Winter 2020/Online

IS502

Thomas

IS502: PRACTICES OF COMMUNITY (4 Units: 160 hours). Matthew A. Thomas.

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. 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.

RELATIONSHIP TO PROGRAM LEARNING OUTCOMES: This course will provide students with further opportunity to develop and/or master skills in integrating theological and missiological content with life experience and context through engaging a variety of spiritual practices related to the practice of community, which is consistent with the SOT/SIS PLO “Students will have demonstrated capacities to cultivate a theologically reflective practice of Christian discipleship.” (MDiv, MAT, MATM, MAICS). The emphases on integration in this course provides introduction to the MAICS learning outcome related to critical thinking and integration (MAICS). This course may also contribute to various learning outcomes in the MAGL related to integrating theology and praxis in ministry and mission, and related to spiritual formation (MAGL).

COURSE FORMAT: This course meets ten weeks online (which includes required synchronous and/or asynchronous participation in vocation and formation groups) for a total of 40 instructional hours. Students are required to interact with the material, with each other, and with the instructor regularly through online discussions, reading, and other assignments that promote active learning.

REQUIRED READING: Approximately 800 pp. of required reading and/or the equivalent time in viewing.

A. Required Textbooks

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

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

B. Core Practices [These readings will be available on eReserves or the class Canvas site.]

Essays, articles, and videos including, but not limited to:

Bible readings. [~100 pp. assigned]

Bride of Frankenstein. Directed by James Whale. 1935. Universal City, CA: Universal Pictures. Film.

Coates, Ta-Nehisi. ‘The Case for Reparations’ The Atlantic, 313:5 (June 2014): 54-71. [18 pp. assigned]

Conde-Fraser, Elizabeth. ‘From Hospitality to Shalom’ in Conde-Fraser, Kang, and Parrett, eds. A Many Colored Kingdom. Baker, 2004. [44 pp. assigned]

Drury, Amanda Hontz. ‘Testimony in Practice: Toward a Practical Theology,’ in Saying is Believing, 125-167. InterVarsity, 2015. [44 pp. assigned]

Flowers, Rachel. 'Refusal to Forgive: Indigenous Women's Love and Rage' Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society 4:2 (2015): 32-49 [18 pp. assigned]

Fredrick, Marla. ‘Introduction’ and ‘Gratitude and Empathy’ in Between Sundays: Black Women and Everyday Struggles of Faith, 1-29 and 63-73. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003. [40 pp. assigned]

Gonzalez, Justo L. 'The Alienation of Alienation' in The Other Side Of Sin : Woundedness From The Perspective Of The Sinned-Against. SUNY Press, 2001. [10 pp. assigned]

Karris, Robert J. OFM. ‘Jesus as Guest, Host, and Teacher at Meals’ and ‘Eating is a Serious and Dangerous, but also Joyful Business’ in Eating Your Way Through Luke’s Gospel, 41-54 and 97-103. Liturgical Press, 2006. [22 pp. assigned]

Park, Andrew Sung. 'The Bible and Han' in The Other Side Of Sin : Woundedness From The Perspective Of The Sinned-Against. SUNY Press, 2001. [15 pp. assigned]

Song, Felicia Wu. 'The Serious Business of Mommy Bloggers' Contexts, 15:3 (Summer 2016): 42-49. [8 pp. assigned]

Swinton, John. ‘Reflections on autistic love: what does love look like?’ Practical Theology 5:3 (December 2012): 259-278. [20 pp. assigned]

Swinton, John. ‘Time, Hospitality, and Belonging: Towards a Practical Theology of Mental Health,’ Word & World 35:2 (Spring 2015): 171-181. [10 pp. assigned]

Yong, Amos. ‘Disability from the Margins to the Center: Hospitality and Inclusion in the Church,’ Journal of Religion, Disability, and Health 15:4 (2011): 339-50. [12 pp. assigned]

C. Integration Resources [These readings will be available on eReserves or the class Canvas site.]

Essays, articles, and videos including, but not limited to:

Dykstra, Craig and Bass, Dorothy. ‘A Theological Understanding of Christian Practices’ in Miroslav Volf and Dorothy Bass, eds. Practicing Theology: Beliefs and Practices in Christian Life, 13-32. Eerdmans, 2002. [20 pp. assigned]

Jindra, Michael. ‘Culture Matters: Diversity in the United States and its Implications’ in Alvaro L. Nieves and Robert J. Priest, eds. This Side of Heaven: Ethnicity, Race, and Christian Faith, 63-79. Oxford, 2006. [17 pp. assigned]

Olds, Jacqueline and Richard S. Schwartz. ‘The Elephant in the Room’ in The Lonely American: Drifting Apart in the Twenty-first Century, 1-12. Beacon Press, 2010. [12 pp. assigned]

Song, Felicia Wu. 'Recovering Presence and Place in the Digital Age: Sociological and Theological Reflections on Technology' The Westmont College Magazine (Spring 2018): 16-21. [6 pp. assigned]

Yong, Amos. ‘Incarnation, Pentecost, and Virtual Spiritual Formation: Renewing Theological Education in Global Context’ in Teresa Chai, ed., A Theology of the Spirit in Doctrine and Demonstration: Essays in Honor of Wonsuk and Julie Ma, 27-38. Baguio City: Asia Pacific Theological Seminary Press, 2014. [12 pp. assigned]

ASSIGNMENTS AND ASSESSMENT:

Approximately 800 pages equivalent of reading and videos, including at least 50 pages of biblical text [This assignment is related to learning outcome 3]. [40 hours].
Online 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 online classroom and through participation in Vocation Formation Groups. (20%). [This assignment is related to learning outcomes 1, 2, 3 and 4]. [32 hours+8 hours].
Autobiography: Students will create an autobiography related to practices of community (10%). [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. (25%). [This assignment is related to learning outcomes 2 and 3] [30 hours].
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 outcomes 1, 3, and 4]. [25 hours].
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 outcomes 2 and 3.] [20 hours]

PREREQUISITES: IS500 encouraged. 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.