Fall 2018/Pasadena

IS502

Dufault-Hunter

IS502: PRACTICES OF COMMUNITY (4 Units: 160 hours). Erin Dufault-Hunter.

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 class meets twice weekly for two hour sessions for a total of 40 instructional hours in the classroom for lecture and discussion (which includes 8 hours of required synchronous and/or asynchronous participation in vocation and formation groups).

REQUIRED READING: Approximately 951 pages of required reading.

Genesis [50 pages], Exodus 1-24 [53 pages], Deuteronomy [40 pages], The Gospel of Matthew [35 pages]. (CEB, TNIV, or NRSV) [approximately 170 pp. total].

Jindra, Michael. “Culture Matters: Diversity in the United States and its Implications,” in Nieves and Priest (eds); This Side of Heaven: Ethnicity, Race, and Christian Faith. Oxford, 2006. ISBN: 978-0195310573, Pub. Price $38.95; available free to Fuller students as an ebook through library database [17 pages].

Katongole, Emmanuel. Mirror to the Church: Resurrecting Faith after Genocide in Rwanda. Zondervan, 2009. ISBN: 978-0310284895, Pub. Price $15.99 [176 pages].

Paris, Janell Williams. “Race: Critical Thinking and Transformative Possibilities,” in Nieves and Priest (eds); This Side of Heaven: Ethnicity, Race, and Christian Faith. Oxford, 2006. ISBN: 978-0195310573, Pub. Price $38.95; available free to Fuller students as an ebook through library database [14 pages].

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

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; 54 pages].

Swinton, John. "Reflections on autistic love: what does love look like?"Practical Theology5, no. 3 (December 2012): 259-278 [19 pages]. http://search.ebscohost.com.naomi.fuller.edu:2048/login.aspx?direct=true&db=rfh&AN=ATLA0001933464&site=ehost-live

Swinton, John. “Time, Hospitality, and Belonging: Towards a Practical Theology of Mental Health,” Word & World[serial online]. 2015; 35(2): 171-181 [10 pages]. http://search.ebscohost.com.naomi.fuller.edu:2048/login.aspx?direct=true&db=rfh&AN=ATLAn3778554&site=ehost-live

Volf, Miroslav. Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a World Stripped of Grace. Zondervan, 2006. ISBN: 978-0310265740, Pub. Price $15.99 [212 pages assigned].

Wright, Christopher. The Mission of God. InterVarsity, 2006. ISBN: 978-0830825714, Pub. Price $40.00 [101 pp. assigned; chapters available in eReserves].

ASSIGNMENTS AND ASSESSMENT:

800 pages reading and videos, including at least 50 pages of biblical text [This assignment is related to learning outcome #3]. [40 hours].
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 online classroom and through participation in Vocation Formation Groups. (10%). [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. (25%).[This assignment is related to learning outcome #2 and 3]. [28 hours].
Four fieldwork activities and reflections(30%).[This assignment is related to learning outcome #2]. [12 hours + 12 hours of integration with course content = 24 hours].
Autobiography: Students will create an autobiography related to practices of community(15%).[This assignment is related to learning outcome #1]. [3 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. (2,500 words total) (20%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #1, #3, and #4]. [25 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.