Reflection Questions for October 9

1. On pp. 1–2, Foster talks about superficiality as being the scourge of human existence. In what ways does your life remain on a superficial level throughout the week?

2. Foster lists the first of the chief stumbling blocks for the Christian disciple as being our preoccupation with the successes of popular science and materialism (p. 3). How has this obstacle manifested itself in your life?

3. The second difficulty Foster lists is a lack of practical knowledge about spiritual disciplines (p. 3). What kind of “practical” advice might you hope to receive from this class?

4. Foster identifies “Will worship” or moral striving as being the wrong way to approach a life of Spiritual discipline (pp. 5–6). Have you found this to be true in your life?

5. The opposite of moral striving is idleness, waiting upon God’s grace to transform us without exercising Christian discipleship (p. 7). When in your life might you have fallen into this trap?

6. Reflect upon Gal. 6:8: “If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit.” Foster suggests this image as important for understanding the spiritual journey: the farmer can’t will a seed to grow, but he can create the right conditions through preparing the soil, watering, weeding, etc. How might you understand this image as applying to your spiritual journey?

7. Foster denigrates “externalism” or the imposition of moral law as being harmful to spiritual discipleship (p. 9). Do you agree with him? Might this position be true for one’s own personal walk but naïve when generalized to the day-to-day existence of a community or social structure?

8. Tolstoy wrote, “Everybody thinks of changing humanity and nobody thinks of changing himself” (quoted on p. 11). For you, how might this class be another step toward reversing this human tendency?