Primary Authors & Sources
SPIR-101 builds its reading list from required primary and classical sources in divine union, piety, and holy living. The authors below are read as teachers across the centuries, not as entries in a bibliography. Thomas à Kempis contributes The Imitation of Christ, offering firsthand access to the arguments, methods, and assumptions that shaped this period of study. Brother Lawrence contributes The Practice of the Presence of God the Best Rule of a…, offering firsthand access to the arguments, methods, and assumptions that shaped this period of study. Ignatius of Loyola contributes The Spiritual Exercises, offering firsthand access to the arguments, methods, and assumptions that shaped this period of study. Francis de Sales contributes The Spiritual Conferences, offering firsthand access to the arguments, methods, and assumptions that shaped this period of study. François de Salignac de La Mothe Fénelon contributes Selections from the Writings of Fenelon, offering firsthand access to the arguments, methods, and assumptions that shaped this period of study. Jonathan Edwards combines intellectual brilliance with revival piety, showing how deep theology fuels genuine love for God and neighbor, notably in Religious Affections.
Taken together, these readings form a coherent conversation across centuries — students encounter real arguments, not flattened summaries. Andrew Murray contributes Absolute Surrender, offering firsthand access to the arguments, methods, and assumptions that shaped this period of study. John Bunyan contributes The Pilgrim’s Progress, offering firsthand access to the arguments, methods, and assumptions that shaped this period of study. Henry Scougal contributes The Life of God in the Soul of Man, offering firsthand access to the arguments, methods, and assumptions that shaped this period of study. Jeremy Taylor contributes The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living and The Rule and Exercises of Holy Dying, offering firsthand access to the arguments, methods, and assumptions that shaped this period of study. J. C. Ryle contributes Practical Religion, offering firsthand access to the arguments, methods, and assumptions that shaped this period of study. Richard Baxter embodies pastoral theology in practice — practical, searching, and relentlessly centered on the souls under his care, notably in The Saints’ Everlasting Rest.
What You Will Study
Students study Reformed spiritual theology on union with Christ, mortification and vivification, means of grace, prayer, and holy living drawn from Scripture, Puritan devotion, and confessional piety. The course covers the relationship between justification and sanctification, the role of disciplines, temptation, assurance, and communion with the triune God in daily life. Readings include Owen on indwelling sin, Scougal's life of God in the soul, selections from Heidelberg and Westminster catechisms on prayer and law, and modern Reformed works on spiritual formation rejecting mysticism divorced from doctrine. Students practice guided prayer, journaling, and Scripture meditation with accountability appropriate to house church discipleship groups across the BCFK community.
Course Objectives
Objectives include articulating Reformed theology of sanctification and means of grace, distinguishing gospel-driven piety from legalism and antinomianism, designing personal and congregational disciplines rooted in Word and sacrament, and writing reflections on mortification of sin and growth in grace. Students will evaluate contemporary spirituality movements against confessional standards. The course cultivates holistic devotion integrating mind, affections, and bodily practice under Christ's lordship. Students will explain assurance of salvation and its relationship to obedience without works-righteousness. Assessments include spiritual discipline plans, book responses, and peer accountability reports respecting confidentiality.
Ministry & Life Application
Spiritual formation grounds house church life in genuine holiness rather than mere doctrinal correctness or emotional excitement. Elders across the Florida Keys learn to shepherd members through temptation, dryness, and joy with resources from centuries of Reformed piety. Pastoral ministry becomes sustainable when leaders cultivate their own union with Christ through prayer and mortification rather than burning out in activism. This course complements theology and pastoral courses with personal godliness essential for credible witness. Congregations resemble Christ when teachers model and instruct the life of God in the soul of man.