Summer 2017/Pasadena

IS501

Gosselin

IS501:  PRACTICES OF WORSHIP (4 Units: 161 hours). Janna Gosselin.

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 and prayer 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, communion, enacting the prophetic, gathering & sending, prayer, and reading & proclaiming the Word) 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 worship and prayer. (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 worship and prayer. (3) Students will have demonstrated capacities to engage scripture, tradition, and contemporary resources to reflect theologically on historic and personal practices of worship and prayer. (4) Students will have articulated how practices of worship and prayer 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 hybrid course meets nine weeks online (with at least 15 instructional hours) combined with one week on campus (25 instructional hours) for a total of 40 instructional hours. This includes 8 hours of required synchronous and/or asynchronous participation in vocation and formation groups (4 hours online and 4 hours during the classroom week). Students will participate in active learning to foster understanding of and capacity for engaging in theologically-informed reflection in the classroom and through participation in Vocation Formation Groups. Students will engage in spiritual disciplines and discussion around Sabbath-keeping, confession, praise, prayer and implications of these practices for vocational formation.

REQUIRED READING: 850 pp. of required reading plus 10 hours of viewing.

A. Required Textbooks

Caccamo, James F., and 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.]

B. Bible Reading (passages detailed in the syllabus) [30 pp.]

Matthew 8, 12 (on the Sabbath)

John 1-4 (on confession and prayer)

Matthew 26, 1st Corinthians 11 (on communion)

2 Samuel 6 (David dancing before the Ark)

Luke 7:36-50 (The woman washing the feet of Jesus with her hair)

Isaiah 58-59 (Corrective regarding heart attitudes toward worship)

Psalms 93, 96, 97, 98 (Influential in the early church worship)

Psalm 39, 42, 44, 139, 143 (Psalms on prayer)

Additional Bible Reading in Required Text [over 22 pp.]:

Claiborne, Hartgrove and Okoro. Common Prayer: Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals. Zondervan, 2010. ISBN: 978-0310326199, Pub. Price $24.99. [158 pp.]

C. Core Practices [820 pp.]

Sabbath-Keeping

Brueggemann, Walter. Sabbath as Resistance: Saying No to the Culture of Now. Westminster John Knox Press, 2014. ISBN: 978-0664239282, Pub. Price $14.00 [89 pp.].

Confession

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. “Confession and Communion” in Life Together. HarperOne, 2009. ISBN: 978-0060608521, Pub. Price $14.99. [pp. 110-122]

Guyon, Jeanne Marie Bouvier de La Motte. Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ. Christian Books, 1975. ISBN: 978-0940232006, Pub. Price: $12.95. Chapter 15: “A New Look at Confession of Sin” [pp. 73-78].

Praise

Brueggemann, Walter. “Praise as a Constitutive Act” in Israel’s Praise: Doxology against Idolatry and Ideology. Augsburg Fortress Press, 1988. ISBN: 978-0800620448, Pub. Price $19.00 [pp. 1-28].

Communion

Wright, NT. The Meal Jesus Gave Us. 2nd edition. Westminster/John Knox, 2015. ISBN: 978-0664261290, Pub Price $14.00 [96 pp.].

Gathering and Sending

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich, “Community” and “The Day with Others” in Life Together. HarperOne, 2009. ISBN: 978-0060608521, Pub. Price $14.99 [pp. 17-76].

Dawn, Marva J. A Royal Waste of Time: The Splendor of Worshiping God and Being Church for the World. W.B. Eerdmans Pub, 1999. ISBN: 978-0802845863, Pub. Price: $22.00. Chapter 13: “What if We all were an Eye?: A Sermon” [pp. 169-177].

Reading and Proclaiming the Word

Rohr, Richard. Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality. St. Anthony Messenger Press, 2007. ISBN: 978-0867166590, Pub. Price $19.99 [236 pp.].

Guyon, Jeanne Marie Bouvier de La Motte. Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ. Christian Books, 1975. ISBN: 978-0940232006, Pub. Price: $12.95. Chapter 2: “Launching Out” [pp. 7-13].

Prayer

Claiborne, Hartgrove and Okoro. Common Prayer: Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals. Zondervan, 2010. ISBN: 978-0310326199, Pub. Price $24.99. [158 pp.]

Julian of Norwich. Revelations of Divine Love. Dover Press, 2006. ISBN: 978-0486452449, Pub. Price $6.95. (Selected pages) [40 pp.].

Enacting the Prophetic

Brueggeman, Walter. The Prophetic Imagination. 2nd ed. Fortress, 2001. ISBN: 978-0800632878, Pub. Price $19.00 (Chapter 4-end) [91 pp.].

RECOMMENDED READING:

Spiritual Disciplines

Thompson, Marjorie. Soul Feast: An Invitation to the Christian Spiritual Life. Westminster John Knox Press, 2014. ISBN: 978-0664239244, Pub Prices: $17.00.

ASSIGNMENTS AND ASSESSMENT:

1. 850 pages reading and 10 hours of viewing, including Weekly Spiritual Formation Exercise Forums (non-graded course participation requirement) using required text Common Prayer: Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals. [This assignment is related to learning outcome #3]. [53 hours].

2. Online, Classroom 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 classroom and through participation in Vocation Formation Groups. Students will engage in spiritual disciplines and discussion around Sabbath-keeping, confession, praise, prayer and implications of these practices for vocational formation. (20%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #1, #2, #3 and #4]. [32 hours+8 hours].

3. Directed Exercises and Integrative Reflection through four fieldwork activities assigned. Students will participate in 4 directed fieldwork assignments that allow the student to reflect on worship/prayer practices and disciplines over the course of the quarter. (20%) [This assignment is related to learning outcomes #2 and #3]. [8 hours+8 hours=16 hours].

4. Autobiography: Students will create an autobiography forum post (graded) related to practices of worship and prayer. (5%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #1]. [2 hours].

5. A 1200-1500 word research and reflection paper in which the student will explore a particular exemplar’s understanding of prayer practices and those practices’ implications for worship. (30%). [This assignment is related to learning outcomes #1 and #3]. [25 hours].

6. 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 (1,200-1,500 words). (25%). [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 integration requirement in the 120 MDiv and the 80 MAT, 80 MATM, 80 MAICS Programs (Fall 2015).

FINAL EXAMINATION: None.