Spirituality in Ministerial Formation

Andrew Mayes

Description

This is a ground-breaking study into a crucial area of theological education. It traces the origin and evolution of the formation model of training and identifies what difference this paradigm makes to present practice.
It uncovers significant and surprising functions of prayer in the formational and learning process as discovered in empirical research (informed by theological and psychological perspectives on prayer) among a sample of newly ordained clergy and tutors. The practical implications of the research are identified, offering creative ideas for a renewed understanding and praxis of the role of prayer in learning. This is essential reading for theological students and teachers alike, and calls for a clearer articulation of a spirituality of education as needed by our present culture and context.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Religion

Informations

• Publié par: University of Wales Press
• Date de parution: 01 octobre 2009
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781783163816
• Langue: English

Extrait

Spirituality in Ministerial Formation
Religion, Education and Culture

Series Editors: William K. Kay (Glyndŵr University, UK) Leslie J. Francis (University of Warwick, UK) and Jeff Astley (Durham University, UK)


This series addresses issues raised by religion and education within contemporary culture. It is intended to be of benefit to those involved in professional training as ministers of religion, teachers, counsellors, psychologists, social workers or health professionals while contributing to the theoretical development of the acedemic fields from which this training is drawn.
Spirituality in Ministerial Formation
The Dynamic of Prayer in Learning
ANDREW D. MAYES
© Andrew D. Mayes, 2009

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978-0-7083-2224-6 eISBN: 978-1-78316-381-6
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London, EC1N 8TS.Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to The University of Wales Press, 10 Columbus Walk, Brigantine Place, Cardiff, CF10 4UP.
www.uwp.co.uk
The right of Andrew D. Mayes to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77, 78 and 79 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
credit to: © Rob Hudson, www.open-aspect.co.uk
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Contents
Preface
Introduction
Part I Formation Past and Present
1 Models of theological education in the first millennium
2 Models of theological education in the second millennium
3 The advent of the formation paradigm in Roman Catholic and Anglican traditions
4 Perspectives on formation in the Free Church and Orthodox traditions
5 Emerging themes, contemporary issues, research questions
Part II The Role of Prayer in Formation: Findings and Reflections
6 Theological and empirical approaches to prayer
7 Life-giving waters: towards a pneumatology of formation
8 Dark waters: formation, prayer and the experience of inner change
9 The meeting of the waters: formation, prayer and theological knowing
10 Rivers in the desert: formation, prayer and postmodern mission
Part III Possibilities for the Future
11 Conclusion: benefits of the formation paradigm and proposals for renewed practice

Bibliography
Preface by the Bishop of Chichester
Andrew Mayes makes an important contribution to the understanding of the formation of those preparing for ordained ministry. He directs attention to the importance of prayer in the curriculum and thus to the fundamental place that should be given to ‘life in the Spirit’ for ordinands themselves and for seminaries and theological colleges and courses.
It is not always easy to find the right language in which to describe that particular form of growth in discipleship which is involved in this task. ‘Education’, ‘training’ and ‘formation’ suggest different approaches, and may imply different understandings not only of the process of preparation itself but also of the quality, character and task of ordained Christian ministry and those admitted to it.
The pressures on the seminary curriculum have become acute in recent years, but that may itself be an indication of how far spiritual formation has moved from the centre of the preoccupations of many churches. Whereas ‘theological education’ ought to imply ‘growing in the knowledge of God’, all too often it is reduced to ‘imparting information about religious subjects’, and whereas ‘training for ministry’ suggests ‘growing in the patterns of life and practice required for the cure of souls’ it is often understood to mean ‘how to respond to personal or social problems or how to run an institution’.
Things are not as bleak as this, of course, but, as this timely study reminds us, constant vigilance is required if ministerial formation is to remain both living and life-giving. The most important thing of all is that God’s gracious provision of ministers for the Church is to be met by a corresponding concern to ensure that those who are ordained are shaped for a lifelong journey of discipleship in which they are fellow pilgrims alongside, as well as for, those they are called to serve.
+ John Hind
Introduction
One of the most urgent issues facing the Church today and underpinning the central research question of this book is the crucial question of how Christian leaders and priests are created and sustained for the challenges of this new millennium. What processes are required to develop the kind of Christian leaders who are needed for today’s Church? This is, first of all, a question about what training is necessary for those to be ordained or commissioned as the Church’s ministers, but it is also a question about what is needed to sustain and equip them throughout their ministry. While the focus of this book is the formation of the ordained, it speaks also to the formation of all the Church’s ministers, including lay ministers, parish leaders and readers. It is hoped that it will be a stimulus and inspiration for both theological educators and students, and prompt them to consider creatively the dynamic interplay between the journey of learning and formation and the practice of prayer.
The emerging holistic paradigm of ministerial formation, in contrast to former models of training or theological education, has the potential to enrich and deepen approaches to this issue, but there exists in the Anglican tradition in the UK no developed theology of formation and no clear idea about it. This is also the case in the US. Winkelmes writes: ‘Most seminaries have yet to reach a definition of formation for their students that all faculty can accept comfortably. This lack of consensus may contribute to some faculty’s retreat from actively supporting formation in order to focus more explicitly on course subject matter’ (Winkelmes, 2004: 214). This book seeks to advance our understanding of the formation paradigm and especially to explore the role of spirituality within it.
The Hind Report , which proposes the biggest shake-up and revision of Anglican training for 150 years, calls out for such research (Archbishops’ Council, 2003). It offers only tentative and undeveloped ideas about formation, and displays an ambivalence towards spirituality in theological education: while arguing for a strengthening of the academic and intellectual rigour of theological studies, it concedes equal weighting to ‘growing in faith, discipleship, prayer and vocation’. The role of spirituality in formation, however, demands greater clarity of understanding, for it is an issue not of marginal but of central significance in theological education in all major Christian traditions.
Episcopalian Professor van den Blink has written: ‘It is no exaggeration to say that theological education in our time is in a state of crisis. The widespread lack of grounding of theological curricula in any authentic spirituality is…a major contributing factor to this state of affairs’ (van den Blink, 1999: 430). Alan Jones puts it more strongly: ‘There is also an idolatry with regard to the material that is supposed to be covered [in theological training] instead of an emphasis on how to pray, to think and behave from a theological perspective grounded in faith’ (Jones, 1987: 19). Evangelical educators agree. Miller-McLemore observes:
Within many institutions of theological education, it is hard to shake the dominant liberal Protestant view of religious formation and spiritual fervour as secondary to cognitive knowledge and intellect…[this] has obscured the essential interconnections between faith and knowledge…Separating spiritual practices and theoretical reflection is a modern aberration in the history of philosophical and theological thought.
(Miller-McLemore, 2002: 52)
George Lindbeck concurs:
the difficulties of special spiritual formation within the seminary are increasing. There is a growing gap between it, on the one hand, and the academic and pastoral skill aspects of the curriculum, on the other…While ministerial candidates have less spiritual formation than before, the need seems to be greater.
(Lindbeck, 1988: 10–32)
The Episcopalian scholar John Westerhoff, among others, similarly argues that the stress on knowledge and skills at the expense of spiritual development and formation of priestly character is the major weakness of recent theological education (Westerhoff, 1982). James (2002) observed in the US, ‘little research has been conducted with faculty to understand how they relate teaching to spiritual growth.’ A rare example of such research in the US is afforded by Foster et al. (2006).
In the UK, too, there is a widespread dissatisfaction with the pragmatic and functionalist approach of the last decade, which has focused on the development of ministry skills and the imparting of basic theological knowledge. As Kenneth Leech wrote, in respect to a basic textbook by the then head of the Church of England’s Ministry Division, designed to be read by those enquiring about ministr