A Syllabus for Discipleship

Generally speaking, a syllabus is a list of books and course materials that are needed for a class. When we become disciples of Jesus Christ, we are to study what He taught and become His students. There are certain books and methods which I believe are more helpful for this goal than others. To this end, this also involves studying what His disciples taught, and what the great "Jedi Masters" of Christianity taught and practiced.

Many of these books are available in electronic format for free, although some aren't. All should be required reading in any course on discipleship as far as I'm concerned:

The Holy Bible

The letters and writings of Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp, Justin Martyr and other Early Church Fathers

The Philokalia

The Confessions of St. Augustine

The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis

The Cloud of Unknowing

The Didache

The Release of the Spirit, and other works by the late Coptic Pope Shenouda III

The Orthodox Way by Kallistos Ware

The Paradise of the Desert Fathers

The Sayings of the Desert Fathers

The Autobiography of St. Ignatius of Loyola

The Life and Legend of St. Francis of Assissi

Many of these works can be found in the first volume of the Ante-Nicene Fathers. The rest can be found through a careful search online or at gutenberg.org and archive.org. Some are available as Kindle books for free through Amazon.com.

Any serious discipleship must begin first with the study of what Jesus actually taught and committing this to memory and practice. To this end I recommend starting with the Gospel of Matthew, getting a spiral bound notebook and pen and begin copying down everything Jesus says in the text. This is easier to do with a red letter edition of the Scriptures, but any good translation will do. There are a number of reasons for writing down, but the main one is simply to take notes on what Jesus actually said and to think about it and incorporate it more carefully.

When Jesus gave the command to disciple the nations, He explicitly said to teach them everything whatever He had commanded. Not to teach them things about Him, but what He Himself taught. So this needs to be the first and most important foundation laid down in our discipleship; what Jesus Himself taught.

From there, go to Mark, Luke, and John, and do the same thing. After you have a good grounding in understanding and practice of what Jesus taught you should be ready to go to what His Apostles said about what He taught in their letters, making up the bulk of the rest of the New Testament.

At the same time as you are copying down what Jesus said, I recommend beginning to read through The Cloud of Unknowing. This little book was originally written in Middle English, so find a good Modern English translation, but it remains one of the best books on prayer you can find.

When you are done with letters of the Apostles, go on to the letters of the Early Church Fathers. I recommend beginning with Clement of Rome, and then going on to Ignatius of Antioch, following the order of the Ante-Nicene fathers. This should give you a good grounding in how the second and third generations of the Church understood the teaching which was passed to them from the Apostles, who themselves were taught by Christ.

When you are done with The Cloud of Unknowing, start on the Philokalia. This is a long collection of spiritual writings compiled over a period of about a thousand years. Your best bet is to start at the beginning. They are largely written by Orthodox monks who lived as either solitaries or in small communities, so you may not be able to relate to them right away, but their writings contain a lot of practical wisdom on practice, prayer, and ultimately internal spiritual warfare. These men were grounded and experienced combatants in the spiritual realities which every follower of Jesus Christ must face, and about which the unbelieving world has no clue. St. Peter of Damaskos' writings in volume three in particular are a good condensation of all the learning before him and I refer back often to him.

When you are finished with Justin Martyrs writings go on to the Didache, then the Confessions of St. Augustine. From there continue on through the works listed in no particular order. It will take you a while. Where The Orthodox Way is concerned, use this as a guide if you are not already familiar with Christian doctrine and dogma of any faith tradition.

As you begin this course of discipleship, maintain regular prayer times each day following what you learn in the course textbooks. Don't neglect this. The process of salvation is by grace through faith. You must stay connected to and focused on Jesus Christ. There is no other way. Discipleship is about learning to do, not just filling your head with information. If you just want to be full of knowledge stop right now. None of this will help you and is possibly harmful to you.

No one can make you follow Jesus Christ. No one can make you become a disciple. It is a choice you must make on your own, and it is a choice you must keep making by faith. This little list of books and set of instructions isn't the only way to go about it, but it is one way and, in my opinion, a good way especially if you don't have a good spiritual guide or pastor to whom you can turn. It would be best to find a church or parish with mature Christians who can guide you, but this is not always possible in this day and age. So I offer this Syllabus to help all those who for whatever reason must begin this journey without a community to support them.