What can we learn from other Christian traditions, like the monastics, about spiritual formation?
Willard: Before there were Protestants, there were no Catholics. Christianity in the West survived because of monasticism. The monks created enclaves of the kingdom of God where people were relatively safe and cared for. But they never lost the idea that spiritual formation is serious business. Although you don’t find much discussion about spiritual formation among Catholics today, except for priests, they still have formative disciplines for people that are very simple. Zander: Higher church expressions, like the Anglican tradition, put greater value upon the body in the spiritual life. They consider what I see, what I hear, what I taste, and what I smell in the worship experience. Posture is also importantwhether I kneel or stand. That is something I’ve really benefited from in recent years. For me worship has always happened from the neck up, and then only with certain senses. They also have a built-in sense of submission that we have lost in much of the evangelical church. We value
