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Christian Spirituality and Religious Mysticism: Adjunct, Parallel or Embedded Concepts?

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Abstract

This essay seeks to explore the evolving discourses of spirituality and mysticism. It review how theories of the essence of mysticism have differed depending on whether mysticism is regarded as the perennial and intimate transformation of consciousness in the encounter with holy mystery, or the articulation of that encounter is time-bound expressions or the embodied knowing of transcendence. In a similar manner the evolving understanding of spirituality as the cultivation of awakened personal presence is discussed. In practice settings it is noted that an encounter which is suffused with presence may lead to those involved experiencing a physical, emotional and spiritual surge of energy, even in spite of whatever challenging circumstances may surround the encounter – poverty, hunger, grief, homelessness, etc. It is proposed that into the future mysticism and spirituality, will neither be adjunct, parallel or embedded concepts. Instead they are in the process of mutating into a new field of academic studies, which is already making its presence felt on some campuses – contemplative studies. Contemplative Studies is distinguished by its capacity to recognizes the importance of both third-person and critical first-person approaches in the study of religious experience; in particular its capacity to make space for direct personal experience with specific forms of practice – both from mysticism and spirituality.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See Inge, W.R. (1921) Christian Mysticism. ‘The Bampton Lectures 1899’. 5th ed. London: Methuen & Co., 3.

  2. 2.

    For instance, see Rohr, R. (2009). The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics See. Spring Valley, NY: Crossroad Publishing.

  3. 3.

    See Nelstrop, L. (2009). Christian Mysticism: An Introduction to Contemporary Theoretical Approaches. Farnham: Ashgate.

  4. 4.

    Jantzen, G. (1995). Power, Gender and Christian Mysticism. ‘Cambridge Studies in Ideology and Religion’. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

  5. 5.

    McGinn, B. (1991). The Presence of God: A History of Western Christian Mysticism. London: SCM. 1: xvii.

  6. 6.

    See Fox, M. ed., (1987) Hildegard of Bingen’s Book of Divine Works with Letters and Songs. Santa Fe, NM: Bear and Company. 348.

  7. 7.

    See http://www.integralworld.net/brouwer2.html

  8. 8.

    Berry, T. (1999) The Great Work: Our Way into the Future. New York: Bell Tower/Random House, 12ff

  9. 9.

    The limitations of such structuralist models are acknowledged, when they display a rigid linear trajectory, since human development is far more complex. In particular, it is widely recognised that the capacity for relationality is not limited to adulthood; indeed contemporary scholarship argues that this capacity exists even in young children in quite sophisticated ways.

  10. 10.

    See Eggemeier, M. (2012) “A Mysticism of Open Eyes: Compassion for a Suffering World and the Askesis of Contemplative Prayer.” Spiritus 12/1: 43–62; Ashley, J.M. (1998) Interruptions: Mysticism, Politics, and Theology in the Work of Johann Baptist Metz. Notre Dame, IN: Notre Dame Press; Sölle, D. (2001) The Silent Cry: Mysticism and Resistance, Minneapolis, MI: Fortress Press

  11. 11.

    See Narayanasamy, A. (2006) ‘The Impact of Empirical Studies of Spirituality and Culture on Nurse Education’. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 15: 840–851; Rothman, J. (2009) ‘Spirituality: What we Can Teach and How We Can Teach It’, Journal of Religion & Spirituality in Social Work, 28(1–2), 161–184

  12. 12.

    See ‘Gaudium et spes’ 24, V.C. II : 925.

  13. 13.

    See ‘Gaudium et spes’ 24, V.C. II : 925.

  14. 14.

    This talk, which was delivered on February 14, 1995, has been reprinted under the heading ‘A Robust Spirituality of Communion’ in Being One 4/2(1995) 1–2.

  15. 15.

    Rahner, K. (1985) ‘The Spirituality of the Future’ in K. Lehmann, A. Raffelt, eds, The Practice of Faith: A Handbook of Contemporary Spirituality. London: SCM. 18–26 at 24.

  16. 16.

    The periodisation of spiritual consciousness in ‘pre-axial’, ‘first axial’ and ‘second axial’ eras has been developed by Ewert Cousins. See E. Cousins, ‘Teilhard and Global Spirituality’, Anima 8(1981) 26-31; Streeter, C.M., (2013) Foundations of Spirituality: The Human and the Holy : a Systematic Approach. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press.

  17. 17.

    See O’Gorman, K. (2009) Saving Sport: Sport, society and Spirituality. Dublin: Columba Press; Watson, N.J. and A. Parker, eds. (2013) Sports and Christianity: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives New York: Routledge.

  18. 18.

    For instance, see Parry, J. et al. (2007) Sport and Spirituality: An Introduction. Abingdon: Routledge.

  19. 19.

    See Wergin, J.L. (2007) Leadership in Place: How Academic Professionals Can Find Their Leadership Voice. San Franciso, CA: Jossey-Bass.

  20. 20.

    For instance, Bass, B. and R. Riggio, (2006) Transformational Leadership. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

  21. 21.

    See Greenleaf, R. (1977) Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Leadership (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist, 13.

  22. 22.

    Eggert, N. (1998) Contemplative Leadership for Entrepreneurial Organizations: Paradigms, Metaphors, and Wicked Problems. Westport, CT: Quorum Books.

  23. 23.

    See Reave, L., (2005) ‘Spiritual values and practices related to leadership effectiveness’, The Leadership Quarterly, 16, 655–687.

  24. 24.

    See Chase, S.K. et al. (1997) ‘Nursing Presence: An Existential Exploration of the Concept’, Scholarly Inquiry for Nursing Practice: An International Journal 113–14 at 3.

  25. 25.

    See Rothman, J. (2009). Spirituality: What we can teach and how we can teach it. Journal of Religion & Spirituality in Social Work, 28(1–2), 161–184

  26. 26.

    See Pettigrew, J. (1990)‘Intensive Nursing Care: The Ministry of Presence’. Critical Care Nursing Clinics of North America, 2/3), 503–508

  27. 27.

    Cited in Holmes, C.P. (2010) The Heart Doctrine: Mystical Views of the Origin and Nature of Human Consciousness. Kemptville, ON: Zero Point. 11

  28. 28.

    See Arguelles, L. et al. ( 2003) ‘The Heart in Holistic Education’, Encounter: Education for Meaning and Social Justice. 16/3, 13–21.

  29. 29.

    See http://www.heartmath.org

  30. 30.

    See Consiglio, C. (2009) Prayer in the Cave of the Heart: The Universal Call to Contemplation. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press.

  31. 31.

    See Author Unknown. (1991) The Way of a Pilgrim, translated from Russian by R. M. French. San Francisco: Harper, 11.

  32. 32.

    See Richo, D. (2007) The Sacred Heart of the World: Restoring Mystical Devotion to Our Spiritual Life. Mahwah, NY: Paucplist, 88.

  33. 33.

    See Brown University http://www.brown.edu/academics/contemplative-studies/about/people/faculty/ and the University of San Diego http://www.sandiego.edu/cas/contemplativestudies/ (Accessed February 2015)

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  1. The Acorn Centre, Warrenmount House, Blackpitts, Dublin, Ireland

    Bernadette Flanagan

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  1. Bernadette Flanagan
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Correspondence to Bernadette Flanagan .

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  1. Federation University, Ballarat, Australia

    Marian de Souza

  2. Faculty of Education, Monash University, Frankston, Victoria, Australia

    Jane Bone

  3. School of Education & Lifelong Lear, University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom

    Jacqueline Watson

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Flanagan, B. (2016). Christian Spirituality and Religious Mysticism: Adjunct, Parallel or Embedded Concepts?. In: de Souza, M., Bone, J., Watson, J. (eds) Spirituality across Disciplines: Research and Practice:. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31380-1_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31380-1_2

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