Course 20 · Practice and Scholarship
Spiritual Theology
Study how Christians have prayed, fasted, read Scripture and sought guidance across two thousand years, and build a sustainable rule of life on those sources.
Overview
This course studies spiritual theology: the part of Christian thought that asks how believers grow in prayer and holiness, and how belief and practice shape each other. It covers the desert tradition, early monasticism, the prayer of the heart in the Eastern church, the slow reading of Scripture called lectio divina, the daily prayer of the church called the Divine Office, fasting, discernment and spiritual direction.
The course is taught through primary sources wherever possible. You read Athanasius, Cassian, Benedict and the sayings of the desert elders in their own words, and you read modern guides only to help you understand them. Each tradition is described as its own members would describe it. Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant practices are compared fairly, and the course separates what is widely agreed, what is debated between traditions, and what is a matter of personal temperament.
Every technical term is explained when it first appears. The course does not teach techniques for producing experiences. Its question is how a person can pray faithfully over many years, with honesty about dryness, distraction and self-deception, and with attention to the doctrines that give prayer its meaning.
By the end you will be able to describe the major prayer traditions accurately, explain how doctrine and practice depend on each other, and write a realistic rule of life supported by historical and theological sources. The course does not replace participation in a worshiping community, and it treats communal and sacramental life as part of the tradition it studies.
Objectives
- Define Christian spiritual formation and explain how the major traditions understand growth in holiness.
- Describe the origins, main figures and teaching of the Desert Fathers and Mothers and of early monasticism.
- Explain hesychasm and the Jesus Prayer, including the Orthodox teaching about the Divine Light and the distinction between God’s essence and energies, and state how Western Christians have responded.
- Carry out the four movements of lectio divina on a passage of Scripture and describe its history.
- Explain the structure of the Divine Office and the Liturgy of the Hours and how they form the church’s daily prayer.
- Compare fasting and ascetic practice across the Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant traditions, with reasons given by each.
- Apply historical criteria of discernment to a spiritual experience or decision and explain why spiritual direction has been valued.
- Explain how contemplation and action have been related, and how doctrine shapes and corrects spiritual practice.
- Write a sustainable rule of life supported by at least two historical sources and several passages of Scripture.
Course outline
Module 1 Spiritual Formation and the Doctrines Behind Prayer
Define spiritual theology, see how Christians have understood growth in holiness, and learn why prayer in the Christian tradition always rests on doctrine.
Topics
- Christian spiritual formation
- Doctrine and spiritual practice
- Prayer traditions
Lessons
Module 2 The Desert and Early Monasticism
Read the desert elders and the first monastic rules in their own words and learn what they meant by prayer, work and the guarding of the heart.
Topics
- Desert Fathers and Mothers
- Early monasticism
- Fasting and asceticism
Lessons
Module 3 Praying with Scripture and with the Church
Learn lectio divina and the structure of the church’s daily prayer, and how each connects private prayer with the worship of the whole church.
Topics
- Lectio Divina
- Divine Office and Liturgy of the Hours
- Prayer traditions
Lessons
Module 4 Hesychasm and the Jesus Prayer
Study the Eastern tradition of stillness and the prayer of the heart, its theology, and the questions it raises for Western Christians.
Topics
- Hesychasm
- Jesus Prayer
- Prayer traditions
Lessons
Module 5 Fasting, Discernment and Spiritual Direction
Examine why Christians fast, how they have tested spiritual experiences, and why almost every tradition has valued guidance from another person.
Topics
- Fasting and asceticism
- Discernment
- Spiritual direction
Lessons
Module 6 Contemplation and Action
Ask how prayer and service relate, and how the great traditions have joined the two without letting either swallow the other.
Topics
- Contemplation and action
- Doctrine and spiritual practice
- Christian spiritual formation
Lessons
Module 7 Building a Rule of Life
Turn the course into a workable plan, with attention to realism, seasons of life and review.
Topics
- Christian spiritual formation
- Prayer traditions
- Spiritual direction
Lessons
Suggested schedule
| When | Work |
|---|---|
| Week 1 | Module 1: Spiritual Formation and the Doctrines Behind Prayer |
| Week 2 | Module 2: The Desert and Early Monasticism |
| Week 3 | Module 3: Praying with Scripture and with the Church |
| Week 4 | Module 4: Hesychasm and the Jesus Prayer |
| Week 5 | Module 5: Fasting, Discernment and Spiritual Direction |
| Week 6 | Module 6: Contemplation and Action |
| Week 7 | Module 7: Building a Rule of Life |
| Week 8 | Independent assignment and self-assessment |
Readings
Required
- Athanasius of Alexandria, Life of St. Anthony
The story of Anthony of Egypt that spread the ideal of the desert across the Christian world. Central to the solitary tradition.
How to use it: Read the whole Life. Notice what Anthony teaches about demons, fasting, work and visitors, and how Athanasius describes his obedience to the church.
Read online (New Advent (Church Fathers)) In the library - Benedicta Ward, trans., The Sayings of the Desert Fathers: The Alphabetical Collection
The standard English translation of the short sayings of the desert elders. Read a few every day.
How to use it: Read a few sayings each day throughout the course. Copy ten into your notebook and write a short comment on what each one asks of the reader.
Find in a library or bookstore catalog (Open Library) In the library - John Cassian, The Conferences
Conversations with desert elders about prayer, discernment and the inner life. Core reading for Courses 17 and 20.
How to use it: Read the conferences on prayer and on discernment. They are long, so read at least one of each in full and take notes.
Read online (New Advent (Church Fathers)) In the library - John Cassian, The Institutes
Practical instruction for monks, gathered from the Egyptian desert. A rich source for the daily rule.
How to use it: Read the parts on the Divine Office and on the eight principal faults. These are the sources for much later Western teaching on prayer and discipline.
Read online (New Advent (Church Fathers)) In the library - Benedict of Nursia, The Rule of St. Benedict
The short, sensible rule that shaped Western monastic life. The best model for writing a personal rule of life.
How to use it: Read the Prologue and the chapters on the daily prayer, on work and on humility. Treat the Rule as a model for your own plan.
Read online (Christian Classics Ethereal Library)Another translation (Project Gutenberg) In the library - Vladimir Lossky, The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church
A classic exposition of Eastern theology as lived and prayed. Advanced.
How to use it: Read selectively for the Orthodox account of the distinction between God’s essence and energies, and for the background to hesychasm.
Find in a library or bookstore catalog (Open Library) In the library
Recommended
- Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God
Short letters and conversations of a lay brother who learned to pray while washing dishes. Ideal for solitary practice.
How to use it: A short and practical guide to prayer in ordinary work.
Read online (Christian Classics Ethereal Library) In the library - Thomas a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ
A quiet devotional classic loved by Christians of every tradition.
How to use it: Read selectively for its teaching on humility, interior life and the reading of Scripture.
Read online (Christian Classics Ethereal Library) In the library - Augustine of Hippo, Confessions
Augustine’s account of his restless search for God. Read Book I and then Book VIII, the story of his conversion.
How to use it: Read Book 10 on memory and the search for God, and Book 8 on conversion, as a record of prayer and self-examination.
Read online (New Advent (Church Fathers)) In the library - Timothy (Kallistos) Ware, The Orthodox Church
A widely used introduction to Orthodox history, worship and belief written by an Orthodox bishop.
How to use it: Read selectively on Orthodox worship, prayer and the monastic tradition.
Find in a library or bookstore catalog (Open Library) In the library - Catholic Church, Catechism of the Catholic Church
The authoritative modern summary of Catholic teaching. Read it to understand what Catholics actually claim, in their own words.
How to use it: Read the section on Christian prayer (Part Four) to see the Catholic teaching in its own words.
Read online (Vatican) In the library - Athanasius of Alexandria, On the Incarnation of the Word
A short and clear account of why God became man. It is the best first patristic text for a beginner.
How to use it: Read to see the doctrine of the Incarnation that lies behind the Eastern teaching on sharing in the divine life.
Read online (New Advent (Church Fathers)) In the library - John of Damascus, An Exposition of the Orthodox Faith
The eighth-century summary of Eastern doctrine. A standard way into how Orthodox theology organizes the faith.
How to use it: Read selectively on prayer, icons and the doctrine of God as the Eastern church received them.
Read online (New Advent (Church Fathers)) In the library - John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion
The most influential Reformed theology. Book IV is the best statement of the Reformed view of church and sacraments.
How to use it: Read Book 3, the chapters on prayer, for a Reformed account of what prayer is and how to pray.
Read online (Christian Classics Ethereal Library) In the library
Passages in the Scripture Study
- Matthew 6:6 Jesus on prayer in secret.
- Matthew 6:16 Jesus assumes that his hearers will fast and teaches how to do it without display.
- Luke 10:42 Mary and Martha, a central text for the relation of contemplation and action.
- Luke 18:13 The tax collector’s prayer, one of the roots of the Jesus Prayer.
- Psalm 46:10 Be still and know that I am God, often cited in discussions of stillness.
- Psalm 119:164 Praise seven times a day, a text behind the pattern of the daily hours.
- Acts 3:1 Peter and John go up to the temple at the hour of prayer.
- Romans 8:26 The Spirit helps believers who do not know how to pray.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:17 Pray without ceasing, the text the hesychast tradition tried to take seriously.
- Philippians 4:6 Prayer and thanksgiving in place of anxiety.
- Isaiah 58:6 The fast that God chooses, joined to justice and mercy.
- 1 John 4:1 Test the spirits, the basis of the discernment tradition.
- Proverbs 11:14 Where there is no guidance a people falls, a text used for spiritual direction.
- Hebrews 4:12 The word of God is living and active, a text for the practice of reading Scripture slowly.
- 2 Peter 1:4 Sharing in the divine nature, a text that Eastern writers use for deification.
- James 2:17 Faith without works, relevant to the unity of belief and practice.
Independent assignment
A Sustainable Rule of Life
- Purpose
- To write a realistic and well-grounded rule of life for your own circumstances, supported by the historical and theological sources studied in the course, with a plan to test and revise it.
- Instructions
- Describe your present life in plain terms: your work, family or household duties, health, energy and the hours that are actually free. State the practices you already keep.
- Choose at least two historical sources from the course (for example the Rule of Benedict, Cassian, the sayings of the desert elders, Calvin on prayer, or the Catechism on prayer) and summarize what each recommends about the shape of a day.
- Write the daily part of your rule: morning and evening prayer, Scripture reading (state whether you will use lectio divina or another method), any use of the Jesus Prayer or the Psalms, and the times of day.
- Write the weekly and yearly parts: the day of worship and rest, a weekly fast if you will keep one, and the seasons of the Christian year you will observe. If you will fast, state the form and the limits, and note any health reasons that rule it out.
- State your plan for guidance. Name a person (a pastor, priest, elder, mentor or wise friend) who will review the rule with you, or explain honestly what you will do if you have no one. Describe how you will use the teaching on discernment to test your decisions.
- State the doctrines on which your practice rests (for example the Trinity, the Incarnation, grace) and explain in a paragraph how each shapes a particular practice in the rule.
- Explain how the rule joins prayer to service: name at least one concrete duty to neighbors that the rule protects, and how you will keep action from crowding out prayer or prayer from becoming an escape.
- Write a plan for failure and dryness: what you will do after a missed week, and how you will tell ordinary dryness from a sign that the rule needs to change.
- Set review dates at 30 and 90 days, and write down the questions you will ask at each.
- Required sources
- At least two historical sources from the course readings.
- At least six of the Scripture passages listed for this course.
- At least one source from a tradition other than your own on prayer, fasting or the daily office.
- Length and scope
- About 2,500 to 3,500 words, or eight to ten pages, with the rule itself set out as a clear schedule. Keep it in your own notebook or document. Do not send it anywhere.
- Questions to address
- What is the purpose of each practice in the rule, and what doctrine stands behind it?
- What does each source recommend, and where do the sources disagree with each other?
- Which parts of the rule can I actually keep in a bad week?
- How will I know whether the rule is producing humility and love, and not only a feeling of progress?
- Who will see the rule and be allowed to question it?
- Expected output
- A written rule of life with a daily, weekly and yearly structure, a statement of its sources and doctrines, a plan for guidance and for failure, and review dates.
- How it will be evaluated
- It is realistic for the life you actually lead.
- It uses historical sources accurately and cites them.
- It connects each practice to a doctrine or to Scripture.
- It treats other traditions fairly even where you do not follow them.
- It includes real safeguards: a named person for guidance, a plan for failure and a review schedule.
- It balances prayer with service to others.
- Common mistakes to avoid
- Writing a rule that only works in an ideal week.
- Copying a monastic schedule without adapting it to a household or a job.
- Treating fasting as a competition or an unconditional duty, without regard for health.
- Describing the Jesus Prayer or lectio divina from a secondhand summary and not from the sources.
- Leaving out guidance and review, so that the rule depends on private feeling alone.
Knowledge check and self-assessment
What does the term spiritual theology mean, and how does it differ from systematic theology?
Spiritual theology studies how believers grow in the Christian life: prayer, discipline, holiness and union with God. Systematic theology sets out Christian doctrine as an ordered whole. The two overlap, since prayer rests on doctrine, but their questions differ. Systematic theology asks what is true about God and salvation. Spiritual theology asks how a person comes to live in that truth over time, and what helps or hinders. Many writers hold that the two should never be separated.
Who were the Desert Fathers and Mothers, and why do their sayings matter?
They were Christian men and women, mostly in Egypt, Palestine and Syria from the later third and fourth centuries onward, who withdrew from towns to live a life of prayer, work and fasting. Their short sayings were collected and written down in the following generations. They matter because they were a main source for later monastic rules, for Cassian’s teaching in the West, and for Eastern writing on prayer. They stress humility, guarding the heart and seeking counsel.
What are the four movements of lectio divina?
They are reading (lectio), meditation (meditatio), prayer (oratio) and contemplation (contemplatio). In the usual description one reads a short passage slowly, thinks over its words and meaning, responds to God in prayer, and then rests quietly in God’s presence. The fourfold description became well known in the Middle Ages, and the practice is older. It aims at attending to God through Scripture, not at private information or special experiences.
What is the Jesus Prayer, and what is hesychasm?
The Jesus Prayer is a short prayer, most commonly given as Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, repeated in attention and humility. It is rooted in the cry for mercy found in the Gospels. Hesychasm (from a Greek word for stillness) is the Eastern tradition of quiet prayer that seeks union with God, often using that prayer. It is taught within the church and with the help of an experienced guide.
Explain the Orthodox distinction between God’s essence and energies and why it was controversial.
Gregory Palamas, in the fourteenth century, taught that God is truly unknowable in his essence but is truly present and shared with creatures through his uncreated energies. This allowed the Orthodox to affirm that believers really share in God while God remains beyond all grasp. Critics, notably Barlaam, saw it as a threat to God’s simplicity. Orthodox councils in the fourteenth century endorsed Palamas. Catholic theologians have debated the teaching, some finding it compatible with the Western tradition and others not.
What is the Divine Office or Liturgy of the Hours, and how is it related to the Psalms?
It is the church’s daily cycle of prayer at set hours, such as morning, evening and night. It is built mainly on the Psalms, supplemented by readings, canticles and prayers. It developed from Jewish practice, from the habits of early Christians and from monastic rules such as Benedict’s. Catholic and Orthodox churches keep it in an official form, and some Protestant churches have daily prayer books. Its value is that the individual prays with the whole church.
Why have the traditions valued spiritual direction, and what are its risks?
Because a person praying alone can mistake pride, desire or fatigue for divine guidance, and an experienced guide can notice patterns that the person cannot. Desert elders, Cassian, Benedict and many later writers advise telling one’s thoughts to a trusted person. Protestants often speak of pastoral care and mutual counsel. The risks include a guide who dominates, claims too much authority, or is unqualified. The tradition insists that a guide serves Christ and the church and does not replace them.
How do contemplation and action relate in the Christian tradition?
Most traditions hold that they belong together. Many Christians have read Mary and Martha in Luke 10 as a picture of two forms of devotion, with the greater weight on attention to Christ. Benedict joined prayer and work in one rule. Augustine and Gregory the Great wrote of a contemplative life that returns to serve. The Reformers stressed daily vocation as a place of service to God. In all of these, prayer is meant to produce love of neighbor, and service is meant to flow from prayer.
Judge your own progress
- When you finish the modules, answer the knowledge questions from memory, without notes. Aim for 70 percent or better; if you score lower, reread the relevant module and try again.
- Write your rule of life (the independent assignment). Wait three days, reread it, and mark every place where it is vague or unrealistic.
- Check your work against the evaluation criteria in the assignment. Rate each criterion as strong, adequate or weak and write one sentence on how you would improve each weak one.
- Return to the key ideas of the course after 1 day, 7 days, 30 days and 90 days. At each point, describe aloud one prayer tradition from the course in its own terms and report honestly on how much of your rule you have kept.
- You can describe the desert tradition, lectio divina, the Divine Office and the Jesus Prayer accurately and without notes.
- You can explain how doctrine supports practice, and how practice without doctrine goes wrong.
- Your rule of life is realistic, grounded in sources, and includes guidance and review.