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- Lutheran
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- Conservative
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- Married
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- Yes
http://www.johnkleinig.com/index.php/full-course/christian-spirituality/
This lecture series was recorded in 2009 at Australian Lutheran College. Dr Kleinig's book Grace Upon Grace grew out of teaching this course over many years.
Bible Study Notes here http://www.johnkleinig.com/files/3013/8984/3619/SpirCourse_09.pdf
Some quoted portions from the notes:
Our play acting at spirituality
(a)Spirituality as performance and achievement
•Self-promotion
•Spiritual ambition to achieve something for God
•Desire for glory
•Denial of God's grace
(b)Spirituality as self-deception
•Avoidance of self exposure with discovery of truth about self
•Avoidance of repentance
See the first of Luther's 95 theses: "When our Lord and Master
Jesus Christ said, "Repent" (Matt 4:17), he willed the entire life
of believers to be one of repentance."
•Avoidance of demolition and death.
See Bonhoeffer in Cost of Discipleship
(79): "When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die."
(c)Avoidance of the cross with desire for spiritual gratification and intimacy
See Paul in Gal 6:14: “Far be it for me to glory except in the cross
of our Lord Jesus, by which the world has been crucified to me, and
I to the world.”
d.The basis for Christian spirituality
(1)Starting off where you are
•Honesty about self and spiritual state; eg. failure in prayer
•Learning to beg from Christ
(2)The plight of the theological student
•Desire for spiritual growth in holy environment
•Withdrawal from the world
•Expectation of progress in spiritual refuge and oasis
•Discovery of spiritual desert and battlefield
•Lack of apparent progress and temptation to quit
(3)The case of the hermits in the Early Church
•Withdrawal into desert and monastic communities to be with God
•Experience of disillusionment with apparent lack of progress and
increasing temptation
•Advice of the old monks: “Go sit in your cell, and your cell will teach
you everything”
(4)Paradoxical character of spiritual progress as symbolised by Exodus 20:21:
“Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.”
•Transition from independence to dependence on God
•Transition from pride in achievements to awareness of failure as person
and divine victory in us
•Transition from self-sufficiency to emptiness of self and the sufficiency
of God for us
•Transition from self-importance to our insignificance and the glory of
God in us
•Transition from powerfulness to weakness and the power of God in us
•Transition from self-righteousness to awareness of sin and of God's
grace
See St John of the Cross: "the dark night of the soul."
(5)Our paradoxical existence
•Borrowed glory and life: 1 Cor 4:7
•Access to God's presence and grace only as a beggar
•Praise of God as we experience his mercy
•No glory in ourselves but only in Christ
See Abba Matoes (The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, 143): "When I
was young, I would say to myself: Perhaps one day I shall do
something good; but now that I am old, I see that there is nothing
good about me."
(6) Biblical mandate for spirituality in 1 Tim 4:7b-8:
Train yourself for godliness, for, while physical training is of some value, godliness is valuable in every
way, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.
This lecture series was recorded in 2009 at Australian Lutheran College. Dr Kleinig's book Grace Upon Grace grew out of teaching this course over many years.
Bible Study Notes here http://www.johnkleinig.com/files/3013/8984/3619/SpirCourse_09.pdf
Some quoted portions from the notes:
Our play acting at spirituality
(a)Spirituality as performance and achievement
•Self-promotion
•Spiritual ambition to achieve something for God
•Desire for glory
•Denial of God's grace
(b)Spirituality as self-deception
•Avoidance of self exposure with discovery of truth about self
•Avoidance of repentance
See the first of Luther's 95 theses: "When our Lord and Master
Jesus Christ said, "Repent" (Matt 4:17), he willed the entire life
of believers to be one of repentance."
•Avoidance of demolition and death.
See Bonhoeffer in Cost of Discipleship
(79): "When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die."
(c)Avoidance of the cross with desire for spiritual gratification and intimacy
See Paul in Gal 6:14: “Far be it for me to glory except in the cross
of our Lord Jesus, by which the world has been crucified to me, and
I to the world.”
d.The basis for Christian spirituality
(1)Starting off where you are
•Honesty about self and spiritual state; eg. failure in prayer
•Learning to beg from Christ
(2)The plight of the theological student
•Desire for spiritual growth in holy environment
•Withdrawal from the world
•Expectation of progress in spiritual refuge and oasis
•Discovery of spiritual desert and battlefield
•Lack of apparent progress and temptation to quit
(3)The case of the hermits in the Early Church
•Withdrawal into desert and monastic communities to be with God
•Experience of disillusionment with apparent lack of progress and
increasing temptation
•Advice of the old monks: “Go sit in your cell, and your cell will teach
you everything”
(4)Paradoxical character of spiritual progress as symbolised by Exodus 20:21:
“Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.”
•Transition from independence to dependence on God
•Transition from pride in achievements to awareness of failure as person
and divine victory in us
•Transition from self-sufficiency to emptiness of self and the sufficiency
of God for us
•Transition from self-importance to our insignificance and the glory of
God in us
•Transition from powerfulness to weakness and the power of God in us
•Transition from self-righteousness to awareness of sin and of God's
grace
See St John of the Cross: "the dark night of the soul."
(5)Our paradoxical existence
•Borrowed glory and life: 1 Cor 4:7
•Access to God's presence and grace only as a beggar
•Praise of God as we experience his mercy
•No glory in ourselves but only in Christ
See Abba Matoes (The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, 143): "When I
was young, I would say to myself: Perhaps one day I shall do
something good; but now that I am old, I see that there is nothing
good about me."
(6) Biblical mandate for spirituality in 1 Tim 4:7b-8:
Train yourself for godliness, for, while physical training is of some value, godliness is valuable in every
way, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.