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Papers by Laura K Springer
Journal of spiritual formation and soul care, Nov 1, 2012
least three "pre-Christian" stages (stages 1-3) that precede the exercise of faith (steps 4) by w... more least three "pre-Christian" stages (stages 1-3) that precede the exercise of faith (steps 4) by which he identifies the deficiencies in modern gospel presentations. Of particular concern Barna notes the failure to address adequately the need for a full appreciation of sin that nurtures humble self-awareness and establishes a foundation for the later discussion of personal "brokenness" (steps 7-8). Barna's approach is centered on an individual's personal appreciation of sin and the selfishness (flesh) that feeds it. This difference and its implications for evangelism are strong medicine for recent tendencies to design church evangelism strategies with a greater level of "comfort" for the unchurched. Barna has designed his work around the result of social research, some readers will be frustrated by the minimal biblical correlation or theological foundation offered for the construct. Unlike other literature concerning the spiritual life, readers may also struggle with Barna's direct and forceful writing style that contrasts strongly with the typical approach that clothes the construct in robes of wonder, mystery, and comfort. Nevertheless, his analysis should make a thoughtful addition to the growing body of modern literature on this subject and offer practical help to the church.
Christ-centered education is the core business of Christian higher education, and the integration... more Christ-centered education is the core business of Christian higher education, and the integration of faith and learning, an important part of this core business, requires Christian scholars who understand the world from a Christ-centered perspective. In the context of a holistic understanding of the integration of faith and learning and Sorenson’s theory of integration learning, this study explored the integrator development stories of nine year-contract professors from Biola University, a comprehensive faith-based university in Southern California, offering degrees from Bachelors through Doctor of Philosophy. This study offers a phenomenological description of integrator development and the influences upon it. Integrators were selected for the study using criterion nomination and maximum variation sampling. Three women and six men, representing the eight schools of Biola University, comprised the sample. Data were collected in Spring 2016 using preinterview timelines, unstructured interviews, and post-narrative minute papers. Following the descriptive phenomenology of Giorgi, texts were analyzed using immersion, emergent coding, and thematic analysis. Findings suggest that integrator development is a process of experiencing models, contexts, learning engagement behaviors, and integrative scholarship in a way that influences one to become an integrator who engages reality through an integrative perspective and makes connections across the constituents of that reality. To develop as integrators, professors need space and time to focus their energies and work as part of an integrative community and in the company of integrative models. The need to think deeply about difficult issues, especially in the context of interdisciplinary community, appears to stimulate experiences that influenced their development. These findings suggest recommendations for policy and practice for Christian colleges and universities. First, academic and administrative leaders should model the integration of faith and learning across all aspects of the institution. Having models was the most common theme discovered in this study. Second, make space for professors from across the disciplines to gather around a shared concern, whether by creating new spaces or recasting current ones. Finally, work toward developing new understandings of teaching, research, and service, framing all professorial activity as God’s work, done for the glory of Christ.
Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care
In the midst of this change, innovative expressions of church and worship are emerging across the... more In the midst of this change, innovative expressions of church and worship are emerging across the globe. New approaches to creativity, community, and ritual are being practiced in small towns and urban centers. There is a fresh understanding of what the church can be in the midst of this tension between the old and the new." (Steve Taylor, The out of Bounds Church?: Learning to Create a Community of Faith in a Culture of Change (El Cajon, CA/Grand Rapids, MI: Emergent YS/Zondervan, 2005), 11.) protest against conservatism and modernism. 7 In his book, How (Not) to Speak of God, Peter Rollins defines EC according to a process that moves toward the new and the old, in simultaneous protest, renewal, and creation. 8 In Listening to the Beliefs of Emerging Churches, Editor Robert Webber defines EC as a reaction to certain strains of evangelicalism and as the formation of a "new evangelical identity," with "new insights, new concerns, and new patterns of theological application, worship, spirituality, and ministry." 9 7 The emerging church is a protest "against what is perceived to be a personally stifling cultural conservatism, against modernism and its incarnation in modern churchmanship, and against modernism's incarnation in seeker-sensitive churches." (D. A. Carson, Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church: Understanding a Movement and Its Implications (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2005), 41.) 8 "The book as a whole is aimed at either those already involved in what has been called 'the emerging conversation' or those who would like to understand it in a deeper way…The term 'emerging Church' has also been used to describe this diverse community. While it is useful term, the word 'Church' can be quite misleading, since the movement is not so much developing a distinct religious tradition within Christianity, but rather is reintroducing ideas that help to both revitalize already existing religious traditions and build bridges between them. It is not just a revolution that is in the process of creating something new but rather one that is returning to something very old." (Peter Rollins, How (Not) to Speak of God (Brewster, Mass.: Paraclete Press, 2006), xiv-xv.) 9 "…for reasons of upbringing, education, ministerial experience, disposition, insight, and affinity with the younger generation, they [emerging pastors] find themselves 'out of sorts' with both traditional evangelical scientific theology and the pragmatism of mega-evangelicalism. Considering the new cultural context and the evangelical pattern of responding to the changing cultural realities, it can then be said that the emerging church has the potential to establish a new kind of evangelicalism that will relate to the current cultural crisis." (Robert Webber and others, Listening to the Beliefs of Emerging Churches: Five Perspectives
Books by Laura K Springer
Christ-centered education is the core business of Christian higher education, and the integration... more Christ-centered education is the core business of Christian higher education, and the integration of faith and learning, an important part of this core business, requires Christian scholars who understand the world from a Christ-centered perspective. In the context of a holistic understanding of the integration of faith and learning and Sorenson’s theory of integration learning, this study explored the integrator development stories of nine year-contract professors from Biola University, a comprehensive faith-based university in Southern California, offering degrees from Bachelors through Doctor of Philosophy. This study offers a phenomenological description of integrator development and the influences upon it.
Integrators were selected for the study using criterion nomination and maximum variation sampling. Three women and six men, representing the eight schools of Biola University, comprised the sample. Data were collected in Spring 2016 using preinterview timelines, unstructured interviews, and post-narrative minute papers. Following the descriptive phenomenology of Giorgi, texts were analyzed using immersion, emergent coding, and thematic analysis.
Findings suggest that integrator development is a process of experiencing models, contexts, learning engagement behaviors, and integrative scholarship in a way that influences one to become an integrator who engages reality through an integrative perspective and makes connections across the constituents of that reality. To develop as integrators, professors need space and time to focus their energies and work as part of an integrative community and in the company of integrative models. The need to think deeply about difficult issues, especially in the context of interdisciplinary community, appears to stimulate experiences that influenced their development.
These findings suggest recommendations for policy and practice for Christian colleges and universities. First, academic and administrative leaders should model the integration of faith and learning across all aspects of the institution. Having models was the most common theme discovered in this study. Second, make space for professors from across the disciplines to gather around a shared concern, whether by creating new spaces or recasting current ones. Finally, work toward developing new understandings of teaching, research, and service, framing all professorial activity as God’s work, done for the glory of Christ.
Journal of spiritual formation and soul care, Nov 1, 2012
least three "pre-Christian" stages (stages 1-3) that precede the exercise of faith (steps 4) by w... more least three "pre-Christian" stages (stages 1-3) that precede the exercise of faith (steps 4) by which he identifies the deficiencies in modern gospel presentations. Of particular concern Barna notes the failure to address adequately the need for a full appreciation of sin that nurtures humble self-awareness and establishes a foundation for the later discussion of personal "brokenness" (steps 7-8). Barna's approach is centered on an individual's personal appreciation of sin and the selfishness (flesh) that feeds it. This difference and its implications for evangelism are strong medicine for recent tendencies to design church evangelism strategies with a greater level of "comfort" for the unchurched. Barna has designed his work around the result of social research, some readers will be frustrated by the minimal biblical correlation or theological foundation offered for the construct. Unlike other literature concerning the spiritual life, readers may also struggle with Barna's direct and forceful writing style that contrasts strongly with the typical approach that clothes the construct in robes of wonder, mystery, and comfort. Nevertheless, his analysis should make a thoughtful addition to the growing body of modern literature on this subject and offer practical help to the church.
Christ-centered education is the core business of Christian higher education, and the integration... more Christ-centered education is the core business of Christian higher education, and the integration of faith and learning, an important part of this core business, requires Christian scholars who understand the world from a Christ-centered perspective. In the context of a holistic understanding of the integration of faith and learning and Sorenson’s theory of integration learning, this study explored the integrator development stories of nine year-contract professors from Biola University, a comprehensive faith-based university in Southern California, offering degrees from Bachelors through Doctor of Philosophy. This study offers a phenomenological description of integrator development and the influences upon it. Integrators were selected for the study using criterion nomination and maximum variation sampling. Three women and six men, representing the eight schools of Biola University, comprised the sample. Data were collected in Spring 2016 using preinterview timelines, unstructured interviews, and post-narrative minute papers. Following the descriptive phenomenology of Giorgi, texts were analyzed using immersion, emergent coding, and thematic analysis. Findings suggest that integrator development is a process of experiencing models, contexts, learning engagement behaviors, and integrative scholarship in a way that influences one to become an integrator who engages reality through an integrative perspective and makes connections across the constituents of that reality. To develop as integrators, professors need space and time to focus their energies and work as part of an integrative community and in the company of integrative models. The need to think deeply about difficult issues, especially in the context of interdisciplinary community, appears to stimulate experiences that influenced their development. These findings suggest recommendations for policy and practice for Christian colleges and universities. First, academic and administrative leaders should model the integration of faith and learning across all aspects of the institution. Having models was the most common theme discovered in this study. Second, make space for professors from across the disciplines to gather around a shared concern, whether by creating new spaces or recasting current ones. Finally, work toward developing new understandings of teaching, research, and service, framing all professorial activity as God’s work, done for the glory of Christ.
Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care
In the midst of this change, innovative expressions of church and worship are emerging across the... more In the midst of this change, innovative expressions of church and worship are emerging across the globe. New approaches to creativity, community, and ritual are being practiced in small towns and urban centers. There is a fresh understanding of what the church can be in the midst of this tension between the old and the new." (Steve Taylor, The out of Bounds Church?: Learning to Create a Community of Faith in a Culture of Change (El Cajon, CA/Grand Rapids, MI: Emergent YS/Zondervan, 2005), 11.) protest against conservatism and modernism. 7 In his book, How (Not) to Speak of God, Peter Rollins defines EC according to a process that moves toward the new and the old, in simultaneous protest, renewal, and creation. 8 In Listening to the Beliefs of Emerging Churches, Editor Robert Webber defines EC as a reaction to certain strains of evangelicalism and as the formation of a "new evangelical identity," with "new insights, new concerns, and new patterns of theological application, worship, spirituality, and ministry." 9 7 The emerging church is a protest "against what is perceived to be a personally stifling cultural conservatism, against modernism and its incarnation in modern churchmanship, and against modernism's incarnation in seeker-sensitive churches." (D. A. Carson, Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church: Understanding a Movement and Its Implications (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2005), 41.) 8 "The book as a whole is aimed at either those already involved in what has been called 'the emerging conversation' or those who would like to understand it in a deeper way…The term 'emerging Church' has also been used to describe this diverse community. While it is useful term, the word 'Church' can be quite misleading, since the movement is not so much developing a distinct religious tradition within Christianity, but rather is reintroducing ideas that help to both revitalize already existing religious traditions and build bridges between them. It is not just a revolution that is in the process of creating something new but rather one that is returning to something very old." (Peter Rollins, How (Not) to Speak of God (Brewster, Mass.: Paraclete Press, 2006), xiv-xv.) 9 "…for reasons of upbringing, education, ministerial experience, disposition, insight, and affinity with the younger generation, they [emerging pastors] find themselves 'out of sorts' with both traditional evangelical scientific theology and the pragmatism of mega-evangelicalism. Considering the new cultural context and the evangelical pattern of responding to the changing cultural realities, it can then be said that the emerging church has the potential to establish a new kind of evangelicalism that will relate to the current cultural crisis." (Robert Webber and others, Listening to the Beliefs of Emerging Churches: Five Perspectives
Christ-centered education is the core business of Christian higher education, and the integration... more Christ-centered education is the core business of Christian higher education, and the integration of faith and learning, an important part of this core business, requires Christian scholars who understand the world from a Christ-centered perspective. In the context of a holistic understanding of the integration of faith and learning and Sorenson’s theory of integration learning, this study explored the integrator development stories of nine year-contract professors from Biola University, a comprehensive faith-based university in Southern California, offering degrees from Bachelors through Doctor of Philosophy. This study offers a phenomenological description of integrator development and the influences upon it.
Integrators were selected for the study using criterion nomination and maximum variation sampling. Three women and six men, representing the eight schools of Biola University, comprised the sample. Data were collected in Spring 2016 using preinterview timelines, unstructured interviews, and post-narrative minute papers. Following the descriptive phenomenology of Giorgi, texts were analyzed using immersion, emergent coding, and thematic analysis.
Findings suggest that integrator development is a process of experiencing models, contexts, learning engagement behaviors, and integrative scholarship in a way that influences one to become an integrator who engages reality through an integrative perspective and makes connections across the constituents of that reality. To develop as integrators, professors need space and time to focus their energies and work as part of an integrative community and in the company of integrative models. The need to think deeply about difficult issues, especially in the context of interdisciplinary community, appears to stimulate experiences that influenced their development.
These findings suggest recommendations for policy and practice for Christian colleges and universities. First, academic and administrative leaders should model the integration of faith and learning across all aspects of the institution. Having models was the most common theme discovered in this study. Second, make space for professors from across the disciplines to gather around a shared concern, whether by creating new spaces or recasting current ones. Finally, work toward developing new understandings of teaching, research, and service, framing all professorial activity as God’s work, done for the glory of Christ.