A way to live: the shape of Christian existence

Christian Century, Feb 24, 2004 by Trudy Bush

THE VALPARAISO Project on the Education and Formation of People in Faith, based at Valparaiso University in Indiana, has been encouraging people to think about and live the communal practices that form Christian existence. The project, directed by Dorothy Bass, has produced a number of widely read books, including Practicing Our Faith: A Way of Life for a Searching People (see p. 23 for a complete list). In addition, it provides grants to support projects engaging people in Christian practices in congregations, theological schools and other institutions. I spoke with Bass about the project's focus on practices, and how they can orient us in Christian formation and education.

What does the term "practices" mean? Why has it been so prominent in your work?

Practices are the things people do together over time that shape a way of life. One of the short definitions of practices is "embodied wisdom": a certain knowledge of the world is embodied and engendered by the way we go through our daily lives. The Valparaiso Project is trying to develop an understanding of Christian practices that helps people reflect on the shape of Christian life, today.

In Practicing Our Faith we talk about practices that address fundamental human needs: honoring the body, hospitality, household economies, saying yes and saying no, keeping Sabbath testimony, discernment, shaping communities, forgiveness, healing, dying well and singing our lives. Because these practices grow out of our basic needs, all human communities must engage in them in one way or another. The practices become Christian when they're lived in light of trod in response to God's active presence for the world in Christ. Deep convictions about who we are in relation to God and others are woven into their texture.

There is an integral relationship between how we live and what we can know of God, other people and the world. What we believe is entangled with what we do. We can believe more fully as we act more boldly. And we can act more boldly as we believe more fully.

How do these practices relate to what might be termed more fundamental practices such as baptism, the Lord's Supper, worship and meditating on scripture?

We say in Practicing Our Faith that worship is the most formative practice, the activity in which all Christian practices are distilled. None of the practices we discuss can be done faithfully without constant prayer and Bible study; and we weave biblical material and links to prayer and worship into our treatment of every practice. But we wanted to show how worship and Bible study are not set apart from life. For example, passing the peace is a distillation of a Christian practice that also takes place in the world as we forgive and welcome one another.

I wish that Practicing Our Faith had included chapters on Bible study and prayer, and we did include these in Way to Live: Christian Practices for Teens. Wonderful chapters by Susan Briehl on the Bible and Mark Yaconelli on prayer, written with their teenage coauthors, begin and conclude that book. At the same time, Dorothy there are hundreds of retreat centers, study groups and books encouraging people to pray and teaching them to read the Bible in fresh ways. I think North American Christians are a little less comfortable with examining the actual material quality of our daily lives--how our time, possessions and talents are used.

The concept of practices we're developing in the project focuses on embodied life in the world. The spiritual practices are an important part of this in that they help us to notice God's presence in the activities of daily life. But our approach is to call attention to the concrete shape of our communal life and to encourage critical reflection on it. Each of the Christian practices we explore depends on and fosters our spirituality--for example, keeping Sabbath forms us in rest and gratitude but also draws us into thinking about social justice, family patterns and so on.

How did your own interest in the practices emerge?

I was a historian of Christianity when I came to this work, and I have always have been intrigued by the dynamics of continuity and change in the Christian church and in bow we live as Christian people. So I had thought about the practices that have been passed down and also about how they've changed in new historical situations. We bear a living tradition--there is both continuity and change in the practices.

Can you give an example of how a particular practice has changed?

Consider the practice of hospitality, a topic that has been studied by Christine Pohl. In the early church, when people lived in households with many members, and in which the houses had courtyards, domestic space was more visible and less private, and there was a built-in capacity to welcome strangers. Later, monasteries took on the task of hospitality, and the monks were very reflective about it. They asked questions like "What are the limits of our hospitality?" and "How could we do damage to guests by offering our hospitality in the wrong way, and how might they damage us?" And they based their hospitality on the biblical stories that underlie this practice.