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Church of the Redeemer Fall 2006 Adult Formation Course:

 Streams of Living Water: Classics of Devotional Prayer and Practice

 Primary Objective of the course:

 To help you establish the habit of setting aside devotional time for God through the study of scripture and other devotional sources that reflect several dimensions of faith and practice that define the Christian tradition.  It is our contention that discipleship begins with intimate knowledge of the living God through a dedicated practice of study and prayer.

 Introduction:

 Building upon Richard Foster’s image of the “streams of living water”—or strands of spiritual life, we will study a series of Christian writers who reflect the tradition in a variety of ways.  But, most importantly, this course will be a meditation upon the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth, who best embodied each of these “streams”.   Accordingly, there will be a scriptural reading accompanying each session of the course.

 Foster challenges us to accept a more holistic conception of the Christianity and avoid the tendency “cherry-picking” aspects of the tradition that resonate with our own personal proclivities or experiences.  Through this course, we hope that you will come to appreciate a more “fully-orbed” Christianity while gaining a deeper appreciation of how your spiritual gifts can be used for advancement of God’s kingdom upon the earth.

 We encourage you to set aside at least a few minutes over several days during the week to reflect upon this material.   Doing the reading ahead of time and keeping a journal of your thoughts will greatly enhance the investment of your time during the classroom component of this course.

 Bibliography:

Devotional Classics, Richard J. Foster and James Bryan Smith, ed., (HarperSanFrancisco, 2005).

Streams of Living Water, Richard J. Foster (HarperSanFrancisco, 1998).

 Syllabus:

 Sunday, September 24^th: Preparing for the Spiritual Life with selections from the writings of C.S. Lewis.

 Readings:

Devotional Classics, pages 5-12

Streams, Chapter 1

 Sunday, October 1^st: The Prayer-Filled Life (the Contemplative Tradition) with selections from the writings of Henri J. M. Nouwen

 Readings:

Devotional Classics, pages 80-85

Streams, Chapter 2

 (Note: there will be no class over Columbus Day Weekend)

 Sunday, October 15^th: The Virtuous Life (the Holiness Tradition) with selections from the writings of Teresa of Avila.

 Readings:

Devotional Classics, pages 163-169

Streams, Chapter 3

 Sunday, October 22^nd:  The Spirit-Empowered Life (the Charismatic Tradition) with selections from the writings of Jean-Pierre de Caussade.

 Readings:

Devotional Classics, pages 200-206

Streams, Chapter 4

 Sunday, October 29^th: The Compassionate Life (the Social Justice Tradition) with selections from the writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

 Readings:

Devotional Classics, pages 271-277

Streams, Chapter 5

 Sunday, November 5^th: The Word-Centered Life (the Evangelical Tradition) with selections from the writings of Sadhu Sundar Singh.

 Readings:

Devotional Classics, pages 288-292

Streams, Chapter 6

 Sunday, November 12^th: The Sacramental Life (the Incarnational Tradition) with selections from the writings of Dag Hammaskjold.

 Readings:

Devotional Classics, pages 357-362

Streams, Chapter 7

379 Hammond Street, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467
tel 617-566-7679, office@redeemerchestnuthill.org