Spring 2020/Fuller Online

IS501

Gosselin

IS501: PRACTICES OF WORSHIP (4 Units: 161 hours). Janna Gosselin.

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, and reading & proclaiming the Word) 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.

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 worship, 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 for ten weeks online (which includes required synchronous and/or asynchronous participation in vocational formation groups). All this totals 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. For the online work, the class will meet asynchronously but will function with a clear work week in mind. In other words, students will not be able to turn assignments in later than the work week for which it is due.

REQUIRED READING: Total: 904 pp. of required reading.

A. Required Textbooks [165 pp.]

Smith, James K.A., You are What You Love, The Spiritual Power of Habit. Brazos Press, 2016. ISBN: 978-1587433801, Pub. Price $21.99 [224 pp.] (Chapters 1, 2 and 3) [83 pp.] (available as an e-book In Fuller Library).

Costen, Melva W. African American Christian Worship, expanded edition. Abingdon Press, 2007. ISBN: 978-0687646227 Pub. Price $ 19.99 [1562 pp.] (Chapters 1, 3, 7 and 8) [82 pp.] (available as an e-book In Fuller Library).

B. Bible Reading (passages detailed in the syllabus) [30 pp.]

Additional Bible Reading in Required Text:

Claiborne, Hartgrove and Okoro. Common Prayer: Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals. Zondervan, 2010. ISBN: 978-0310326199, Pub. Price $26.99 (available as a free I-phone app).

C. Core Practices [820 pp.]

Sabbath-Keeping

Brueggemann, Walter. Sabbath as Resistance: Saying No to the Culture of Now. [New Edition with Study Guide] Westminster John Knox Press, 2014. ISBN: 978-0664263294, Pub. Price $15.00 [89 pp.].

Confession

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. “Confession and Communion” in Life Together. HarperOne, 2009. ISBN: 978-0060608521, Pub. Price $14.99. [pp. 110-122] [12 pp.] [available in e-reserves].

Guyon, Jeanne Marie Bouvier de La Motte. Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ. 3rd ed. Christian Books, 1981. ISBN: 978-0940232006, Pub. Price: $12.95. Chapter 15: “A New Look at Confession of Sin” [pp. 73-78] [5 pp.].

Praise

The Spirit of Praise, Music and Worship in Global Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity. Ed. Monique M. Ingalls and Amos Yong. The Pennsylvania Univ. Press, 2015. (available as an e-book in Fuller Library) Chapters 5--The Global Context of the Dutch Pentecostal Church [97-116]; Chapter 6--Bapticostal African American Mega Church [117-132]; Chapter 7--Nairobi Pentecostal Church [133-147], Chapter 14--African American Church [247-261]; Chapter 15--Rio de Janeiro Church [262-278]. [approx. 20 pp. each]. (VFG will choose one chapter on which to present).

Communion

Costen, Melva W. African American Christian Worship, expanded edition. Abingdon Press, 2007. ISBN: 978-0687646227, Pub. Price $ 19.99 [1562 pp.] (Chapter 5) [approx. 20 pp.].

Wright, NT. The Meal Jesus Gave Us. 2nd edition. Westminster/John Knox, 2015. ISBN: 978-0664261290, Pub Price $14.00 [96 pp.].             

Gathering and Sending

Chan, Simon. Spiritual Theology, A Systematic Study of the Christian Life. (available as an ebook in Fuller Library). Chapter 5— “The Church as the Community of Saints” [pp. 102-124][22 pp.].

Dawn, Marva J. A Royal Waste of Time: The Splendor of Worshiping God and Being Church for the World. W.B. Eerdmans Pub, 1999. ISBN: 978-0802845863, Pub. Price: $22.00. Chapter 13: “What if We all were an Eye?: A Sermon” [pp. 169-177] [8 pp.] (Available in e-reserves).

Reading and Proclaiming the Word

Thurman, Howard: Sermons on the Parables by Howard Thurman, edited by David B. Gowler and Kipton E. Jensen. Orbis Books, 2018. ISBN: 978-1626982833, Pub. Price: $25.00 [208 pp.]. AND

Isasi- Diaz, Ada-Maria. Mujerista Theology [In e-reserves]. Chapter 3—“By the Rivers of Babylon” [pp. 35-56][21 pp.] (available in e-reserves).

Prayer

Chan, Simon. Spiritual Theology, A Systematic Study of the Christian Life. (available as an ebook in Fuller Library). Chapter 6—“The Theology and Life of Prayer” [pp. 125-157][32 pp.]. AND

Guyon, Jeanne Marie Bouvier de La Motte. Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ. 3rd ed. Christian Books, 1981. ISBN: 978-0940232006, Pub. Price: $12.95. Chapters 12-14, [pp. 59-71] [12 pp.]

Isasi- Diaz, Ada-Maria. Mujerista Theology [In e-reserves]. Chapter 2—“Luchar por la Justicia Es Rezar—To Struggle for Justice is to Pray” [pp. 23-35][12 pp.]. AND

Enacting the Prophetic

Thurman, Howard. Jesus and the Disinherited. Beacon Press, 1996. ISBN:978-0807010297, Pub. Price

$16.00 [112 pp.]. OR

Khang, Kathy. Raise Your Voice: Why We Stay Silent and How to Speak Up. IVP Books, 2018. ISBN: 978-0830845408, Pub. Price $17.00. [176 pp.].

RECOMMENDED READING:

Prayer

Julian of Norwich. Revelations of Divine Love. Dover Press, 2006. ISBN: 978-0486452449, Pub. Price $7.95. (Available online at http://www.ccel.org/ccel/julian/revelations.i.i.html).

Spiritual Disciplines

Thompson, Marjorie. Soul Feast: An Invitation to the Christian Spiritual Life. Westminster John Knox Press, 2014. ISBN: 978-0664239244, Pub Prices: $17.00.

ASSIGNMENTS AND ASSESSMENT: [161 Hours Total]

1. 904 pages reading, including Weekly Spiritual Formation Exercise Forums (non-graded course participation requirement) using required text Common Prayer: Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals. [This assignment is related to learning outcome #3]. [60 hours].
2. Online Classroom Participation: Students will participate in active online learning to foster understanding of and capacity for engaging in theologically-informed reflection (5%) [This assignment is related to learning outcome #1, #2 and #3]. [30 hours].
3. Vocation Formation Group (VFG) Participation: Students will meet synchronously or asynchronously with a small group facilitated by a Vocation Formation Group Leader. In these groups, students will engage the core practices through spiritual disciplines, biblical and theological reflection, and sharing stories of their vocational formation. (5%) [This assignment is related to learning outcome #2, #4]. [8 hours].
4. Vocational Formation Exercises and Integrative Reflection: Students will engage in spiritual disciplines and discussion around Sabbath-keeping, confession, praise, prayer and implications of these practices for vocational formation. (20%). [This assignment is related to learning outcomes #2 and #3]. [8 hours+8 hours=16 hours].
5. Directed Exercises and Integrative Reflection through four fieldwork activities assigned. Students will participate in 4 directed fieldwork assignments that allow the student to reflect on worship/prayer practices and disciplines over the course of the quarter. (20%) [This assignment is related to learning outcomes #2 and #3]. [8 hours+8 hours=16 hours].
6. Autobiography: Students will create an autobiography forum post (graded) related to practices of worship and prayer. (5%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #1]. [2 hours].
7. A research and reflection paper in which the student will explore a particular exemplar’s understanding of prayer practices and those practices’ implications for worship (1,000-1,200 words) (20%). [This assignment is related to learning outcomes #1 and #3]. [15 hours].
8. 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 (1,200-1,500 words). (25%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #1, #3, and #4]. [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.

NOTE: This ECD is a reliable guide to the course design but is subject to modification. Textbook prices are set by publishers and are subject to change. Copyright 2019 Fuller Theological Seminary.