Christian Spiritual Practices Research Papers (original) (raw)

Research on the influence of praying the Psalms (PTP) on family life in a local church community within the Swiss state reformed church. Firstly, a deeper exploration of my continuing personal interaction with resources that aid the flourishing of an authentically Christian lifestyle, particularly PTP. Secondly and centrally, how PTP has been contextualised into the community and family life of the JAHU community and the influence this has had. Finally, this work is positioned as a study within the field of missional work called Scripture Engagement (SE).

- by Peter Wilburg
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- Family Therapy, Family studies, Children and Families, Early Church

Introduction of Centering Prayer as a spiritual practice for students in a grade 9 World Religions class. Using a 10-question Q & A format, I share this contemplative modality as my preferred spiritual practice, providing the essentials... more

The two chapters from the book "Child, Church, Mission: Inter-Christian perspectives," consider the different meanings of the word "church" and the way it is understood by Christians belonging to different Christian communities. The reader will find that the Church is understood differently and this would also define the way Christians practice their faith in their communities.

- by Valentin Kozhuharov
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- Christianity, Ecumenical Theology, Christian Spiritual Practices

In a world where too many people continue to be tortured without recourse to legal protections, nonlegislative resources for preserving human dignity amid dehumanizing terror are much needed. This article analyzes the hermeneutical exercises constructed by the influential third century Christian intellectual, Origen of Alexandria, to prepare himself and others for torture and martyrdom. These exercises were designed to be a counter-asceticism that would strike at the root of violence both in the self and in society and enable his contemporary Christians to suffer at the hands of the Romans without losing sight either of their own humanity or that of their tormentors. Christians following Origen’s practice were trained to resist not only the Roman Empire’s violent disciplining of bodies, but the whole interpretation of the world that justified it as they embodied a nonviolent alternative to it. In this way, Origen provides resources for a particularly religious mode of resistance to torture that usefully supplements the contemporary human rights campaign and holds promise for overcoming some of its limitations.

- by Paul Kolbet
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- Patristics, Early Christianity, Torture, Origen

Culture is a formational entity developed to meet specific needs and desires. It forms people toward a vision of the good life and shapes people's identity. However, culture often stands at odds with the kingdom of God. It is the role of the church to offer counterformational liturgies that shape people for the kingdom of God. This article contributes to sabbath scholarship by providing a careful reading of the formational impact of America's 24/7 busyness culture and offers sabbath as a counter-formational practice. To achieve this, it brings sociological scholarship on busyness into conversation with the practice of sabbath through the lens of cultural liturgy. First, drawing from the work of James K. A. Smith, this article discusses the formational power of ritual and liturgy. Second, it assesses busyness as an idolatrous cultural liturgy and explores its formational impact. Finally, it argues for sabbath practice as counter-liturgy for busyness.

- by Melissa Davis
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- Liturgy, Ritual, Sabbath, Christian Spiritual Practices

The Catholic Servant (November 2004): 12. In this Q & A column I address certain misconceptions about the Catholic understanding of the Blessed Virgin Mary, particularly those concerning her titles of "Theotokos" or "Mother of God" and... more

- by David Deavel
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- Christianity, Catholic Studies, Catholic Theology, Christian Spirituality

in: Colloquia Russica, Series I vol.8: Religions and beliefs of Rus’ (9th–16th centuries), publications from the 8th International Scientific Conference, Lviv,5 –8 of November, 2017, Krakow, 2018.
в: Colloquia Russicа, серия I, выпуск 8: "Религии и верования Древней Руси (IX - XVI вв.)", материалы международной конференции во Львове 5 -8 ноября 2017, Краков, 2018.

The Lisu people of southwest China have reimagined Christian discipleship to emphasize various shared practices. Lisu Christian practices, such as singing hymns together, attending Christian festivals, abstaining from smoking and drinking alcohol, interceding for one another in prayer, and greeting one another with the traditional salutation and handshake, are less personal and more communal, less inward and more outward, less emotional and more embodied. Embedded in every practice are meaning, significance, and worldview; the practices are not empty. This article shows how Lisu Christians have transformed their faith into a life rhythm of practice–oriented discipleship appropriate for the agrarian context of this communal people.

- by Aminta Arrington
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- China, Discipleship, Lisu, Christian Spiritual Practices

Emerging from the experience of a Brisbane-based intentional Christian community, this reflection explores how right belief, right desire and right action may fuse when discipleship centres on embodied spiritual practices. Spiritual formation, like physical training, takes repetitive exercise against resistance under supervision; and yet, lackadaisical disciples readily dismiss classic disciplines and cast off traditional liturgies as hackneyed litanies. Through enriching everyday actions and secular practices with cognitively deep and affectively engaging rituals, we can powerfully appeal to the imagination through the body in this age of apatheism. In so doing, we participate in shaping committed spiritual athletes who together work out the way of Jesus for the life of the world.

- by Dave Benson
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- Liturgy, Anthropology of the Body, Imagination, Discipline

Athanasius’s letter provides evidence of how he drew upon resources available in Hellenistic philosophy to integrate the psalms into the sort of meditational practices that were the chief means of caring for oneself taught by the philosophical schools. The Psalter proved to be a remarkably flexible technology that could be appropriated in any number of circumstances to acquire self-knowledge and heal unhealthy emotional and intellectual responses. The self ’s indeterminacy was stabilized through daily exercises that employed the persuasive language of the Psalter to internalize the biblical narrative and its constitutive theological doctrines. The ultimate goal of this spiritual practice of personal prayer was to harmonize oneself with the eternal Source of the universe as one’s bodily song became more and more an outward image of the internal ordering of the mind. Athanasius’s promotion of the Psalter had important political implications insofar as it was an aspect of his broader effort to unite urban and rural Christians in a shared ascetic program.

- by Paul Kolbet
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- Patristics, Early Christianity, Book of Psalms, Ascetical Theology

Hospitality is the Christian imperative of welcoming the stranger to our table, which serves as a living metaphor for the salvation God extends to all of us, welcoming us as sinners to his table of abundance. As we transition from the era of missions to the era of world Christianity, a hospitality framework is helpful for the concomitant task of developing world Christians. In this article I describe a Hospitality Project I assigned that required my students to read and reflect on the Christian practice of hospitality, and then to extend hospitality to someone from another culture. I suggest that hospitality is an appropriate framework for the development of world Christians because it cultivates empathy through intentional listening and learning, is inherently reciprocal as all bring gifts to the table, and engenders transformation because it forces us to leave familiar structures and view life through the eyes of the Other.

- by Aminta Arrington
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- Sociology, Hospitality, Empathy, World Christianity

- by Aminta Arrington
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- China, Discipleship, Lisu, Christian Spiritual Practices

- by Aminta Arrington
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- Hospitality, Empathy, World Christianity, Christian Spiritual Practices
- by Mike Clawson
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- Piety, Christian Spiritual Practices, English Civil War, Levellers

This poem by Lily Montagu speaks to me. I read it most mornings as I say my morning prayers, and it is one of those mantras I try to live by. I have found that contrary to popular belief, sustained religious practices can be just as transformative as instantaneous conversion experiences. This is why I have developed certain spiritual and specifically Jewish practices (For more about my joinery to Judaism, see one of my previous blogs “Reflections on my Spiritual Journey: Claiming Judaism”). I find that they help me develop and cultivate a strong relationship with G-d. For example, I keep a kosher home; wear a kippah daily; try to pray at least twice a day and before snacks and meals; practice the principles of Mussar; attend regularly Shabbat services Friday evenings at my Reform Congregation in Lowell and Saturday morning services at a Conservative congregation in Nashua, NH; light Shabbat candles; try not cook or create on Shabbat; make Havadalah to mark the end of Shabbat; give tzedakah as much as I can and study Torah with my friends. This list is not all encompassing and there are quite a few areas of my practice I wish were more disciplined as well.

- by Feminism and Religion
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- Religion, Christianity, Sociology, Contemporary Spirituality