Understanding Spiritual Formation
The Ooze published my article on spiritual formation under FAITH on 19 January 2007
Spiritual formation has become a buzz word in evangelical circles in the last decades. However, like the word "spirituality," spiritual formation has different meaning to different people. An evangelical pastor may understand it differently from an ecumenical pastor. A theologian in a seminary may define it differently from a worker in a church. Spiritual formation may have different connotations to those from the Roman Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox traditions. A dictionary of Christian Spiritual Formation (2003,107) defines it as “the dynamics of shaping the human spirit towards maturity and consonance."
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Labels: Spiritual Formation, Spirituality
posted by Alex Tang at 12:32 AM
1 Comments:
Having come from a pretty conservative evangelical background and having been through a charismatic church while studying abroad, I find myself very unsure when it comes to all things spiritual.
On one hand I grew up having the notion that all these "mystical" experiences are to be at best treated with the utmost caution, on the other hand I was in a church where emotional experiences were the norm. I can not help be extremely skeptical. Maybe thats why I haven't and might even be fearful of having the kind of experiences and visions that you speak of.
However I find the notion of spiritual formation very appealing as compared to the programs that I find being churned out by the different churches.
My question is where can I go from here? How can I redeem Christianity from the solely intellectual realm that I have banished it to?
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