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- The “Love-Tokens” of God: Richard Baxter on Cultivating Love of God
through Earthly Pleasures-
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Authors: David Setran
Abstract: Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care, Ahead of Print.
In his later years, Puritan pastor Richard Baxter developed a perspective on spiritual formation that highlighted the centrality of the love of God. Interestingly, Baxter emphasized the ways in which a delight in earthly pleasures—such as nature, relationships, and food—could help Christians cultivate the love of God. He viewed these pleasures as “love-tokens” from God, sent in order to help human beings see his goodness and expand their love for the giver of these gifts. While he recognized the potential of such earthly delights to lure hearts away from God, he also recognized that they could serve as powerful “glasses” through which earth-bound creatures could see God’s beauty and goodness and thus grow in godly delight. In the end, Baxter was able to forge a pathway between asceticism and materialism, encouraging Christians to grow their love for God by tracing earthly mercies back to their divine source.
Citation: Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care
PubDate: 2022-05-19T09:56:34Z
DOI: 10.1177/19397909221097423
- “Thomas Merton’s Spiritual Formation and Writings on Racism: From
Harlem, Through Louisville, To Birmingham”-
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Authors: Daniel Ethan Harris
Abstract: Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care, Ahead of Print.
Thomas Merton addressed racism frequently and forcefully from 1963 until his death in 1968. While commentary on racial unrest written from the tranquility of a monastery seems paradoxical, viewing the development of Merton’s thought on racism through the framework of Adrian van Kaam’s Formative Action Pattern shows that Merton’s contemplative spirituality is integrally connected to his valuable insights on racism.Van Kaam’s pattern describes a “from-through-to” movement, which allows characterization of Merton’s thought on racism from Harlem, through Louisville, to Birmingham, representing Merton’s own journey through the lens of these locations of critical events in his writings on racism.Today’s racial conflicts invite reexamination of Merton’s writings, reengagement with the monastic wisdom which cultivated them, and renewed commitment to shared rules of life capable of sustaining the spirituality of those involved in ministries of social justice.
Citation: Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care
PubDate: 2022-05-05T05:32:59Z
DOI: 10.1177/19397909221097430
- Seculum Est Speculum: Isaac Watts And Recovering the Use of Nature in
Spiritual Formation-
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Authors: Britt Stokes
Abstract: Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care, Ahead of Print.
The link between nature and the spiritual life has been a mainstay in Christianity going back to the beginning of Scripture. However, our modern context has veered toward a humancentric emphasis in the use of nature for spiritual purposes. This article seeks to recover a framework for connecting nature and the spiritual life by analyzing and applying the writings of the hymn-writer Isaac Watts. Influenced by the English Puritans and the eighteenth-century English naturalists, Watts leverages the empirical and the spiritual to employ a theocentric natural theology in his hymnody, psalmody, and spiritual prose. Examining these writings of Watts, in turn, aid in recovering a faithful use of nature in spiritual formation within our modern Christian context.
Citation: Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care
PubDate: 2022-05-02T07:11:23Z
DOI: 10.1177/19397909221097431
- Mentally Healthy and Healing Church: Spiritual Formation and Soul Care as
Ecclesiology-
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Authors: Steven L. Porter
First page: 3
Abstract: Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care, Ahead of Print.
Citation: Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care
PubDate: 2022-02-09T12:36:39Z
DOI: 10.1177/19397909221080220
- “Leading to God’s Deepening Life”: Considerations of Saint Ignatius
of Loyola as Spiritual Guide for Ongoing Transformation in Christ-
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Authors: Catherine Looker
First page: 6
Abstract: Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care, Ahead of Print.
This article seeks to explore the spiritual guidance of Saint Ignatius of Loyola as a worthy spiritual guide for our time as we consider some ways that we might seek to more clearly understand and authentically live out the call of Christ in our life journey. In this context of considering the work of Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises as a viable tool for such interior conversion, it is necessary for the work of this article to take a closer look at some highlights of Ignatius’ own life journey in order to appropriately consider the significance of key sections of his Spiritual Exercises and the dynamics for Christian formation and transformation inherent in these selected texts. I seek to argue that any assessment of our spiritual maturity in Christ finds clear context in our everyday life experiences as Saint Ignatius so aptly demonstrates
Citation: Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care
PubDate: 2022-03-21T05:36:16Z
DOI: 10.1177/19397909221074661
- Grazing and Gazing: Meditation and Contemplation in Puritan Spirituality
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Authors: J.A. Medders
First page: 30
Abstract: Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care, Ahead of Print.
In the grammar of Christian spirituality, meditation and contemplation are often seen as synonyms. Is there a difference' This paper traces out the origin of contemplation, locating the practice of contemplation in Lectio Divina, reformed spirituality, and the experimental piety of the Puritans. This paper shows the differences in meditation and contemplation, and how they cooperate in the spirituality of those whose faith is seeking understanding. The clarification and retrieval of contemplation in evangelical spirituality is well served by attending to the Puritans and their understanding of how contemplation functions in the life of those who have been raised with Christ and are setting their minds on things above, where Christ is.
Citation: Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care
PubDate: 2022-01-20T07:32:04Z
DOI: 10.1177/19397909211055991
- Touched by Love: Spiritual Experience in Chinese Christian Conversion
Narratives-
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Authors: Glen G. Scorgie, Kate Scorgie, Alexander Chow, Nicholas Hsieh
First page: 44
Abstract: Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care, Ahead of Print.
Christianity has become the religion of choice for a growing number of diasporic Chinese. This qualitative study examines the conversion narratives of first-generation Chinese converts to evangelical Protestant Christianity, exploring in particular the spiritual experiences that encouraged or confirmed their resolve to become Christians. Utilizing the method of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), twenty English-speaking participants were interviewed, mostly immigrants to the United States or the United Kingdom from China, including Hong Kong, or from Taiwan. The converts to Christianity in this study were in search of an intellectually plausible faith, and an overarching framework of meaning, purpose, and fullness for their lives, and were motivated as well by longings for community and belonging. Participants reported being profoundly “touched”—inexplicably moved—by the love extended to them by other Chinese Christians, and being transformed in wide-ranging and durable ways as a result. In their view, such love was qualitatively different from, and superior to, the more transactional relational dynamics with which they had been familiar. They inferred that it was “otherworldly,” and necessarily emanated from a real and unconditionally benevolent divine source. The study thus illuminates the spiritual dynamics that persist in Chinese Christian conversions, even in a secular age.
Citation: Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care
PubDate: 2022-03-03T03:03:28Z
DOI: 10.1177/19397909221074669
- Bonhoeffer’s Account of the Conscience and How it Can Inform
Formation Today-
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Authors: Benjamin J. Burkholder
First page: 70
Abstract: Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care, Ahead of Print.
In contemporary discourse, different conceptions of the conscience abound. Aquinas and Calvin had similar yet distinct accounts of the conscience and its role in Christian ethical formation. Upon close inspection, both struggle to account fully and consistently for the effects of the fall and its impact on human reason. In response to some of the weaknesses observed in these accounts, Bonhoeffer’s reflections on the conscience offer a more helpful way forward that accounts for the Fall’s effects on human rationality. In addition, his work also offers guidelines for navigating the internal voices and concerns of fallen humanity, ultimately pointing the Christian to the Word of Christ as the final judge and justifier. Finally, his formulations can provide a fuller set of instructions for people doing the spiritual disciplines and navigating their internal world in prayer.
Citation: Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care
PubDate: 2022-04-23T05:05:50Z
DOI: 10.1177/19397909221096742
- The Holy Spirit and Christian Experience
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Authors: Simeon Zahl
First page: 135
Abstract: Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care, Ahead of Print.
Citation: Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care
PubDate: 2022-03-20T01:57:56Z
DOI: 10.1177/19397909221081048
- Response #1
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Authors: Matt Jenson
First page: 137
Abstract: Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care, Ahead of Print.
Citation: Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care
PubDate: 2022-03-31T03:36:49Z
DOI: 10.1177/19397909221081049
- Response #2
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Authors: Joanna Leidenhag
First page: 143
Abstract: Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care, Ahead of Print.
Citation: Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care
PubDate: 2022-04-05T02:26:33Z
DOI: 10.1177/19397909221081050
- Response #3
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Authors: Lucy Peppiatt
First page: 152
Abstract: Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care, Ahead of Print.
Citation: Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care
PubDate: 2022-03-25T12:42:49Z
DOI: 10.1177/19397909221081052
- Review #4
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Authors: Adonis Vidu
First page: 158
Abstract: Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care, Ahead of Print.
Citation: Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care
PubDate: 2022-03-27T05:44:08Z
DOI: 10.1177/19397909221081053
- Affective Augustinianism in the Wild: An Appreciation and a Response
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Authors: Simeon Zahl
First page: 164
Abstract: Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care, Ahead of Print.
Citation: Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care
PubDate: 2022-03-20T03:50:55Z
DOI: 10.1177/19397909221081055
- Michel Henry and the Prospect of a Christian Spiritual Inactivism
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Authors: Steven Nemes
First page: 92
Abstract: Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care, Ahead of Print.
Christian spirituality is often “activist.” It consists in the performance of various actions through which a faithful person attempts to secure the presence of God. The argument of the present essay is that spiritual “activism” cannot actually accomplish this goal. For this reason, it is necessary to seek a foundation for all spiritual activism in spiritual “inactivism.” This means that all Christian spiritual activity must be reconceived as a response to and celebration of a prior presence of God that comes before any performance. The phenomenological philosophy of Michel Henry makes it possible to appreciate how God is so present in the very fact of being alive. This can make the whole of Christian spiritual practice a Eucharist—a perpetual thanksgiving.
Citation: Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care
PubDate: 2021-08-03T09:27:35Z
DOI: 10.1177/19397909211036144
- Assessing Character in Mentored, Contextual Learning
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Authors: Nathan H. Scherrer, Debra R. Anderson
First page: 115
Abstract: Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care, Ahead of Print.
This article is concerned with the complex role of assessment in the character development of graduate students in seminary education. It presents the current curricular approach of Denver Seminary to mentored, contextual formation and the variety of assessment strategies that support the growth of individual students and a culture of integrated learning in the institution. Rather than directing assessment strategies on individual character qualities, we argue for the efficacy of assessing the enabling conditions for character growth expressed in the andragogic elements of adult learning skills. Within this model, learning proves to be expansive enough for the contemporary seminary student who has a sense that it is up to them to prepare for and create the work they dream of within a changing culture.
Citation: Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care
PubDate: 2021-09-16T06:33:48Z
DOI: 10.1177/19397909211043793
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