Clark & Jain on Spiritual Disciplines

Clark and Jain write,

At its most basic level this too is part of Christian discipleship. It is learning to “offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God...the renewing of your mind...and we take captive every thought” (Romans 12:1-2; 2 Corinthians 10:5). Augustine says the fourth stage on the journey to wisdom is resolution and strength--turning away from transitory things and fixing one’s affections on things eternal. Contemporary writers often refer to this process as practicing the spiritual disciplines. The spiritual disciplines train faithful obedience, the ordering of our whole selves, body and soul, unto the love of God and love of neighbor through the grace and power of Christ. On the proper ordering of loves, Augustine writes, “A man of just and holy life...keeps his affections under strict control, so that he neither loves what he ought not to love nor fails to love what he ought to love.” The Scriptures refer to the training of our bodies unto piety in 1 Timothy. “Exercise [gymnaze] yourself toward godliness [eusebeian]. For bodily exercise [Somatike gymnasia] profits a little, but godliness [eusebian] is profitable for all things” (1 Timothy 4:7-8, NKJV).

Clark, Kevin and Ravi Scott Jain. The Liberal Arts Tradition: A Philosophy of Christian Classical Education. Revised ed. Camp Hill, PA: Classical Academic Press, 2019. pg. 221.