In June of this year, we reported that several Christian colleges and seminaries now have Spiritual Formation programs. One of those we listed was Cedarville University of Ohio. The Spiritual Formation course, titled BEGE 1720 is taught by Dr. Richard Blumenstock, and while the course outline lists no use of contemplative authors, Cedarville’s 64-page Student Handbook shows signs that Cedarville may indeed be stepping toward contemplative spirituality. On pages 12 and 34, Dallas Willard is quoted on sidebar commentaries from his book, The Spirit of the Disciplines. Willard’s book carries a disturbing endorsement on the back cover – that of Sue Monk Kidd! Monk Kidd is discussed in A Time of Departing because of her contemplative affinities:
[Sue] Monk Kidd’s spirituality is spelled out clearly in her book, When the Heart Waits. She explains: There’s a bulb of truth buried in the human soul [everyone] that’s only God … the soul is more than something to win or save. It’s the seat and repository of the inner Divine, the God-image, the truest part of us–Ray Yungen, A Time of Departing, 2nd ed., p. 134
In Monk Kidd’s book, The Dance of the Dissident Daughter , she says that God is in everything, even bodily waste. Monk Kidd began following the teachings of Thomas Merton several years ago, when she was a Southern Baptist Sunday School teacher. Today, she is an advocate of goddess spirituality. In addition to Monk Kidd’s endorsement on the cover of Willard’s book, Willard favorably quotes Thomas Merton in his book and helped to launch Richard Foster’s Renovare Spiritual Formation Study Bible.
For Cedarville University to quote Willard (twice) in their student handbook, could ultimately lead young college students right into the arms of Thomas Merton, and Sue Monk Kidd, which means right into the arms of New Age mysticism.
Cedarville’s president, Dr. Bill Brown, has an interesting “Resources” page for students to utilize. While he does make a disclaimer that not all the books he lists are Christian, it is unfortunate that he would recommend young, impressionable students read “thought-stimulating” books by Leonard Sweet, Brian McLaren and Philip Yancey as well as a book by heavy-weight New Ager James Redfield (author of the Celestine Prophecy). If students are not aware of the dangers of the teachings of these men, the results in their spiritual lives could be disastrous. One can only wonder if Sweet, McLaren or Redfield’s quotes will wind up on the next edition of the Student Handbook.
