LIBERTY UNIVERSITY LIBERTY BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

PERSONAL ASSESSMENT SUBMITTED TO DR. ANDY WOOD IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE COURSE

CLED 520

BY TRACEY L. STALLWORTH

TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA

INTRODUCTION While reading this book I approached it with open eyes with the genuine mind set to learn all that I can from this book called Christian Formation so that I could become more effective in my walk with God as well as presenting the good news to people who are desperately in need of the word. This particular book to me was designed to infuse mans psychology with the Christian practices. Throughout this book the first couple of chapters set the premise of generalizing the developmental concepts in chapters to perhaps lure and induce the reader into a rationalization thought process of seeing Christianity in a psychology perspective.

The book is a very hard book to read but it can be comprehended by ciphering throughout the information presented in the book. I find that the ciphering part was very difficult because I only have been exposed to psychology a few time in college, by this said I am know where on the level as Estep Kim are to bring validity on this subject regarding infused psychology with Christianity.

SELF EVALUATION In chapter one titled Humanity as the IMAGO DEI, has really opened my eyes wider allowing me the opportunity to attempt to fully understand Genesis 1:26. Before I got saved and committed to Christ I was a Muslim who was a part of the Nation of Islam. Our primary focus was to enlighten the Black man and woman conscious and restore the Black nation mentally as well as physically; this was the biblical sketch I had received as a Muslim. I was taught that black people were the gods of the universe because we were made in the exact image of God himself. After reading this book even though my thoughts have changed since I confessed Jesus

Christ as my savior. I have reached a better understanding from the book. I have realized that when God created us He made us first in the very image of Him, which is spirit, and then He formed us from the clay of the ground which still did not have any life until He blew the breath of life in the vessel we call human. The interesting part which will help me affectively minister to Muslims that I know is the fact that I can show and explain that Gods intended purpose for His creation was for them to emulate Him on the earth as a little god on the earth because we are bearers of Gods image, the imago dei. 1

Developmental Theories: Foe, Friend, or Folly was very detailed and honestly it bored me because it became very difficult to fully comprehend the full essence of its theory. At this point in time I would never attempt to refer to this type of book when presenting the gospel to people. I am a stickler for simplicity of the gospel. I was asked a question when I first accepted my calling because I would attempt to sound deep with vocabulary words. The question was how are the words I am using going to get the people saved or into heaven if for one you do not fully understand them and secondly it is apparent they do not either. What I have really learned in my short Christian journey is that there are plenty of theories out there that can be foe, friend and folly that can mislead you and warp your thinking to the point that when you are trying to get on the right track it becomes challenging because of the current imprint you now have on your mind. At one point in my live developmental theories was a foreign word to me in the church. I would just take the pastors word as God because I became so nave when I got saved, I was gullible. Then things happened which provoked me to start studying the word for myself so that I could fully develop in the word and no for myself.

Theories of Intellectual Development and Christian Formation are very relevant in processing information for understanding in this Christian journey. Not only is it for the congregation, it is also definitely for the leaders as well. In Fig 3.2: Piagetian Thinking, Kim talks about assimilation, accommodation and equilibration. This process is simple. You have a person or child that can recognize a fish and a dog. They can tell them apart easily, then this person or child sees a cat and attempts to assimilate it with the current image of a dog in their mind because this in the only model they have on the schemes.