Spirituality in Ministerial Formation

Andrew Mayes

Description

Presents a study in the area of theological education. This title traces the origin and evolution of the formation model of training and identifies what difference this paradigm makes to the practice. It offers ideas for a renewed understanding and praxis of the role of prayer in learning. It is intended for the theological students and teachers.
CONTENTS PREFACE INTRODUCTION PART 1 Formation Past & Present CHAPTER 1 Models of theological education in the first millennium CHAPTER 2 Models of theological education in the second millennium CHAPTER 3 The advent of the formation paradigm in Roman Catholic and Anglican traditions CHAPTER 4 Perspectives on formation in the Free Church and Orthodox traditions CHAPTER 5 Emerging themes, contemporary issues, research questions PART 2 The Role of Prayer in Formation: Findings and Reflections CHAPTER 6 Theological & empirical approaches to prayer CHAPTER 7 Life-giving waters: towards a pneumatology of formation CHAPTER 8 Dark Waters: formation, prayer & the experience of inner change CHAPTER 9 Meeting of waters: formation, prayer and theological knowing CHAPTER 10 Rivers in the desert: formation, prayer and post-modern mission PART 3 Possibilities for the Future CHAPTER 11 Benefits of the formation paradigm and proposals for renewed practice REFERENCES

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Religion

Informations

• Publié par: University of Wales Press
• Date de parution: 15 octobre 2009
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780708322703
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Spirituality in Ministerial
Formation
the dynamic of prayer in learning
Andrew D. Mayes
University of Wales Press00 Prelims:Spirituality in Ministerial Formation 5/10/09 14:31 Page i
Spirituality in Ministerial Formation00 Prelims:Spirituality in Ministerial Formation 5/10/09 14:31 Page ii
Religion, Education and Culture
Series Editors:
William K. Kay (Glyndw ^r 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.00 Prelims:Spirituality in Ministerial Formation 5/10/09 14:31 Page iii
Spirituality in Ministerial
Formation
The Dynamic of Prayer in Learning
ANDREW D. MAYES
UNIVERSITY OF WALES PRESS
CARDIFF
200900 Prelims:Spirituality in Ministerial Formation 5/10/09 14:31 Page iv
© 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
e-ISBN 978-0-7083-2270-3
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 toThe
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.
Printed in Great Britain by CPI Antony Rowe, Wiltshire00 Prelims:Spirituality in Ministerial Formation 5/10/09 14:31 Page v
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.00 Prelims:Spirituality in Ministerial Formation 5/10/09 14:31 Page vi00 Prelims:Spirituality in Ministerial Formation 5/10/09 14:31 Page vii
Contents
Preface ix
Introduction 1
Part I
Formation Past and Present
1 Models of theological education in the first millennium 9
2 Models of theological education in the second millennium 25
3 The advent of the formation paradigm in Roman Catholic
and Anglican traditions 35
4 Perspectives on formation in the Free Church and
Orthodox traditions 60
5 Emerging themes, contemporary issues, research questions 73
Part II
The Role of Prayer in Formation: Findings and Reflections
6 Theological and empirical approaches to prayer 95
7 Life-giving waters: towards a pneumatology of formation 111
8 Dark waters: formation, prayer and the experience of inner
change 128
9 The meeting of the waters: formation, prayer and
theological knowing 14300 Prelims:Spirituality in Ministerial Formation 5/10/09 14:31 Page viii
10 Rivers in the desert: formation, prayer and postmodern
mission 156
Part III
Possibilities for the Future
11 Conclusion: benefits of the formation paradigm and
proposals for renewed practice 169
Bibliography 205
Index 22900 Prelims:Spirituality in Ministerial Formation 5/10/09 14:31 Page ix
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 Hind00 Prelims:Spirituality in Ministerial Formation 5/10/09 14:31 Page x00 Prelims:Spirituality in Ministerial Formation 5/10/09 14:31 Page 1
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.00 Prelims:Spirituality in Ministerial Formation 5/10/09 14:31 Page 2
2 Spirituality in Ministerial Formation
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.
MillerMcLemore 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