dietrich. Life Together. Harper One, 2009. pp. 90-110. [21 pp.]
Liturgical Year
Stookey, Laurence Hull. Calendar: Christ’s Time for the Church. Abingdon, 1996, pp. 17-52. [36 pp.] In eReserves.
Klein, Patricia. Worship Without Words: The Signs and Symbols of our Faith. Paraclete Press, 2000, pp. ix-xiv. [6 pp.] In eReserves.
ASSIGNMENTS AND ASSESSMENT:
1000 pages reading and 10 hours of viewing, including at least 50 pages of biblical text (20%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #3]. [70 hours].
Classroom and Vocation Formation Group (VFG) Participation: Students will participate in active learning to foster understanding of and capacity for engaging in theologically-informed reflection in the classroom and through participation in Vocation Formation Groups. (25%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #1, #2, #3 and #4]. [22 hours+8 hours].
DLAs (Directed Learning Activities): One-day class retreat. (10%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #1, #2, #3]. [10 hours].
Autobiography: Students will create an autobiography related to practices of worship and prayer (5%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #1]. [5 hours].
Directed Exercises and Integrative Reflection: Student will participate in disciplines and exercises outside of the classroom over the course of the quarter related to the core practices of the course and reflect on these experiences in a way that integrates experience with course content. (20%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #2 and #3] [25 hours].
Final Integrative Assignment: Integration paper (2,500 words total) that reflects theologically on the practices of this course and their implications for the student’s response to the CIQ and the exercises, habits, and disciplines in their current Rule of Life. (20%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #1, #3, and #4]. [20 hours].
PREREQUISITES: None. Recommended in first year of study.
RELATIONSHIP TO CURRICULUM: Meets a core integration requirement in the 120 MDiv and the 80 MAT, 80 MATM, 80 MAICS Programs (Fall 2015).
FINAL EXAMINATION: None.