Spring 2019/Pasadena

IS500

O’Donnell

IS500: PRACTICES OF VOCATIONAL FORMATION (4 Units: 160 hours). Michaela O’Donnell.

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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. IS500 teaches students a method for integrating resources of theological method into faithful responses to the human condition. As an integrative course, it explores the identity and practices of Christian vocational formation as a people called, gathered, and sent by God. Together, professor and students study and enact historic Christian disciplines necessitated by this distinctive identity (listening, discernment, guidance, lament, rhythms of rest, and stewardship) fashioning them into a Rule of Life that shapes and supports the student’s vocation 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 vocational formation. (2) Students will have demonstrated through participation in local contexts and demonstrate the capacity to engage in activities and exercises related to Christian spiritual disciplines and practices of vocational formation. (3) Students will have demonstrated capacities to engage scripture, tradition, and contemporary resources to reflect theologically on historic and personal practices of vocational formation. (4) Students will have articulated how vocational 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: 850 pp. of required reading and/or the equivalent time in viewing. Required readings are related to the Core Practices of Listening, Guidance, Lament, Discernment, Stewardship, and Rhythms of Rest.

A. Books:

Placher, William C. Callings: Twenty Centuries of Christian Wisdom on Vocation. Eerdmans, 2005. ISBN: 978-0802829276, Pub Price $32.00 [150 pp. assigned].

B. Integration Resources: (students will make choices within these texts)

Branson, Mark Lau and Juan Martinez. 2011. “Introduction,” and “Practical Theology and Multicultural Initiatives” in Churches, Cultures & Leadership: A Practical Theology of Congregations and Ethnicities. IVP Academic, 11-55 [44 pp.]. Available as eBook in the Fuller Library

Bolsinger, Tod. “Formed, Not Found” in Fuller Magazine, Issue 1 [4 pp.]. Available at studio.fuller.edu

Students chose 200 pages from the following texts:

Barton, Ruth Haley. Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership: Seeking God in the Crucible of Ministry IVP Books, 2012. ISBN: 978-0830846450, Pub Price $22.00 [120 pp.]. Available as eBook in the Fuller Library

Labberton, Mark. Called: The Crisis and Promise of Following Jesus Today. IVP, 2014. ISBN: 978-0830836833, Pub. Price $16.00 [176 pp.]. Available as eBook in the Fuller Library

O’Donnell Long, Michaela, Jerome Blanco, and Paul Matsushima. Myths of Vocation, Volumes 1-4. Available at DePree.org

Reyes, Patrick B. Nobody Cries When We Die: God, Community, and Surviving to Adulthood. Chalice Press. ISBN: 978-0827225312, Pub. Price $19.99 [190]. Available as eBook in the Fuller Library

50 pages of Biblical Text

C. Core Practices

Listening

Barton, Ruth Haley (see citation above) [12 pages]

Peterson, Eugene H. “Lectio divina” in Eat this Book: A Conversation in the Art of Spiritual Reading.

Eerdmans, 2009. 79-118. [39 pp.]. Available in eReserves

Reese, Randy and Robert Loane. “A Storied Way: What We Learn from Editing Our Lives” in

Deep Mentoring. IVP, 2012. 49-74 [25 pp.]. Available in eReserves

Lament

Brueggemann, Walter. “Letting Experience Touch the Psalter” in Praying the Psalms.Saint Mary's

Press, 1986, pp. 15-25. [10 pp.]. Available in eReserves

Rah, Soon Chan. Prophetic Lament: A Call for Justice in Troubled Times. IVP, 2015. ISBN: 987-0830836949, Pub Price $14.97 [70 pp.] Available in eReserves

Guidance

Palmer, Parker. Let Your Life Speak. Jossey-Bass, 1999. ISBN: 978-0787947354, Pub. Price $18.95.

[100 pp. assigned]. Available as eBook

Discernment

Barton, Ruth Haley. “Discernment: Recognizing and Responding to the Presence of God” in Sacred Rhythms: Arranging Our Lives for Spiritual Transformation. IVP Books, 20016 110-129 [19 pp.] Available on E-Reserves

Smith, Gordon T. “Listening to God” in Times of Choice: The Art of Discerning God's Will.

InterVarsity Press, 1997. 9-24. [15 pp.]. Available in eReserves

Stewardship

Brueggemann, Walter. “The Liturgy of Abundance, the Myth of Scarcity.” in Christian Century 116, no. 10 (1999): 342-47. [5 pp.].

Wuthnow, Robert. Crisis in the Churches: Spiritual Malaise, Fiscal Woe. Oxford University Press,

1997. ISBN: 978-0195110203, Pub. Price $60.00 [18 pp. assigned]. Available in eReserves.

Rhythms of Rest

Barton, Ruth Haley. “Sabbath: Establishing Rhythms of Work and Rest” in Sacred Rhythms: Arranging Our Lives for Spiritual Transformation. IVP Books, 2006. 130-145. [15 pp.]

Brueggemann, Walter. “Sabbath and the First Commandment,” “Resistance to Anxiety,” and “Resistance to Multitasking,” in Sabbath as Resistance: Saying No to the Culture of Now. John Knox. 2014. [44 pp.].

**Students in IS500 are required to take the Clifton StrengthsFinder assessment, receive a CoreClarity coaching packet based off of their top 5 strengths, and participate in a 45-minute coaching call with a CoreClarity coach. There will be a $40 charge for StrengthFinder®assessment, Coaching Packet, and Coaching Session which will automatically be charged to your student account.

ASSIGNMENTS AND ASSESSMENT:

1. 800 pages reading including at least 50 pages of biblical text [This assignment is related to learning outcome #3]. [50 hours].
2. 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. (25%). [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 vocational formation (10%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #1]. [10 hours].
4. Directed Exercises and Disciplines: Student will participate over the quarter in disciplines and exercises outside of the classroom related to the core practices of the course. (15%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #2] [15 hours].
5. Integrative Reflections: Students will engage in critical theological reflection on contextualized experiences using a practical theology or similar method. (15%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #3.] [15 hours].
6. Fieldwork Activity - StrengthsFinders and CoreClarity Coaching: Students will take the Strengthsfinders/CoreClarity Assessment and debrief the results via a phone call with a professional executive coach to learn more about their strengths and how to better grow them in use for God’s mission in the world. (5%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #1 and #2] [2 hours].
7. Finances and Vocation: Students will write a financial autobiography, use a practical theology method to reflect on finances, and create a resulting financial plan that supports vocational goals. (10%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #1, #2 and #3]. [8 hours].
8. 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: 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.

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.