Spring 2019/Fuller Online

IS502

Lim

IS502: PRACTICES OF COMMUNITY (4 Units: 160 hours). Peter Lim.

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.

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: 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. Available as an e-book from the Fuller Library [178 pp. assigned].

Smith, C. Christopher & John Pattison.Slow Church. InterVarsity, 2014. ISBN: 978-0830841141, Pub. Price $17.00. Available as an e-book from the Fuller Library [226 pp. assigned]

B. Core Practices (all articles below will be available via eReserves)

Forgiveness

Augsburger, David. “The F Word: Forgiveness and its Limitations.” The National Association for Christian Recovery. June 20, 2008. Access May 20, 2018. http://www.nacr.org/resource-center-on-emotional-and-relational-health/the-f-word-forgiveness-and-its-imitations

Volf, Miroslav. “How Can We Forgive,” in Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a World Stripped of Grace. Zondervan, 2005. ISBN: 978-0310265740, Pub. Price $12.99 [pp. 193-224].

Gratitude

Discussed in required textbook, Christine Pohl’s Living into Community: Cultivating Practices That Sustain Us.

Hospitality

Cleveland, Christena. “Privilege Says...” The Christena Cleveland Blog, June 2013. Accessed May 20, 2018. http://www.christenacleveland.com/blogarchive/2013/06/privilege-says?rq=Privilege%20Says...

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

“Homily to a Son.” Sermon preached by a mother/pastor to her son on the day he was baptized. Pentecost 2015.

Promise-Keeping

Discussed in required textbook, Christine Pohl’s Living into Community: Cultivating Practices That Sustain Us.

Testimony

Drury, Amanda Hontz. “Testimony in Practice,” in Saying is Believing. InterVarsity, 2015. ISBN: 978-0830840656, Pub. Price $22.00 [pp.125-167].

Truth-Telling

Discussed in required textbook, Christine Pohl’s Living into Community: Cultivating Practices That Sustain Us.

C. Integration Resources

Greene-McCreight, Kathryn. “Darkness” in Darkness is my Only Companion: A Christian Response to Mental Illness. Brazos Press, 2006 [pp. 19-35 assigned].

Liggin, Fred. “Peter’s Story: Why does the church reject when it ought to embrace?” Missio Alliance. June 2, 2015. Accessed May 20, 2018. http://www.missioalliance.org/peters-story-why-does-the-church-reject-when-it-ought-to-embrace/

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].

Biblical Texts: Matthew [50 pp.].

**Plus other videos and articles on Canvas.

ASSIGNMENTS AND ASSESSMENT:

  1. 800 pages reading and videos, including 50 pages of biblical text (10%) [This assignment is related to learning outcome #3]. [40 hours over ten weeks, approximately 4 hours per week].
  2. Online Participation & Instruction: vocation and formation group discussion, interactive activities, forums, viewing of instructor and peer presentations for communal online experience, & weekly checklist. (25%). [This assignment is related to learning outcomes #1, #2, #3, #4]. [37 hours + 8 hours = 45 hours over ten weeks, approximately 4.5 hours per week].
  3. Autobiography: Students will create an autobiography related to practices of community through blogging, Storify, video, prezi, emaze, Visme, and/or any other creative means approved by the course Instructor (5%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #1]. [5 hours].
  4. 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. Students will participate in directed practices and disciplines over the course of the quarter (10%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #2 and #3]. [20 hours over ten weeks, approximately 2 hours per week].
  5. Four fieldwork activities and four Canvas forum reflections on Fieldwork experiences (20%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #2]. [10 hours + 10 hours = 20 hours].
  6. Online Presentation: personal sharing/distribution of information with regard to the practice you choose to explore. Each student will pick one week/practice to share perspective and thoughts regarding the practice with peers through blogging, Storify, video, prezi, emaze, Visme, and/or any other creative means approved by the course Instructor (10%). [This assignment is related to learning outcomes #1, #3]. [10 hours].
  7. 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. (2,500 words total) (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 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.