Summer 2018/Fuller Online

IS502

Kinnison

IS502: PRACTICES OF COMMUNITY (4 Units: 160 hours). Quentin P. Kinnison.

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 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: 1100 pp. of required reading and/or the equivalent time in viewing.

Biblical Texts: Exodus [55 pp.] and Matthew [50 pp.].

Lohfink, Gerhard. Jesus and Community. Fortress, 1984. ISBN: 978-0800618025, Pub. Price $29.00 [187 pp. assigned].

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

Smith, C. Christopher & John Pattison. Slow Church. InterVarsity, 2014. ISBN: 978-0830841141, Pub. Price $17.00 [226 pp. assigned].

CORE PRACTICES:

1. Hospitality/Inclusion

Conde-Frazier, Elizabeth. “From Hospitality to Shalom” in A Many Colored Kingdom. Baker, 2004. ISBN: 978-0801027437, Pub. Price $24.00 [pp. 167-210]; e-Reserve available.

2. Truth-telling

Reading & video available online.

3. Promise-keeping

Reading & video available online.

4. Forgiveness

Dunn, Larry. Discovering Forgiveness: Pathways through Injury, Apology, and Healing. Cascadia, 2014. ISBN: 978-1680270006, Pub. Price $14.95 [pp. 121. assigned]

5. Christian Education / Formation

Everist, Norma Cook. “A Community of Teachers & Learners” and “Creating Different Learning Environments to be Different Together,” in The Church as Learning Community. Abingdon, 2002. ISBN: 978-0687045006, Pub. Price $31.99 [pp. 21-101]; e-Reserve available.

6. Gratitude

Reading & video available online.

7. Testimony/Story-telling

Reading & video available online.

8. Group Spiritual Direction/Discernment

Morris, Danny E, and Charles M. Olsen. Discerning God’s Will Together: A Spiritual Practice for the Church. Rowman & Littlefield, 2012 (Revised & Updated). ISBN: 978-1566994255, Pub. Price $20.00 [pp. 1-113].

9. Celebration& Lament

Olds, Jacqueline and Richard Schwartz, “The Elephant in the Room,” in The Lonely American: Drifting Apart in the Twenty-first Century. Beacon Press, 2010. ISBN: 978-0807000359, Pub. Price $19.00 [pp. 1-12 assigned]; e-Reserve available.

10. Caring for the Sick

Greene-McCreight, Kathryn. “Darkness,” in Darkness is my Only Companion: A Christian Response to Mental Illness. Brazos Press, 2006. ISBN: 978-1587433726, Pub. Price $18.99 [pp. 19-35 assigned]; e-Reserve available.

Kinnison, Quentin P. “Theological Reflections for a Christian Perspective on Special Education,” in Welcoming Children with Special Needs: Empowering Christian Special Education through Purpose, Policies, and Procedures. Westbow, 2014. ISBN: 978-1490852607, Pub. Price $11.95 [pp. 1-31]; e-Reserve available.

ASSIGNMENTS AND ASSESSMENT:

1100 pages reading and videos, including at least 50 pages of biblical text. (20%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #3]. [55 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. (30%). [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 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. (10%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #2 and #3] [25 hours].
Four fieldwork activities and reflections. (10%) [This assignment is related to learning outcome #2]. [8 hours + 10 hours].
Autobiography: Students will create an autobiography related to practices of community (10%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #1]. [2 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. (20%). [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.