Winter 2017/Pasadena

IS502

McNichols

IS502: PRACTICES OF COMMUNITY (4 Units: 160 hours). Michael McNichols.

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 vocation coherence of a Christian leader through reflection, relationships, and practices. IS502 is an integrative course that explores the identity and practices of Christian community as a people called, gathered, and sent by God. Together, professor and students study and enact historic Christian disciplines necessitated by this distinctive identity (hospitality, forgiveness, promise-keeping, truth-telling, gratitude, and testimony) 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 community. (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 community. (3) Students will have demonstrated capacities to engage scripture, tradition, and contemporary resources to reflect theologically on historic and personal practices of community. (4) Students will have articulated how community practices 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: Approximately 1,040 pp. of required reading. Note: Several of the required readings are available on e-reserves and online at no charge to the student.

Biblical Texts [approximately 50 pp. assigned].

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community. HarperOne, 1954. ISBN: 978-0060608521, Pub. Price $14.99 [115 pp. assigned].

Drury, Amanda Hontz. Saying is Believing: The Necessity of Testimony in Adolescent Spiritual Development. IVP Academic, 2015. ISBN: 978-0830840656, Pub. Price $22.00 [176 pp.]

Katongole, Emmanuel. Mirror to the Church: Resurrecting Faith after Genocide in Rwanda. Zondervan, 2009. ISBN: 978-0310284895, Pub. Price $15.99 [160 pp. assigned].

Pohl, Christine. Living into Community: Cultivating Practices That Sustain Us. Eerdmans, 2011. ISBN: 978-0802849854, Pub. Price $20.00 [178 pp. assigned].

Wright, N. T. Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense. HarperOne, 2010. ISBN: 978-0061920622, Pub. Price $24.99 [87 pp. assigned].

Note: Required texts should be purchased prior to first class session.

Online articles, e-reserves and videos (available on course Moodle page) [equivalent of approximately 189 pp.].

CORE PRACTICES: Hospitality, Truth-telling, Promise-Keeping, Forgiveness, Gratitude, and Testimony.

ASSIGNMENTS AND ASSESSMENT:

1. Approximately1,040 pages reading and videos, including at least 50 pages of biblical text. [This assignment is related to learning outcome #3]. [52 hours].
2. Reading reflection papers (500-600 words per paper) on selected topics from the Drury and Katongole texts (10%). [This assignment is related to learning outcomes #3 and #4]. [8 hours].
3. 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. Students will engage in spiritual disciplines and discussion around hospitality, truth-telling, promise-keeping, and forgiveness, and implications for these practices for vocational formation. (10%). [This assignment is related to learning outcomes #1, #2, #3 and #4]. [22 hours+8 hours]. See syllabus for details regarding class attendance.
4. DLA’s (Distributed Learning Activities). Using the required textbook Life Together, students will participate in regular reflections on Moodle (10%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #3]. [10 hours].
5. Autobiography: Students will create an autobiography related to practices of community (10%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #1]. [3 hours].
6. Directed Exercises and Integrative Reflection: Students will participate in disciplines and exercises outside of the classroom over duration 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.(15%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #2 and #3.] [20 hours].
7. Fieldwork assignments: Students will complete three fieldwork assignments related to course practices and reflect on these experiences in a way that integrates experience with course content (20%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #2.] [12 hours]
8. Final Integrative Assignment: Integration paper 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. (25%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #1, #3, and #4]. [25 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.