Sexual Formation--Theology For Integrating Sexuality Into Spiritual Formation For Evangelical Churches

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer E. OULD
Keyword(s):  
Spiritual Formation ◽  
Evangelical Churches

Points of Unease with the Spiritual Formation Movement

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 182-206
Author(s):  
Rick Langer
Keyword(s):  
Spiritual Formation ◽  
Material World ◽  
Rhetorical Strategy ◽  
Christian University ◽  
Current Role ◽  
The Past ◽  
Evangelical Churches ◽  
Devotional Practices

This paper offers a critique of certain aspects of the spiritual formation movement as it has been manifested in evangelical churches in the past few decades. My experience with this facet of the spiritual formation movement has grown out of my former ministry as a pastor in a large, evangelical, suburban congregation and out of my current role as a professor serving at a Christian university and seminary. It is a friendly critique, offered by a person who has been directly involved in facilitating spiritual formation in various settings within the evangelical community. Taken together, the points of unease I will identify are not a “cease and desist” order, but rather a cautionary word for all of us who seek to press the spiritual formation movement forward. These points of unease include: 1) unease about a dualistic tendency to value spirituality at the expense of the material world, 2) unease with devotional practices grown in the soil of monastic Catholicism rather than Protestantism, 3) unease with a rhetorical strategy that sharply distinguishes between being and doing, 4) unease with devotional practices that fail the “soccer mom” test, and 5) an unease with certain ways of using Scripture which are devotionally fruitful but hermeneutically faulty.

scholarly journals Beyond post-Christendom discipleship of the Evangelical Church in the United Kingdom: A study of the Gospel of Matthew in the transformissional and holistic perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Desmond Henry ◽  
Max F. Swart
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Spiritual Formation ◽  
Practical Theology ◽  
Paradigm Shift ◽  
Gospel Of Matthew ◽  
Evangelical Church ◽  
Holistic Perspective ◽  
Evangelical Churches ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Church

Discipleship has been, and continues to be, integral to the church’s strategy to simultaneously contribute towards the spiritual formation of its members and also fulfilling its mission. From the very outset of the church, Jesus demonstrated the centrality of discipleship through what he taught and practiced. However, as the United Kingdom moved into the post-Christendom era, the Evangelical Church has grappled with being effective in discipleship. Through a study in the Gospel of Matthew in the transformissional and holistic perspective, the article seeks to aid this vital part of the church’s strategy by suggesting a paradigm shift and reprioritisation of the discipleship emphasis.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The article will suggest a paradigm shift to the traditional discipleship discourse of post-Christendom era evangelical churches in the United Kingdom. The research will review Scripture, practical theology and interdisciplinary fields such as the influence of Christianity on health and family to establish a more holistically focussed and transformissional discipleship perspective.

The Long Road: Catholic Schools and Catholic social integration since 1918 (Cardinal Winning Lecture, 2017)

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-73
Author(s):  
T. M. Devine
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Social Integration ◽  
Spiritual Formation ◽  
Economic History ◽  
Catholic Schools ◽  
Educational Experience ◽  
Social Division ◽  
Mainstream Society ◽  
Catholic Schooling

Critics, past and present, of state-funded denominational education in Scotland after 1918 have often asserted that the system has promoted social division, separateness and even fostered sectarianism. This lecture – the Cardinal Winning Lecture, 2017, delivered to the St Andrew's Foundation for Catholic Teacher Education, University of Glasgow – disagrees with these views. Instead, the presentation argues that Catholic schooling, in addition to its recognised importance in Christian spiritual formation, has been a crucial influence promoting the integration of a formerly disadvantaged and marginalised community into modern Scotland. ‘Integration’ is defined for this purpose as the process of incorporation into mainstream society as equal citizens. The lecture considers the long and rocky road to this achievement by setting the educational experience within the broader context of Scottish religious, social, political and economic history in the twentieth century.

The Politics of Evangelical Identity

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lydia Bean
Keyword(s):  
Republican Party ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
Religious Language ◽  
Evangelical Christianity ◽  
Conservative Politics ◽  
Evangelical Churches ◽  
Political Conservatism ◽  
Evangelical Identity ◽  
Moral Attitudes ◽  
The U.S

It is now a common refrain among liberals that Christian Right pastors and television pundits have hijacked evangelical Christianity for partisan gain. This book challenges this notion, arguing that the hijacking metaphor paints a fundamentally distorted picture of how evangelical churches have become politicized. The book reveals how the powerful coalition between evangelicals and the Republican Party is not merely a creation of political elites who have framed conservative issues in religious language, but is anchored in the lives of local congregations. Drawing on research at evangelical churches near the U.S. border with Canada, this book compares how American and Canadian evangelicals talk about politics in congregational settings. While Canadian evangelicals share the same theology and conservative moral attitudes as their American counterparts, their politics are quite different. On the U.S. side of the border, political conservatism is woven into the very fabric of everyday religious practice. The book shows how subtle partisan cues emerge in small group interactions as members define how “we Christians” should relate to others in the broader civic arena, while liberals are cast in the role of adversaries. It explains how the most explicit partisan cues come not from clergy but rather from lay opinion leaders who help their less politically engaged peers to link evangelical identity to conservative politics. This book demonstrates how deep the ties remain between political conservatism and evangelical Christianity in America.

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