There exists a serious gap in the minds and lives of many believers between what they know to be the goal of sanctification and growth and where they know they actually are in their life. The church and its leaders would be better equipped to address this “sanctification gap” if its ministries were informed by a robust Spiritual Theology, understood in two senses or forms that are interrelated: its more general form of drawing out the spiritual and existential implications of (...) theology in order to better understand and participate in the process of transformation; its fullest sense as a theological discipline in its own right that attempts to integrate the Scriptural teaching on sanctification with observations and reflections of the Spirit's actual work in the believer's spirit and experience. This paper addresses the nature of Spiritual Theology and a brief justification for it including various examples, for the sake of equipping leaders to meaningfully address transformation in the church. (shrink)

There are many dedicated Christians who are in the grips of a great moral temptation, which attempts to deal with spiritual failure, guilt and shame by means of spiritual effort and disciplines in the power of the self. This article theologically-psychologically explores this moralism as a type of legalism similar to what Paul confronts in Galatians in order to address: why we are tempted to be moralists on account of original sin and early parenting; How to determine whether one is (...) tempted by moralism in light of a theology of guilt and conscience; How to avoid moralism by opening the heart to our Justification and the ministry of the Holy Spirit; and What will happen to us if we fail to resist moralism. The goal is to clarify the implications of the Cross and the Spirit for daily Christian living in resisting moralism and moving from moral to spiritual formation. (shrink)

The topic and practice of contemplative prayer has become a major controversy in Evangelical spirituality. For those critical of the spiritual formation movement in general, contemplative prayer is often raised as one obvious spiritual practice that is foreign to the Scriptures and a Christian world-view, and more akin to New Age and eastern religions. This paper is also critical of any approach to contemplation and contemplative prayer that is not grounded in the Christian Faith. However, I will argue that the (...) Nicene theology of the fourth century CE already addressed some of these concerns in its response to Origenic spirituality and, in turn, provided a theological correction to sub-Christian views of contemplation and contemplative prayer. Furthermore, this paper argues that a truly Christian approach to contemplative prayer can be made consistent with Christian theology and that the Scriptures actually teach a form of contemplation and contemplative prayer. (shrink)