Saturday, January 25, 2014

Dallas Notes: Spiritual Formation in the Academy (2008)

Spiritual Formation in the Academy

[From a webpage I can no longer find:]
At the 2008 [Intervarsity] Midwest Faculty Conference, Dr. Dallas Willard, professor in the School of Philosophy at the University Southern California, presented a series of four talks on the subject "Spiritual Formation in the Academy."

In the talks below, Dr. Willard defines spirit and spirituality and discusses the important role that practices play in forming our spirit, with particular regard for the role of spirituality within the university. The third talk addresses the nature of knowledge, why the idea of “Christian knowledge,” once a common term, has been banished from the university and from daily life, and four crucial questions that the university offers no answer for:
  1. What is the nature of reality?
  2. Who is really well off?
  3. Who is a really good person?
  4. How can one become a good person?
In the final talk, Dr. Willard provides a foundation for Christian disciples working within the university to begin examining their academic disciplines from a Christ-centered point of view, including examining three questions of the adequacy of knowledge within academic disciplines:
  1. Is it adequate to professional norms?
  2. Is it adequate to human need?
  3. Is it adequate to the subject matter?
Related Resources
Dallas Willard’s personal website provides a number of articles related to these talks, including:
Jesus the Logician
Spiritual Formation: What it is, and How it is Done
Language, Being, God, and the Three Stages of Theistic Evidence (an argument that we can know that God exists)
Observations on Current Leadership Issues in Higher Education


Spirituality and Spiritual Formation

both active and passive modes must be kept together in the overall picture

Rom 5.1-5
in active mode
hope appears twice b/c things change their nature we grow in character
love is the pinnacle of these progressions, total Xian character

2 Pet 1.5-11
in passive mode

today's spiritualities promise identity and power. are not found in physical reality incl, sensation and natural abilities
that's the story of Rom 1, when the mind turns away from God it turns to idols
we live in a sensual, covetous society and I am my god when covetousness reigns
the mind of the flesh, human will, as Descartes said, is infinite
[sad that the only thing that is infinite in fallen humanity is desire :-( ]
'I can't get no satisfaction'
human desire can't be satisfied within the natural sphere
so Buddhism and Stoicism try to take us out of that sphere of desire
if desire is the problem, get rid of it
and, if that's the best you've got, you better use it
[why is there such a misunderstanding of Buddhism today? why is it attractive to pomos? b/c there's no God? it's amorphous spirituality.]
God is spirit and His being depends only on Himself
I am that I am
God intends that we should have power far beyond ourselves, but only under Him
that we should put our Kingdom under His Kingdom and then receive expanded power depending on character
the secular mind wants spirit to be derivative from physical/natural
everyone is spiritually formed
Plato's Republic is entirely about spiritual formation post-mythology
how do you turn out good people in a good society
in our culture today, the answer proposed for every problem is education
that could actually be true, if we were talking about Xian education
current education forms spirit in harmful direction
in LA, 50% drop out, the rest are basically disabled for life
the greatest social injustice in our country today is education
[that is so strong and anti-liberal (even anti-Sojourners, e.g.). could it be true?]
if a poor person received the right moral formation it would generally pull them out of their poor situation
the best thing for a poor person to do is to stop doing what is wrong and do what is right. basically in our country anyone who does that will be pulled out of their other difficulties (--and how does that apply to Devin?)
[this has certainly been borne out in history: Xians tend to get wealthier
and remember: Dallas was poor. he knows what he's talking about, at least to some degree.]
Xian spiritual formation is becoming like X
in Mk 12 Jesus gives us five dimensions of human life: heart, soul, mind, strength and social relationships
secular culture wants to say there's no human nature (to get free from some of the criticisms/problems it faces, e.g. biology is destiny, transgender)
shows extent to which culture's idea of freedom is driven by desire
the will was designed to trust God. when it turns away from that, it turns in on itself and the individual turns in on itself. you get will for will's sake (see above)
freedom and pleasure become absolute -- unquestioned values in our culture
mind is a precondition of will. you have to have something to will, a thought or feeling
body runs a lot of our life w/o thought (habit), which is good in general (we can't think about everything), but outside of God it becomes the center of our trouble and much of spiritual formation, therefore, is involved with forming our body
Peter did not consult his mind but just did what was in his body in that social context, i.e. denial
in general, people outside of X have broken souls, Rom 7: I don't do the things I want and I do the things I don't want
in our culture we generally believe that life is irrational and doesn't run on knowledge
[we've been led to this point b/c we won't believe what is true, beginning with God as Creator (cp Romans 1 again)]
education in terms of getting the right answers has almost no effect on the will
knowledge is very different and we underestimate its power in rela'p to the will
there are still problems b/c of our rebellion, but there is a connection that might make Socratic optimism (people will do what is right if they know it)
maybe our gap in the church b/t profession and performance comes from this knowledge gap as well
people are locked into their sin until they hear the Word of God that comes in and gives them some new ideas.
'God so loved…' e.g.
if you think you have no will apart from your thoughts and feelings, you'll be paralyzed
in prevalent academic culture, there isn't much choice and people are locked into what they've got
the will is independent of these other things and the first freedom is where you put your mind
can't control feelings directly. can control thoughts directly to some degree, then they can control/change your feelings
that begins to form a new matrix out of which you can choose and will allow you to be transformed and not conform to the world
otherwise you're dead in trespasses and sins. you have to get this process going by the grace of God
if you have the world's ideas in your head, he can take a nap because you're going to run his way anyway
Satan primarily works with ideas


Discipleship and Spiritual Disciplines in Spiritual Formation

spiritual transformation. everyone has already been wrongly formed
issue is obedience to X, that's the goal of spiritual formation
love means doing what is good for the beloved
so, loving God is using everything, body, mind, heart, soul and recap's, for God's good
[i need to revisit my decision to follow Jesus]
does the Gospel we preach have a natural tendency to produce disciples?
looking at the results, we have to say no
no. our 'Gospel' preaching produces consumers of religious goods and services
ministry becomes hatch, match and dispatch (baptize/dedicate, marry, bury)
thank you, Jesus. i'll take a little bit of your blood and then i'll see you in heaven. thanks for this arrangement. i have some things to do now.
three 'gospels'
1. Jesus took your beating for you so you don't have to take a beating and when you die there won't be any reason to keep you out of the heavenly Holiday Inn
(never mind whether you would like it when you get there, given that many people who profess X are trying to avoid God's presence now)
2. Jesus died to liberate the oppressed. many people don't want to talk about sin except as structural evil, for which no one is directly responsible.
3. take care of your church and it will take care of you
[makes me think of 'Be True to Your School ;-) ]
all of these things are important: forgiveness, liberation and church. 
main point: these approaches do not naturally produce disciples
some people still get transformed b/c they hear something else
[and God is gracious. and they sought Him in response to hearing His call]
being right is a considerable burden b/c you have to have your humility in place
we need to focus on d'ship in our churches and then disciples will go out to the world
creation is groaning for the the revelation of the children of God
your workplace is groaning for the revelation of the children of God
the big feature of the meeting of disciples is the presence of Jesus and He always brings the Spirit and the Father
where do you spend most of your time? you need to be a disciple there. for most of us, it's work, then home
[I have a special case. how do I live as a disciple working from home?]
spelling assignment seemed impossible. sister said 'just repeat them'
[and there's the foundation of Dallas' prodigious memorization]
object of spiritual formation is not trying but training
if all you do is try, then all you'll do is fail and you'll get discouraged and wind up thinking brokenness is the end and aim of spiritual life instead of a phase you pass through
grace is God acting in our lives (not just unmerited favor)
practicing disciplines opens our lives to more grace
we are responsible for our character, for the person we become
if you want to love, you fill your life with love with your actions and choices and by the grace of God
spirituality of trying turns out Pharisees
spirituality of brokenness turns out people who are broken
spirituality of indirection is the way of the disciple
[i'm not crazy about his label here. why not just use 'discipleship'?]
Luther and Calvin criticized monasticism and practiced most of the disciplines that monks practiced
if you don't die tonight, now what?


Christian Teaching Banished from Knowledge

2 Pet 1.2-3: 'knowledge'
2 Cor 4.14: 'knowing'
Rom 1.18: 'that which is known about God is evident among them'
just b/c something is knowable doesn't mean you have to know it. if you want to know it you have to seek it (like Algebra)
would you like to know it or just believe it?
[so much of our weak Xianity comes from only barely believing what can be known]
we want to work with real cases, not abstractions, which give philosophy a deservedly bad name
knowledge confers the right to act and often the responsibility

we need an epistemology of the Bible. how does the Bible bring knowledge?
[what has Dallas written on this? what's on his website? what can be found in the Theology of Dallas Willard book?]

Rom 1: everyone knows there's a God but they choose not to seek Him
people have a vested interest to not believe in God
eg, Aldous Huxley and promiscuity
and knowledge is incredibly important, knowing the right answer. it makes dealing with reality so much easier.
but, even if you know the right answers, you still won't be able to do the right thing. it's not possible. you have to train. you will become what you repeatedly do.


The Disciple in the World of Knowledge

we receive grace through spiritual disciplines. we don't earn it, but we better receive it. it won't run over you.
the main effort is not trying. you will become a Pharisee and fail and become a bitter and angry person
the secret is training
the academic world has no intellectually responsible answers to the 4 big questions
1. What is reality? God and His Kingdom
2. Who is well off? Anyone alive in the KoG (the Gospel of the Beatitudes)
3. Who's a really good person? One whose life is pervaded with agape love
4. How do you get to be a really good person? Become a disciple of Jesus. (He has a track record that runs around the world and through the centuries.)

'I've never had a crisis of faith. But I've had a lot of people who've had one for me. One day when some people were having one for me, the Lord just said to me 'Look: If you could find a better way than the way of Jesus Christ, He would be the first one to tell you to take it.' He wouldn't say 'Well, that's good, but it's not very Christian.'

He's the original 'hit me with your best shot'. He climbed up on the cross and said 'Hit me with your best shot.'
Be open to other people's list.
[Jesus can take it ;-) ]

this is not a matter of only faith. we can know.
how do people get up and speak for X if they don't know?
we don't need to be bullies or arrogant (but followers of X won't be)
we know who we trust

Ps 126.5-6: Those who sow in tears will reap in joy
person is discourages, but keeps sowing
shall indeed come again, bringing sheaves with him
Eccl 11.4-6: He who watches the wind will not sow
sow your seed in the morning and do not be idle in the evening, for you do not know whether morning or evening sowing will be successful or both
secularism as a social fact means God is irrelevant to knowledge
[practically speaking, they're saying we can't know (and it doesn't matter anyway. we can get on with our lives quite well)]
e.g., academic fields of study are adequate without reference to God
when is knowledge in a field adequate? we're constantly being judged on it

1. adequacy to professional norms
and if we say knowledge of God and his truth is essential, we might be thought to be inadequate
2. adequate to human need
we might argue that without God's perspective and truth, your teaching is not adequate to human need
e.g. Benjamin Rush probably bled George Washington to death. his understanding of health was inadequate
3. adequate to subject matter
e.g., mathematics and issues of completeness
24:35

prayer and giving are the two baby steps in training for reigning (cp. SotM)
Christian Critique of the University, Charles Malik (sp?)
The issue is not what the university thinks of X, but what X thinks of the university.
If we're wrapped up in the first part, we might hear God saying 'Who cares?!'

How does your field relate to the four questions?
[how about my current job: aerospace reporting]

Prov 4.23: Watch over your heart with all diligence for from it flow the springs of life.
What your life finally amounts to comes out of your heart

If we live to be 100, our lives are still ahead of us
For we are unceasing spiritual beings with eternal destinies in God's great universe
We will never taste death

knowledge brings passion b/c knowledge brings us in touch with reality and reality evokes passion
but, we need to let the passion come naturally and not seek it or try to work it up
passions taken for their own sake are bad guides
if you're stuck, don't pursue passion, but reality
children delight in plain reality

Tribalism only asks 'How can I be a good _______?'

you look around at this universe and you think anyone who did this can do anything. Streets of Gold? no problem.


[is it the case that I hear from You less (v. this summer) b/c I'm praying less, including less confession?
I am slightly uncomfortable sometimes with the degree of Dallas' literalism. OTOH, his methodology gets much better results than mine.]

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