Fall 2015/Fuller Online
IS501
Howard
IS501: PRACTICES OF WORSHIP (4 Units: 160 hours). Evan B. Howard.
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 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, Gathering and Sending, Reading and Proclaiming the Word, Prayer, Communion, Enacting the Prophetic).
LEARNING OUTCOMES: (1) Students will reflect on their current and past experiences of Christian practices of worship. (2) Students will participate in local contexts and demonstrate the capacity to engage in activities and exercises related to Christian spiritual disciplines and practices of worship. (3) Students will demonstrate the capacity to engage scripture, tradition, and contemporary resources to reflect theologically on historic practices of worship. (4) Students will articulate how worship 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 course meets ten weeks online 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: 736 pp. of required reading plus 10 hrs in viewing.
The Holy Bible [50 pages of reading assigned]
Agamben, Giorgio. "Liturgy and Rule" section II of his The Highest Poverty: Monastic Rules and Form of Life. Stanford University Press, 2013. ISBN: 978-0804784054, Pub. Price $50.00 [25 pp. assigned].
Caccamo, James F., Todd Johnson, and Lester Ruth. Living Worship: A Multimedia Resource for Students and Leaders. Brazos Press, 2006. ASIN: 1587432951, Pub. Price $27.99 [10 hours of viewing assigned].
Howard, Evan B. Praying the Scriptures: A Field Guide for Your Spiritual Journey. IVP Books, 1999. ISBN: 978-0830822010, Pub. Price $16.00 [6 pp. assigned].
Jones, Cheslyn, Geoffrey Wainwright, Edward Yarnold and Paul Bradshaw, editors. The Study of Liturgy. Oxford University Press, revised edition, 1992. ISBN: 978-0195209228, Pub. Price $72.95 [7 pp. assigned].
Peterson, David. Engaging with God: A Biblical Theology of Worship. IVP Academic, 2002. ISBN: 978-0830826971, Pub. Price $26.00 [116 pp. assigned].
Ray, Walter D. Tasting Heaven on Earth: Worship in 6th Century Constantinople. Eerdmans Publishing, 2012. ISBN: 978-0802866639, Pub. Price $28.00 [62 pp. assigned].
Senn, Frank C. Christian Liturgy: Catholic and Evangelical. Fortress Press, 1997. ISBN: 978-0800627263, Pub. Price $55.00 [80 pp. assigned].
CORE PRACTICES
Sabbath-Keeping
Hambrick-Stowe, Charles E. The Practice of Piety: Puritan Devotional Disciplines in Seventeenth-Century New England. University of North Carolina Press, 1986. ISBN: 978-0807841457, Pub. Price $42.00 [15 pp. assigned].
Heschel, Abraham Joshua. The Sabbath. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005. ISBN: 978-0374529758, Pub. Price $14.00 [60 pp. assigned].
Confession
Foster, Richard. Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth. HarperCollins, 2002 (25th Anniversary Edition, originally 1978). ISBN: 978-0060628390, Pub. Price $25.99 [15 pp. assigned]
McNeill, John T. A History of the Cure of Souls. HarperCollins, 1977 (originally 1951). ISBN: 978-0060655402, Out of Print [28 pp. assigned].
Praise
"The Nine Ways of Prayer of St. Dominic" http://fisheaters.com/stdominic9ways.html [10 pp. assigned].
Communion
Hunter, Todd. "Taking Communion" in Giving Church Another Chance. InterVarsity Press, 2012. ISBN: 978-1458732125, Pub. Price $19.99 [14 pp. assigned].
T.F. Torrance's "The Paschal Mystery of Christ and the Eucharist" in Theology in Reconciliation: Essays Towards Evangelical and Catholic Unity in East and West. Wipf and Stock, 1996. ISBN: 978-1579100230, Pub. Price $29.00 [7 pp. 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 [40 pp. assigned]
Reading and Proclaiming the Word
Nouwen, Henri. Creative Ministry. Image Books, 1991. ISBN: 978-0385126168, Pub. Price $11.99 [20 pp. 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].
Prayer
Angela of Foligno. Complete Works. Paulist Press, 1993. ISBN: 978-0809133666, Pub. Price $27.95 [53 pp. assigned].
Johnston, J. B. The Prayer Meeting and Its History. Pittsburgh United Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1870 (available at http://www.prayermeetings.org/files/PM_The_Prayer_Meeting_And_Its_History_J_B_Johnston.pdf) [40 pp. assigned].
Enacting the Prophetic
Woolman, John. The Journal of John Woolman. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2013. ISBN: 978-1482013092, Pub. Price $9.99 [70 pp. assigned].
ASSIGNMENTS AND ASSESSMENT:
736 pages reading and 10 hrs of "required text" video viewing, including at least 50 pages of biblical text (@17 pages per hour = 43 hours; plus viewing). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #3] [53 hours].
Online Class Hours: for each practice, students will engage, reflect, create (utilizing instruction, participation, presentation, discussion, engaging practice-based theology, case studies). (48%) [This assignment is related to learning outcome #1,2,3] [40 hours].
Students will participate in directed practices and disciplines over the course of the quarter. (15%) [This assignment is related to learning outcome #2] [25 hours].
Four fieldwork activities and reflections. (12%) [This assignment is related to learning outcome #2] [8 hours + 8 hours].
Autobiography related to core course concept. (2%) [This assignment is related to learning outcome #1] [2 hours].
Signature Assignment: Integration paper related to course content and practices; 100 word CIQ response; and Rule of Life - 2,500 words total. (23%) [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 integrative requirement in the 120 MDiv and the 80 MAT, 80 MATM, MAICS Programs (Fall 2015).
FINAL EXAMINATION: None.