Winter 2019/Pasadena

IS502

Clarke

IS502: PRACTICES OF COMMUNITY (4 Units: 160 hours). Marcia Clarke.

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 once per week for three hour sessions for a total of 30 hours of classroom instruction for lecture and discussion (which includes 8 hours of required synchronous and/or asynchronous participation in vocation and formation groups) plus 10 hours of directed learning activities for a total of 40 instructional hours.

REQUIRED READING: 1000 pp. of required reading and/or the equivalent time in viewing.

Biblical Text

Acts of the Apostles; 1 Corinthians; Ephesians

Au, Wilkie and Noreen Cannon Au. The Grateful Heart: Living the Christian Message. Paulist Press, 2011 ISBN: 978-0809147359, Pub. Price 19.95. [100 pp. assigned].

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Life Together and Prayer Book of the Bible: Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works Vol. 5 Fortress Press, 2004. ISBN: 978-0800683252, Pub. Price $21.00. Available as an e-book from the Fuller Library. [100 pp. assigned]

Calhoun, Adele. Spiritual Disciplines Handbook revised and expanded edition. InterVarsity Press, 2015. ISBN: 978-0830846054, Pub. Price $22.00. Available as an e-book from the Fuller Library.

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]

Conlon, Clara. "40 Ways to Practice Gratitude" Lifehack.org. 40 ways to practice gratitude: http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/40-simple-ways-practice-gratitude.html.

Drury, Amanda Hontz. Saying is Believing. InterVarsity, 2015. ISBN: 978-0830840656, Pub. Price 1980. Available as an e-book from the Fuller Library [100 pp assigned].

Forgiveness by God, Forgiveness of Others, and Psychological Well-Being in Late Life: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3046863/

Forgiveness: A Christian Reflection: https://www.baylor.edu/ifl/christianreflection/forgiveness.pdf

Jones, Gregory L. “Forgiveness” in Practicing Our Faith. Jossey-Bass, 2010. ISBN: 978-0470484111, Pub. Price: $19.95. Available as an e-book from the Fuller Library [15 pp. assigned].

Frederick, Marla. Between Sundays: Black Women and Everyday Struggles of Faith. University of California Press, 2003. ISBN: 978-0520233942, Pub. Price $34.95. Available as an e-book from the Fuller Library [40 pp. assigned].

Perkins, John. Dream with Me: Race, Love, and the struggle we must win. Baker Publishing, 2017. ISBN: 978-0801075865, Pub. Price $15.99. [224 pp. assigned].

Pohl, Christine. Living into Community: Cultivating Practices That Sustain Us. Eerdmans, 2011. ISBN: 978-0802849854, Pub. Price $20.00. Available as an e-book from the Fuller Library [178 pp. assigned].

Tiersma Watson, Jude. "Learning the Unforced Rhythms of Grace." Fuller Youth Institute. February 26, 2014. http://fulleryouthinstitute.org/articles/learning-the-unforced-rhythms-of-grace.

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 $12.99. Available as an e-book from the Fuller Library [25 pp. assigned].

Volf, Miroslav; Bass, Dorothy. Practicing Theology: Beliefs and Practices in Christian Life. Eerdmans, 2002. ISBN: 978-0802849311, Pub. Price $24.00. [40 pp. assigned].

Wimberly, Anne-Streaty. “Called to Listen: The Imperative Vocation of Listening in Twenty-First Century Faith Communities.” International Review of Mission LXXXVII, No. 346:331-341. Available in e-reserves.

ASSIGNMENTS AND ASSESSMENT:

  1. 1000 pages reading, including 60 pages of biblical text. (10%) [This assignment is related to learning outcome #3]. [60 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. (20%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #1, #2, #3 and #4]. [22 hours+8 hours].
  3. Group Project (Directed Learning Activities): Develop and 30-minute bible teaching for a church which highlights one of the practices. (10%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #1, #2, #3]. [10 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. (5%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #2 and #3] [15 hours].
  5. Attend at least 3 worship gatherings at the same church plus two fieldwork activities and two responses (20%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #2]. [20 hours].
  6. Autobiography: Students will create an autobiography related to practices of worship and prayer (10%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #1]. [5 hours].
  7. 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. (25%). [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.