Spiritual Practice: A Way of Life (WINTER INTERTERM Nov 27-Dec 1)

SPIRITUAL PRACTICE: A WAY OF LIFE

IST 2082

Monday – Friday   November 27 – December 1, 2017

Monday, Tuesday Wednesday, Thursday and Friday  9:30 – 12:30

Monday, Tuesday and Thursday 1:30 – 3:00

Jane E. Vennard

jvennard@iliff.edu

Description:
Spiritual practices are often understood to be those disciplines we commit to and do on a regular schedule. Such disciplines are surely an integral part of living our lives of faith, but they are not the only way to practice. Around us is a vibrant world waiting to draw us closer to the holy when we are willing to open our eyes, our ears, and our hearts. When we bring our attention and intention to the inner and outer worlds we can discover the many ways spiritual practice can become a way of life.

Course objectives:
Students participating fully and completing this course can expect to:

1. Broaden their understanding of spiritual practice and begin an

examination of their own needs for practices, their preferences, and

their challenges.

2. Discover how spiritual practices can be understood to be

contemplative, communal, or missional and how we all need a

rhythm of these in our lives.

3. Learn the ancient understanding of the movement within the

spiritual life progress through the stages via purgativa, via

illuminative, and via unitiva and connect that understanding to

their own lives of practice.

4. Begin to create an organic vibrant rule of life to guide them

beyond the class.

Class Process

This one-week course will be conducted along the lines of a mini-retreat. We will begin each morning with a spiritual practice. Class time will be a combination of presentation, large and small group sharing, and self-reflection. Spiritual practices will be introduced throughout the day.

Bibliography

Required: (Reading before class is not required)

McLaren, Brian, Finding Our Way Again: The Return of the Ancient

Practices (Nashville TN: Thomas Nelson, 2008).

Vennard, Jane E., Fully Awake and Truly Alive: Spiritual Practices to

Nurture Your Soul, (Woodstock VT: SkyLight Paths, 2013)

Added resources:

Bourgeault, Cynthia, Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening (Lanham MD:

Cowley Publications, 2004).

Cepero, Helen, Journaling as a Spiritual Practice: Encountering God

Through Attentive Writing (Dawson Grove IL: Intervarsity Press,

2008).

Driskill, Joseph D., Protestant Spiritual Exercises: Theology, History, and

Practice (Harrisburg PA: Morehouse Publishing, 1999).

Heschel, Abraham Joshua, The Sabbath (New York: Farber, Straus, Giroux,

1951).

Holmes, Barbara A., Joy Unspeakable: Contemplative Practices of the Black

Church (Minneapolis MN: Fortress Press, 2004).

McPherson, C. W., Keeping Silence: Christian Practices for Entering

Stillness (Harrisburg PA: Morehouse Publishing, 2002).

Richmond, Lewis, Aging as a Spiritual Practice: A Contemplative Guide to

Growing Older and Wiser (New York: Gotham Books, 2012).

www.skylightpaths.com .  Many books from this publisher on spiritual

practices in their Sacred Art series, ie: The Sacred Art of Lovingkindness, The Sacred Art of Listening, The Sacred Art of Chant, The Sacred Art of Forgiveness, The Sacred Art of Bowing, etc.

Course outline and Bibliography2017.doc