MONASTIC VALUES AND PRACTICES OF SPIRITUAL FORMATION IN INTERNET CULTURE

ABSTRACT This dissertation addresses the unique challenges and opportunities of spiritual formation in the highly mobile and socially networked culture of the twenty-first century. The dissertation project begins the journey of learning from the values and practices of the earliest Christian religious communities and implementing these values and practices in contemporary cultural forms. This project describes the problem of spiritual transformation in contemporary culture and introduces social media and mobile applications. It proposes a network of proposed solutions to this challenge. The project provides a historical survey of monasticism and new monasticism as one family of Christian practices and values that provides a pattern for intentional spiritual practice. It looks other proposed solutions to practicing spiritual formation in contemporary literature and with the benefit of mobile applications and websites. The project provides a biblical and theological basis for spiritual formation and discusses the need for intentional formation. Qualitative research data gained from an indepth survey of spiritual values and practices are included. The project summarizes the media project implementing these findings, and outlines a roadmap for future growth in this area