Fall 2015/Sacramento

IS502

Gorrell

IS502: PRACTICES OF COMMUNITY (4 Units: 160 hours). Angela Gorrell.

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, Truth-telling, Promise-keeping, Forgiveness, Christian Formation, Gratitude, Testimony, and Group Spiritual Direction).

LEARNING OUTCOMES: (1) Students will reflect on their current and past experiences of Christian practices of community. (2) Students will participate in local contexts and demonstrate the capacity to engage in activities and exercisesrelated to Christian spiritual disciplines and practices of community. (3) Students will demonstrate the capacity to engage scripture, tradition, and contemporary resources to reflect theologically on historic practices of community. (4) Students will articulate 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 is a hybrid+ course, meaning that it is a ten-week course with nine weeks of online instruction (with at least 12 instructional hours) and one week of classroom instruction during week three of the quarter (28 hours which includes 8 hours of participation in vocation and formation groups). The week of classroom instruction will include four hours daily of lecture and discussion, as well as additional lunch meetings and evening sessions (required in hybrid+ courses). Classroom and online instruction will include lecture and discussion 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: 679 pp. of required reading and/or 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].

CORE PRACTICES:

**All of the required reading below is available on eReserves or the course Moodle page via web link.

1.Christian Formation

Smith, James K.A. ”Introduction: Beyond Perspectives” and “Homo Liturgicus: The Human Person as Lover,” in Desiring the Kingdom. Baker, 2009. ISBN: 978-0801035777, Pub. Price $22.99 [pp. 17-35 and 37-73].

2.Hospitality

Cleveland, Christena. “Privilege Says...” The Christena Cleveland Blog, June 2013. Accessed July 2015. http://www.christenacleveland.com/2013/06/privilege-says/

Conde-Frazier, 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.

3.Group Spiritual Direction

Bedford, Nancy. “Little Moves Against Destructiveness,” in Practicing Theology by Miroslav Volf and Dorothy Bass. Eerdmans, 2001. ISBN: 978-0802849311, Pub. Price $24.00 [pp. 157-183].

Bennett, Byard. Pastoral Ethics Case studies. Accessed July, 2015.http://www.didymus.org/case-studies-on-conflict-in-the-church.html

4. Forgiveness

Augsburger, David. “The F Word: Forgiveness and its Limitations.” The National Association for Christian Recovery. June 20, 2008. Accessed July, 2015.http://www.nacronline.com/wordpress/160/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 $15.99 [pp. 193-224].

5. Gratitude, Truth-telling, Promise-keeping

All discussed in required reading book listed first above, Christine Pohl’s Living into Community.

Other Articles related to Christian community:

Greene-McCreight, Kathryn. “Darkness” in Darkness is my Only Companion: A Christian Response to Mental Illness. Brazos Press, 2015. ISBN: 978-1587433726, Pub. Price $18.99 [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 July, 2015.

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 $19.99 [pp. 1-12 assigned].

ASSIGNMENTS AND ASSESSMENT:

1. Content: 679 pages reading, including 105 pages of biblical text, and videos (10%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #3]. [40 hours].
2. Online Participation & Instruction: interactive activities, forums, viewing of instructor and peer presentations for communal online experience, & weekly checklist. (10%). [This assignment is related to learning outcomes #1, 2, 3, 4]. [23 hours over 9 weeks, approx. 2.5 hours per week].
3. Campus Classroom Experience: for each practice, students will engage, reflect, and create (utilizing instruction, participation, presentation, discussion, engaging practice-based theology for theological reflection, case studies). (10%). [This assignment is related to learning outcomes #1, 2, 3, 4]. [20 hours].
4. Campus Vocation Formation Group (VFG) - In a Vocation Formation Group, students will engage spiritual disciplines, practices, and discussion. Students will study the Bible, and share and listen to stories related to the practices. (Vocation Formation Group Leader (VFGL) will let professor know if students have been present and engaged). (10%). [This assignment is related to learning outcomes #1, 2, 4]. [8 hours].
5. Students will participate in directed practices and disciplines over the course of the quarter. (10%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #2]. [20 hours].
6. Four fieldwork activities and four Moodle forum reflections on Fieldwork experiences. (20%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #2]. [8 hours + 8 hours].
7. 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]. [8 hours].
8. Signature Assignment: 100-word CIQ response, Integration paper related to course practices, and Rule of Life (2,500 words total). (20%). [This assignment is related to learning outcomes #1, 3, 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, 80 MAICS Programs (Fall 2015).

FINAL EXAMINATION: None.