Fall 2019/Fuller Online

IS502

Salvatierra

IS502: PRACTICES OF COMMUNITY (4 Units: 160 hours). Alexia Salvatierra.

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.

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 community, 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: 1,074 pp. of required reading and/or the equivalent time in viewing.

Biblical Text (50 pp. plus from Acts, Ephesians, Corinthians, Hebrews)

Au, Wilkie and Noreen Cannon Au. The Grateful Heart: Living the Christian Message. Paulist Press, 2011 ISBN: 978-0809147359, Pub. Price 19.95. Available as an e-book from the Fuller Library [175 pp. assigned].

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Life Together. Harper One, 1954 ISBN: 978-0060608521, Pub. Price 14.99. Available as an e-book from the Fuller Library [108 pp. assigned].

Calhoun, Adele. Spiritual Disciplines Handbook revised and expanded edition. InterVarsity Press, 2015. ISBN: 978-0830846054, Pub. Price $24.00. Available as an e-book from the Fuller Library. [19 pp. assigned].

Conde-Frazier, Elizabeth, S. Steve Kang and Gary A. Parrett. A Many Colored Kingdom. Baker, 2004. ISBN: 978-0801027437, Pub. Price $24.00. [70 pp. assigned].

Galdamez, Pablo. Faith of a People: The Story of a Christian Community in El Salvador, 1970-1980. Orbis Books, 1986, ISBN: 978-0883442708, Pub. Price $12.00. Not available as an e-book [91 pp. assigned].

Hill, Harriet and Margaret Hill, Richard Bagge, Pat Miersma. Healing the Wounds of Trauma: How the Church Can Help. American Bible Society, 2016. ISBN: 978-1941449004, Pub. Price $3.99. Not available as an e-book [40 pp. assigned].

Huckins, Jon and Jer Swigart. Mending the Divides: Creative Love in a Conflicted World. Intervarsity Press, 2017 ISBN: 978-0830844845, Pub. Price $17.00. Available on Kindle $9.95 [103 pp. assigned].

Nouwen, Henri. Reaching Out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life. Image, 1986 ISBN: 978-0385236829, Pub. Price $15.00. Available on Kindle $12.95 [38 pp. assigned].

Peace, Richard. Holy Conversation: Talking About God in Everyday Life. IVP Connect, 2006. ISBN: 978-0830811199, Pub. Price: $19.00. (Great workbook with helpful reflections and assignments that will change established mental models about testimony being a 3-minute talk). [40 pp. assigned] [Available via e-Reserves].

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

Tutu, Desmond and Mpho Tutu. The Book of Forgiving: The Fourfold Path for Healing Ourselves and our World. Harper Collins, 2014. ISBN: 978-006220357. Pub. Price $18.13. Available on Kindle $11.49. [162 pp. assigned]

Hospitality Video from Fuller Studios

B. Core Practices/Integration Resources:

Gratitude:

Au, Wilkie and Noreen Cannon Au. The Grateful Heart: Living the Christian Message

Calhoun, Adele. Spiritual Disciplines Handbook

Pohl, Christine. Living into Community: Cultivating Practices That Sustain Us

Hospitality:

Conde-Frazier, Elizabeth, S. Steve Kang and Gary A. Parrett. A Many Colored Kingdom

Nouwen, Henri. Reaching Out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life

Pohl, Christine. Living into Community: Cultivating Practices That Sustain Us

Hospitality Video from Fuller Studios

Healing (Caring for the Sick):

Hill, Harriet and Margaret Hill, Richard Bagge, Pat Miersma. Healing the Wounds of Trauma: How the Church Can Help.

Calhoun, Adele. Spiritual Disciplines Handbook

Truth-Telling:

Calhoun, Adele. Spiritual Disciplines Handbook

Pohl, Christine. Living into Community: Cultivating Practices That Sustain Us

Testimony:

Peace, Richard. Holy Conversation: Talking About God in Everyday Life

Calhoun, Adele. Spiritual Disciplines Handbook

Promise-Keeping/Accountability:

Calhoun, Adele. Spiritual Disciplines Handbook

Pohl, Christine. Living into Community: Cultivating Practices That Sustain Us

Forgiveness:

Calhoun, Adele. Spiritual Disciplines Handbook

Tutu, Desmond and Mpho Tutu. The Book of Forgiving: The Fourfold Path for Healing Ourselves and Our World

Peace-Making:

Huckins, Jon and Jer Swigart. Mending the Divides: Creative Love in a Conflicted World

Christian Formation/Discipleship:

Bonhoeffer. Life Together

Galdamez, Pablo. Faith of a People: The Story of a Christian Community in El Salvador, 1970-1980.

ASSIGNMENTS AND ASSESSMENT:

  1. 1074 pages reading and videos, including at least 50 pages of biblical text [This assignment is related to learning outcome #3]. [53 hours].
  2. 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. (20%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #1, #2, #3 and #4]. [32 hours+8 hours
  3. Autobiography: Students will create an autobiography related to practices of community (10%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #1]. [2 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. As part of this requirement, the students will have two options for field work. (1) They can attend a worship service and small group session at three different churches and compare them in the light of the course content, writing a comparative case study on their experiences. (2) They can study their own church or ministry setting in depth, attending a small group regularly and evaluating that group through the lens of the course content. If this option is chosen, the students will be required to lead an activity for their small group incorporating one of the themes of the quarter. Their final paper will analyze both the extent to which the small group lived out the themes of the course and the impact of their intervention on the group. (50%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #2 and #3] [45 hours]. The instructor determines the format of the directed exercises (e.g. daily or weekly disciplines, fieldwork exercises) and the form of the integrative reflections (e.g. 700-word theological reflection papers, creating a case study) related to those exercises.
  5. 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 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.