Christian Spirituality in the Reformed Protestant Tradition

This is a course in spiritual theology, it explores theologies and practices of Christian spirituality, i.e., the study of the experience of God; what the Reformed Protestant tradition has called ‘piety.’ The course will look at spiritual theologians in the history of Reformed Protestantism, the themes they wrote about, and the implications for spiritual practices today. Throughout, the course we will examine ‘Reformed’ spirituality in relation to catholic, ecumenical, contemporary and Indigenous spiritualities. The first half of the course focuses on the spiritual theology of the sixteenth century Reformer John Calvin, set against the Catholic spirituality which preceded it, and the theology and practices of the means of grace (the Word, the sacraments, and prayer) which emerged from it in the Reformed tradition, including a discussion of the significance of these practices for people of faith today. The second half of the course highlights key moments, figures, and themes in the history of Reformed spirituality, and sets these in conversation with contemporary spiritualities.