Spiritual Formation

Scholarship as a Sustained HabitProfessor Christopher Ullman

Words• Look at this photo

Words• Now read the caption:“The prisoner whose last instant is captured in Adam’s shot was Nguyen Van Lem. A Viet Cong operative, who like other Viet Cong agents went by the secret name of Captain Bay Lop (Lop was his wife’s first name). His wife, who still lives in Saigon (Now Ho Chi Minh City), confirms that Lem was a member of the Vietcong and that he disappeared shortly before the Tet Offensive never to return. Lem’s role in the Viet Cong is murky. Most reports give him the role of a Captain in a Viet Cong assassination and revenge platoon responsible for the killing of South Vietnamese policemen and their families. Eddie Adams was told by Loan that Lem had killed one of Loan’s friends and his family, "They found out that [Lem] was the same guy who killed one of his ---uh---Loan’s officers and wiped out his whole family.“

Why Didn’t God Wait Until the Invention of Video Cameras?

• Deuteronomy 4:15-19• “The God of the Jews was to exist in the Word

and through the Word, an unprecedented conception requiring the highest order of abstract thinking.” – Neil Postman

• Didn’t He know we have attention span problems?

• Didn’t He know that a picture is worth a thousand words?

Why Words are God’s Chosen Medium

• John 1:1• Jesus not only was the

Word, but he gave us words

• Group 1– Matthew 12:7– Matthew 12:37– Mark 8:38– Mark 10:24– Mark 13:31– Luke 6:47

• Group 2– Luke 19:48– Luke 21:15– John 3:34– John 6:63– John 6:68– John 15:7

Words Must Be

• Spoken• Heard• Written • ReadIs there anything else you can do with words?

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Worldviews: Why bother, if we have facts?

• Facts don’t exist in theory-free ether– You have to believe something before you can

know anything. – Augustine• A person in the possession of a “fact” already

has a worldview that makes that fact relevant to him– If you don’t have that worldview, – the fact won’t be relevant to you

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Worldviews: Why bother, if we have facts?

• Examples– Bernard Nathanson and

ultrasound– A bloodhound’s sense of smell

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Worldview: Paradigm Influence

• Without a paradigm, “facts” cannot be brought into focus or into harmony– Isolated bits of data need an

organizing program to be usable

• The new paradigm forever shapes one’s perception of the facts

• You can’t “unsee” the old lady

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Worldview: Why bother, if we have experience?

• “A man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with an argument.” – Sounds convincing, but– It leaves crucial questions unanswered1. What do you mean by experience?2. What did you experience that event as?

• Examples

• Experience unsupported by some attempt at explanation lacks meaning

• Experience has transmission problems

J. Gresham Machen wrote

• “It should be ours to create … those favourable conditions for the reception of the gospel.”

• “False ideas are the greatest obstacles to the reception of the gospel.”

• We must not permit the “whole collective thought of a nation to be controlled by ideas” which make Christianity appear to be “a harmless delusion.”

Harry Blamires Wrote

• “There is no longer a Christian mind. There is still, of course, a Christian ethics, a Christian practice, and a Christian spirituality. … But as a a thinking being, the modern Christian has succumbed to secularization.”

• “We Christians in the modern world accept, for the purpose of mental activity, a frame of reference constructed by the secular mind and a set of criteria reflecting secular evaluations.”

The Power of Knowledge

• It can increase or decrease other factors dramatically

Knowledge/1 = Vision/1Knowledge/1 = Memory/1

Knowledge/1 = 1/Needing Mindless Instructions

The Mind is the Crucial Component

Romans 12:2Use a hypothetical study method• What else could Paul have said transforms us

and prevents being conformed?

The Mind is the Crucial Component

Romans 12:1Why “offer your bodies?”1. The body is the vehicle2. Habits dwell in the body

FORMING A NEW PERSPECTIVE

FORMING NEW HABITS

REPLACING OLD HABITS

Where is Knowledge Found?

• In Scripture – Psalm 119

• In the natural world – Isaiah 28:23-29

• In the accumulated wisdom of the world’s cultures – Isaiah 19:11-13– Jeremiah 49:7– Daniel 2:12-13– Daniel 5:7

How is Knowledge Found?

• Focusing one’s attention– Proverbs 2:2

• Active searching– Proverbs 2:4

• Listening– Proverbs 4:1

• Sacrificing– Proverbs 4:7

The Mind’s Structure

• Conforms to the order of the object being thought about– Watching a baseball game – Reading a good novel

Soul & Body

Substance Dualism: A human being is a unity of two distinct realities

• I am my soul• I have a body

The Soul

• A substantial, unified reality that informs the body

• Soul/body = God/spaceFully present at each point

• Causal relationship of soul and bodySoul Body

Five States of the Soul

1. Sensation2. Thought3. Belief4. Desire5. Act of Will

Faculties of the Soul

A compartment of the soul that contains a natural family of related capacities

• Sight• Hearing• Will • EmotionCapacities come in hierarchies

Faculties of the Soul

• Mind– With my mind I think– In my mind I retain beliefs

• Spirit– Through my spirit I relate to God

Beliefs

“The rails upon which our lives run”Five Aspects of Beliefs• Content of a belief• Strength of a belief• The Centrality of a belief• The Changeability of a belief• The Plausibility of a belief

Apologetics and Evangelism

• Christianity must be shown to be plausible in order to command the attention of hearers

• The Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925– They could not “raise the level of discourse to a

point where any of their arguments would be taken seriously.”

The Mind’s Role in Seeing, Willing, Feeling and Desiring

Three kinds of seeing1. Simple Seeing

Involves only sight

The Mind’s Role in Seeing, Willing, Feeling and Desiring

Three kinds of seeing1. Simple Seeing 2. Seeing As

“Dog”

Involves sight and mind

The Mind’s Role in Seeing, Willing, Feeling and Desiring

Three kinds of seeing1. Simple Seeing 2. Seeing As3. Seeing That

“This dog is Mike’s pet.”

Also involves sight and mind, but engages the

mind at higher levels than 2. How so?

The Mind’s Ruts

• Eskimos often shiver as they exit the warmth of their homes to go out into the dark.

The Mind’s Ruts

• The proud tribal member has fond memories of his forefathers.

The Mind’s Role in Seeing, Willing, Feeling and Desiring

I can’t fully see if I don’t have knowledge.I can’t fully1. Choose2. Feel3. Desire

without knowledge.

The Mind, Truth, and Reality• The mind places me in conscious contact

with the external world• The mind conforms to the object of its

attention• What I think about forms my habits• I can choose the object of thought• If frequently chosen, the object habituates

and reshapes my mind• In this way, I can move closer or farther

from what is actually true and actually real.

Philippians 4:8. “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”

Ideas have consequences

• Such as …

You are God’s idea

• So,

Study

• 2 Timothy 2:15 (NIV) - Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.

• 2 hours outside of class for every hour inside of class– You will have to schedule this

The Appropriation Approach to STUDYING SPIRITUALITY

Understood (Head)

Experienced & Embraced (Heart)

Embodied (Hands)

See Dennis Hollinger, Head, Heart & Hands (2005)

• The Spirit and the Christian interpreter

– The Spirit does expect us to use our minds, proper interpretive methods, and good study helps to interpret the Bible accurately.

– The Spirit does not make valid interpretations automatic—no “autopilot interpretation.”

– The Spirit does not create new meaning or provide new, secret information.

– The Spirit does help us grasp the meaning of God’s Word by discerning theological principles and applying them to our lives.

– The Spirit does not change the Bible to suit our purposes or to match our circumstances.

– The Spirit does bring the meaning of the Bible to bear on our lives.

• Convicts us that the Bible is divinely inspired• Impresses on us the full meaning of the Scriptures• Works in our hearts so that we accept its message

“The Spirit’s work in interpretation is not to change the sense [the meaning of the text] but to restore us to our senses.”

—Kevin Vanhoozer

– The Spirit often uses and to encourage growth to spiritual maturity.

devotional readingprayer

Focus less on analysis of details and more on a personal, intimate time of listening to the Lord with your heart.

Lectio Divina—A Way into the Word

• Lectio Divina means “Holy Reading”• Ancient prayer form with roots in Benedictine

monasticism• Over 1500 years oldGoals• Transformation, not information• Deselfing• Intimacy with God

Lectio Divina

• Create a quiet, sacred space• Begin with invocation of the Holy Spirit– “Come Holy Spirit, open my heart that I may

receive the Word of God”

4 steps of Lectio Divina

• Lectio--reading the Word• Meditatio--meditate on word• Contemplatio--resting with the Word• Oratio--thanksgiving for the Word

Lectio—Reading the Word

• Read a small passage or just a verse• Reread it carefully, over and over again—5

times or a dozen times--, listening, catching any word, words or phrases that stay in your mind/thoughts– Pause wherever the Spirit suggests– Who, what, when, where why– Write down the word, phrase, or image that spoke

most readily to you

Meditatio—meditate on word• Why this word or image?• Write it down• Make a drawing around or near each word• Meditate, chew it over, mull over, listen– What does this word, image, or concept touch in my

life– What does it say to (or about) my relationships with

God, self, and others? My community, family• What does the Word call me to do?• Be patient

Contemplatio—Resting with the Word

• After all the thoughts & drawings in meditatio, • Be still• Listen• Wait in silence for a Word from the Lord• Be patient, silent• Sometimes God speaks in only a whisper

OratioThanksgiving for the Word

• Oratio is a prayer of thanksgiving• Comes from the fruit of your meditatio and

contemplatio• A desire to give thanks and praise

• Conclusion – Methods and procedures are important (no

“spiritual” switch we can flip where God does all the interpreting for us)

– But there is a real danger of over-intellectualizing what it means to communicate with God.

– As you study, pray that the Holy Spirit would work in you so that you can enter into the heavenly conversation.

The Holy Spirit Guides Us Into All Truth – John 16:13

B.B. Warfield and a very spiritual person were talking

• V.S.P. “I would rather spend 5 minutes on my knees than 5 hours with my nose in a book.”

• B.B. “Better yet … Why not spend the 5 hours on your knees with your nose in a book?”