Today Linda and I travel to Savannah, Georgia. From T-F I will be teaching my Spiritual Formation Class at Savannah State University to twenty A.M.E. seminary students. (African Methodist Episcopal)
This class is given through Payne Theological Seminary, where I have taught for the past seven years.
The class looks like this.
Course Description
This course is designed to engage participants in an
exploration and expansion of their inner spiritual life utilizing the spiritual
disciplines. Personal transformation is an internal process that occurs as the
individual allows God access to the whole of one’s being and life. The course
combines:
1. Personal
encounter with God
2. Keeping
a spiritual journal as a record of the activity of God in one’s life
3. Corporate
sharing of one’s experience with God
4. Write
a 5-page reflection paper on the book and one’s interaction with it.
5. Biblical
and theological reflection on key issues that arise in the life of one who
seriously engages in the spiritual disciplines
Course Goals
1. To
encounter and experience God
2. To
experience personal transformation
3. To
deepen one’s prayer life
4. To
discuss issues of personal transformation with colleagues in ministry
5. To
reflect biblically and theologically on this experience, especially within the
African American perspective of Howard Thurman and Martin Luther King, Jr.
Special emphasis will be given to Thurman’s personal challenge to Dr. King to
never lose his rooting in spiritual practices
such as meditation, prayer, singing, celebration, and worship and silence, and
that social change would only come through personal transformation and
spiritual disciplines such as meditation.
6. To
understand personal spiritual transformation as the necessary foundation for
all relevant church, urban, and global transformation.
Assignments
1. Attend
and participate in class sessions
2. Keep
daily, structured devotional times with God for 30 days, one hour per day, five
days per week, beginning the week of Monday, January 16, 2017, and ending Sunday,
February 26, 2017.
- Use the following book as a guide to your prayer times: Praying: Reflections on 40 Years of Solitary Conversations with God, by John Piippo.
3. Keep
a Spiritual Journal that records what God is saying to you during these times.
4. Type
out your journal and e-mail it to me using Microsoft Word. This document should
be sent to me no later than Monday, March 6, 2017.
5. Read
To Never Leave Us Alone: The Prayer Life
of Martin Luther King, Jr., by Lewis Baldwin. Write a 5-page reflection paper
on the book and your interaction with it. Submit this paper by e-mail, attached
as a Word document, no later than Monday, Monday, March 6, 2017.
Required Textbooks
Baldwin, Lewis. Never
to Leave Us Alone: The Prayer Life of Martin Luther King Jr.
Piippo, John. Praying:
Reflections on 40 Years of Solitary Conversations with God.
Recommended Readings
Fluker, Walter. Ethical
Leadership: The Quest for Character. Fluker understands the spirituality of
Howard Thurman and its influence on Martin Luther King, Jr., as well as anyone
does.
Fluker. They
Looked for a City: A Comparative Analysis of the Ideal of Community in the
Thought of Howard Thurman and Martin Luther King. Jr.
Hayes, Diana. Forged
in the Fiery Furnace: African American Spirituality. Hayes is not only a
great scholar but an exquisitely beautiful writer.
Kelleman, Robert, and Edwards, Karole A. Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy
of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction.
King, Jr, Dr.
Martin Luther. “Thou Dear God”:Prayers That Open Hearts and Spirits.
Lewis Baldwin, ed.
Paris, Peter. The
Spirituality of African Peoples.
Smith, Jr., Luther
E. Howard Thurman: The Mystic as Prophet.
Thurman, Howard. For
the Inward Journey: The Writings of Howard Thurman (Harcourt Brace:
1984). An excellent anthology of Thurman’s spiritual writings.
Thurman. Jesus
and the Disinherited (Beacon: 1996). If you’re going to read one book by
Thurman this is the one to read. He is brilliant, insightful, and extremely
relevant for even today. There s a timelessness about Thurman’s writings.
Thurman. Howard
Thurman: Essential Writings. (Orbis: 2006) Edited by Luther Smith. Smith is
one of our great, if not our greatest, Thurman scholars. His introduction to
Thurman’s writing is very helpful.
Thurman. Meditations
of the Heart. (Beacon: 1999)
Thurman. A
Strange Freedom: The Best of Howard Thurman on Religious Experience and Public
Life.
Thurman. With
Head and Heart: The Autobiography of Howard Thurman.
Weems, Renita. Listening for God: A Minister’s Journey
Through Silence and Doubt (Simon
and Schuster: 1999).
