i read this article by brett mcckracken and so much of it hit home. and by hitting home i mean i can relate to it in many ways. first of all biola is where i received my undergraduate degree in christian education as well as my minor in biblical studies. not only did i study there but i lived there and i loved there. i bleed biola. about half way through my biola carreer a graduate program began called institute for spiritual formation. talbot was one of the first seminaries to begin offering graduate level work on spiritual formation. this became very much of interest to me towards the end of my degree. spiritual disciplines and spiritual formation was something that i sought to understand within the context of ministring to high school students (predominantly students who have grown up in the church and are subscribed to the prescription of christianity with out real relationship). spiritual formation offered more. it offered a type of transformation through developing personal relationship with God through engaging him. biola was leading the arena of higher education of training in this area and my experience there lead me to denver seminary to get a masters in christian formation and soul care. talbot and denver seminary have worked closely at developing similar programs.
that is how this article hits me at both levels. i love biola. thought the president and chaplain has changed since i have been there; i have great faith in the institution, the boards, the faculty, and the students. christian formation is a new movement among Jesus followers to develop a deeper, meeningful, contemplative relationship with our Savior. i resonate with brett’s article and can not believe the self destructive tendencies that christians (the student writing this article) and christian organizations (lighthouse trails and apprising ministries) do to damage an amazing organization and spiritual formation. probably a homeschooler and a homeschool organization.
Spiritual Formation Under Attack at Biola
October 27, 2008, 11:30 am » Brett McCracken
Last week, a long-running smear campaign against “spiritual formation” at Biola University kicked it up a notch. An organization called Lighthouse Trails teamed up with Apprising Ministries to unleash a torrent of criticism and insults about Biola, claiming that Biola is drifting from its strong biblical roots and embracing “apostate Roman Catholic mystical spiritual formation”…
I haven’t the energy to summarize the smears, but if you want to follow it thus far, read the following posts:
Biola University Now Drifting from Evangelical Protestant Roots? (Oct 20)
Biola University Student Reports on Contemplative Chapel Services – Warns Parents to Avoid Biola (Oct 20)
Biola University Contacts Lighthouse Trails – Accuses of Libel (Oct 21)
You’ll be shocked when you find out just what it is that these people are up in arms about… Contemplative prayer! That’s right, they are worried about Biola possibly being apostate because in chapel we dare to introduce students to ancient methods of contemplative, meditative prayer. We dare to engage the students in Lectio Divina, an ancient method inherited from the Desert Fathers of deeply reading and meditating upon a scripture. It’s not new-agey or mystical; it’s simple, quiet, and meaningful. The bible takes center stage. What is wrong with that?
Evidently these critics of Biola are worried that by having an entire chapel service of silent meditation, there is somehow a movement of apostasy being birthed in the students’ minds. It’s wrong, they suggest, to have a scripture read without a pastor or speaker there to unpack it and give it some context.
Todd Pickett, Associate Dean of Spiritual Development at Biola, has a different opinion. He believes that students today are “over-messaged” and need more time to just contemplate what they’ve already been hearing, learning, experiencing in Christ.
“I hear from students that they need more time for processing and reflection,” he told The Chimes, Biola’s student newspaper. “They feel overwhelmed sometimes by the amount of information that comes at them. That makes sense to me, [and] at the very least, we need to allow a little time and a little room to listen to what God is doing. [We need to] take some of the things we hear and talk to God about them. I am trying to build that into the rhythm of chapel.”
As someone who was a busy college student myself not too long ago, I resonate with every word of what Pickett is saying. Time for reflection is the number one need of students today.
Apparently the folks at Lighthouse Trails and Apprising Ministries don’t agree, however. To them, Pickett, along with people like Richard Foster (who they label “neo-Gnostic”), Henri Nouwen, and Dallas Willard (who, for the record, gave a very philosophical and helpful lecture at Biola’s Torrey Conference last Wednesday), represent an unbiblical mysticism that masquerades as “spiritual formation.”
It baffles me that “spiritual formation,” which to me looks like a positive, healthy thing from every angle, is being so aggressively criticized. Even more baffled that Biola is being singled out and smeared for their commitment to it. But then again, Christians tend to be the most critical of all people, unfortunately. So I guess it shouldn’t surprise me.
inkless writing 