Course Description

This course begins with a Christian vision for human flourishing that is grounded in the assumption that God calls people into union with Christ—a union effected in both the individual Christian and the church by the gracious initiative of the Spirit. It is this vision that must inform intentional spiritual practice in the life of the believer, the life of the church, and the interplay between individual and community practices. In this course, we will examine spiritual practice as intentional pursuit of the Spirit’s gift of holiness in the life of the Christian and the life of the church. We will give particular attention to the intersection of personal spiritual disciplines and those of the faith community. Throughout our exploration, we will reflect on the vital truth of our dependence upon God. As the course lectures will stress, the Christian is not a self-constructed entity, nor is the church constituted by strategic planning. Instead, both the individual Christian and the church are animated and sustained by union with Christ and the fullness of the Spirit.