Spring 2020/Fuller Online

IS501

Tan

IS501: PRACTICES OF WORSHIP (4 Units: 160 hours). Sooi-Ling Tan.

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 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: 900 pp. of required reading and/or the equivalent in viewing.

Smith, James K. A. You are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit. Brazos Press, 2016. ISBN: 978-1587433801. Price $21.99. Available as an e-book from the Fuller Library. [190 pp.]

Costen, Melva W. African American Christian Worship, expanded edition. Abingdon Press, 2007. Available as an e-book from the Fuller Library. ISBN: 978-0687646227, Pub. Price $ 19.99 [152 assigned pp.]

Bible Reading: NRIV, The Message [50 pages assigned]

CORE PRACTICES

Sabbath-Keeping

Brueggemann, Walter. Sabbath as Resistance: Saying No to the Culture of Now. Westminster John Knox Press, 2014. Available as an e-book from the Fuller Library. ISBN: 978-0664239282, Pub. Price $14.00 [89 pp.]

Bass, Dorothy. “Discovering the Sabbath” in Christianity Today. Part 1: https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/1997/september1/7ta038.html

Part 2: https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/1997/september1/7ta38b.html [13 pages assigned]

Confession

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

Praise

Brueggemann, Walter. “Praise and the Psalms, The Politics Of Glad Abandonment” in The Psalms & the Life of Faith. Augsburg Fortress Press, 1995. ISBN: 978-0800627331, Pub. Price $26.00 [pp. 112-132] [E-reserves].

Lim, Swee Hong. 2017. “What is the Right Kind of Worship … If you want North American Congregations to Sing Global Songs.” Global Forum on Arts and Christian Faith. 2017, vol 5 No. 1. [10 pp]. (Available on E-reserves)

Communion

McNichols, Michael. Shadow Meal: Reflections on Eucharist. Wipf & Stock, 2010. ISBN: 978-1608993604, Pub. Price $19.00 [124 pp. assigned].

Anderson, Herbert and Edward Foley. Mighty Stories, Dangerous Rituals: Weaving Together the Human and the Divine. Jossey-Bass Publishers, 2001. ISBN: 978-0787956486, Pub. Price: $18.95. Available as an e-book from the Fuller Library. [74 pages assigned]

Gathering and Sending

Schmit, Clayton J. Sent and Gathered. A Worship Manual for the Missional Church. Baker Academic, 2009. ISBN: 978-0801031656, Pub. Price $22.00. Available as an e-book from the Fuller Library. [52 pages assigned].

Reading and Proclaiming the Word

Peterson, Eugene H. Eat This Book: A Conversation in the Art of Spiritual Reading. Grand Rapids, Mich: Eerdmans Pub Co, 2009. Chapters 4-5. Scripture as Form: Following the Way of Jesus; Scripture as Script: Playing our Part in the Spirit pp. 37-77. [40 pages assigned].

Peterson, Eugene H.Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity. Eerdmans Publishing, 1989. ISBN: 978-0802802651, Pub. Price $20.00 [18 pp. assigned]. Available on eReserves.

Prayer

Nouwen, Henri. The Only Necessary Thing. The Crossroad Publishing Company, 2008. ISBN: 978-0824524937, Pub. Price $15.95 [110 pp.]

Barton, Ruth Haley. 2009. Chapter 2 “Solitude: Creating Space for God” and Chapter 4 “Prayer: Deepening our Intimacy with God” in Sacred Rhythms. Downers Grove, Ill: IVP Books, 29-44, 62-77 [30 pp. assigned]. Available as an e-book from the Fuller Library.

Other Related Articles on E-reserves [47 pages]

ASSIGNMENTS AND ASSESSMENT:

900 pages reading, including 50 pages of biblical text. (10%) [This assignment is related to learning outcome #3]. [60 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. Note: VFGs may include required 90 minute synchronous video sessions (20%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #1, #2, #3 and #4]. [32 hours+8 hours].
Directed Exercises and Integrative Reflection: Student will participate in two disciplines and reflect on these experiences in a way that integrates experience with course content. Students will also write an integrative paper. (15%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #2 and #3] [15 hours].
Fieldwork and Reflections: Attend at least 2 worship gatherings and create and tell a story (20%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #2]. [20 hours].
Autobiography: Students will create an autobiography related to practices of word and communion (5%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #1]. [5 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. (30%). [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 integrative requirement in the 120 MDiv and the 80 MAT, 80 MATM, 80 MAICS Programs (Fall 2015).

FINAL EXAMINATION: None.