Studying Christian spirituality

Acknowledgments

Preface

Introduction

Goals of this book

Christian spirituality and the human sciences

No one field of study has all the answers

Refinement of research strategies

Christian spirituality is self-implicating

Methodology for studies in Christian spirituality

Core methodological principles

Notes

1. Questions of definitions

Introduction

Spirituality

Spirituality in everyday life

Christian spirituality

Christian spirituality and theology

Methods in the study of Christian spirituality

Spirituality and religion

Christian spirituality and experience

Conclusion

Recommended reading

Notes

2. Questions of context

Introduction

The expulsion of God from ordinary place

Images and symbols come from place

Geography and sacred space: the desert and the city

The contribution of sociology to context

Modernism to postmodernism: the context of being in-between

Conclusion

Recommended reading

Notes

3. Questions of God

Introduction

Models of God

Models of God reveal a philosophy of life

Which models of God?

Evolving models of God and cosmology

The apophatic and kataphatic ways

Conclusion

Recommended reading

Notes

4. Questions of Christian anthropology

Introduction

The imago Dei

The nature of the self

The self as defined by culture: the pre-modern, modern, and postmodern self

The nature of self-knowledge

Profiles of the self

Conclusion

Recommended reading

Notes

5. Questions of history

Introduction

What is history?

The nature of historical inquiry

History of Christian spirituality and theology

Christian spirituality and its particular history

Christian hagiography

Role and place of tradition in history of Christian spirituality

Conclusion

Recommended reading

Notes

6. Questions of text

Introduction

What is a text?

Interpretation of texts

The reading and interpreting community

Why the hermeneutical method of interpretation is helpful

Classic Christian texts

Conclusion

Recommended reading

Notes

7. Questions of human-spiritual development

Introduction

Fundamental points of reference: models

The intersection of psychology and spirituality

The experience of Christian human-spiritual development: Christian mysticism and asceticism

The threefold classical spiritual itinerary: mysticism, asceticism, and human-spiritual growth

Conclusion

Recommended reading

Notes

8. Questions of spiritual practice

Introduction

The nature of spiritual practice

Prayer

Bible reading

Spiritual direction

Pilgrimage

Conclusion

Recommended reading

Notes

9. Questions of critical edges

Introduction

Science

Work and leadership

Health

Politics, government, and globalization

Cyberspace

New Age

Gender

Feminism

Men's movements

Conclusion

Recommended reading

Notes

Index