Abstract
This chapter proposes expanding Berling’s interreligious approach to one that can embrace the learning process of encountering difference for higher education students who identify as either religious or non-religious. An expanded approach incorporates a pedagogy which explicitly recognizes the transcendent or spiritual aspects of human experience outside of a religious framework. Rather than viewing Christianity, theology, and interreligious learning as elective subjects, a critical framework of spirituality, wisdom, and wisdom sharing can become an integral part of higher education curriculum development across disciplines. As pluralism increases in our society, a greater need arises for an appreciation and understanding of our common humanity. This expanded approach allows for student growth in cross-cultural values, such as mutuality, compassion, empathy, and justice as well as for an increased awareness of religious and non-religious wisdom traditions that promote individual and communal well-being.
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Notes
- 1.
This definition is drawn from multiple sources. See Donald Gelpi, The Gracing of Human Experience: Rethinking the Relationship Between Nature and Grace (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 2001); Mark Graves, Mind, Brain, and the Elusive Soul: Human Systems of Cognition and Spirituality (Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing, 2008); David Kyuman Kim, Melancholic Freedom: Agency and the Spirit of Politics (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007); and Carlyle F. Stewart III, Black Spirituality and Black Consciousness: Soul Force, Culture and Freedom in the African-American Experience (Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 1999).
- 2.
Graves, 129.
- 3.
“Human flourishing” refers to traditions or collective practices to enhance the quality of life.
- 4.
This definition of wisdom is drawn from the following sources: See Judith Berling, Understanding Other Religious Worlds: A Guide for Interreligious Education (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2004), 52–53; Monika Ardelt, “Empirical Assessment of a Three-Dimensional Wisdom Scale,” Research on Aging 25, no. 3 (2003): 273–84; Susan Chatwood et al., “Approaching Etuaptmumk: Introducing a Consensus-Based Mixed Method for Health Services Research,” International Journal of Circumpolar Health 74 (2015), https://doi.org/10.3402/ijch.v74.27438; Willem Lemmons, “Hume and Spinoza on the Emotions and Wisdom,” Scottish Journal of Philosophy 3, no. 1 (2005): 47–65; and Nancy Turner et al., “Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Wisdom of Aboriginal Peoples of British Columbia,” Ecological Applications 10, no. 5 (October 2000): 1275–87.
- 5.
See Berling, 29.
- 6.
Berling, 52, citing Edward Farley, Theologia: The Fragmentation and Unity of Theological Education (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1983), xi. Berling states, “The formation of habitus includes both cognitive understanding and patterns of relationship and behavior. This habitus is … ‘a sapiential and personal knowledge’.” “Sapiential” refers to wisdom. See, generally, Berling, 53–60.
- 7.
Mediating language comes from transitional terms used “to mediate the boundaries” of difference in cross-cultural engagement. See Berling, 31, citing Kenneth A. Bruffee, Collaborative Learning: Higher Education, Interdependence, and the Authority of Knowledge, 2nd ed. (Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 1998), 47. For example, “love” or “mystery” might be mediating language for the God of Christianity in speaking with non-religious students.
- 8.
As discussed later in the chapter, Berling uses the terms synaptic vision and localized context rather than bi-focal view. Bi-focal view points to the clarity of perception that occurs when we consider a particular, lived context together with an interconnected, transcendent whole. Our understanding then embraces being both the “near-sighted” and the transcendently “far-sighted.”
- 9.
Accountability indicates the extent to which learning across difference changes one’s habitus. See Bering, 52–53.
- 10.
Although not expressed in Berling’s book, she regularly incorporates interreligious learning in her graduate seminars which are made up of students from diverse religious traditions. If we continue to label the framework for dialogue as “interreligious” or even “interfaith,” that labeling can signal to potential participants the necessity of holding a religious worldview beyond a non-religious or secular one.
- 11.
See Terrence Tilley, Faith: What It Is and What It Isn’t (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2010).
- 12.
The Christian Gospels exhibit this type of wisdom as do many sacred texts and oral traditions.
- 13.
In some contexts, and among many of my students, the term, “theology,” is not exclusive to Christianity. See also Monica Coleman, “Speak Like Christ, Adorn Like Plaskow: Embodied Theologies,” Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 33, no. 2 (2017): 105–9.
- 14.
See Yang Guorong, “Transforming Knowledge into Wisdom: A Contemporary Chinese Philosopher’s Investigation,” Philosophy East and West 52, no. 4 (October 2002): 443; Monika Ardelt, “Wisdom and Expert Knowledge System: A Critical Review of a Contemporary Operationalization of an Ancient Concept,” Human Development 47 (2004): 260.
- 15.
A more detailed description of such engagement is Critical Engagement, a method I developed for ethnographic research using a hermeneutic of experience: (1) Through mutual dialogue, identify the intersectional particularity of the person to be engaged; (2) Identify the intersectional particularity of the interpreter; (3) Locate the difference in meaning or “otherness” of the expression or situation that is being interpreted; (4) Determine the predominant significance of what is being interpreted for the engaged person and for the interpreter: historical, spiritual, biomedical, the nature of humanity, the nature of divinity, etc.; (5) Evaluate the expression or situation in light of this information with an awareness of the interpretive lens being used—if the significance of the expression is a spiritual one, etc.; and, (6) Appropriate the meaning—decide how the meaning given to an expression or a situation influences future behavior or communication for the interpreter toward the engaged person in recognition of their mutual humanity (functionality of interdependence). This method has been influenced generally by the works of Donald Gelpi, Robert Goizueta, Robert Lassalle-Klein, and Sandra Schneiders.
- 16.
Besides theology and religious studies, the research spans philosophy, sociology, public health, and ecology. See footnote 4, above.
- 17.
See Berling, 24–25, 39–40 in stressing the pedagogical importance of spiritual growth, empowerment, and including all voices.
- 18.
For example, in nursing, spirituality and wisdom sharing have been used to address patient–provider communication deficits which led to inadequate interpretation of patient histories and diagnostic assessments.
- 19.
Graves, 129.
- 20.
See William Connolly, “Europe: A Minor Tradition,” in Powers of the Secular Modern: Talal Assad and His Interlocutors, ed. David Scott and Charles Hirschkind (Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 2006), 75–92.
- 21.
Emilie M. Townes, In a Blaze of Glory: Womanist Spirituality as Social Witness (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995), 114–16. Townes describes “traditioning” in the context of African-American spirituality from times of bondage to the present as, “passing on legends that affirm strength and righteous agency in the miasma of oppression.” See also, Suzanne Crawford O’Brien, ed., Religion and Healing in Native America: Pathways to Renewal (Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2008). Both of these texts contain types of wisdom sharing.
- 22.
Susan Chatwood et al., “Approaching Etuaptmumk: Introducing a Consensus-Based Mixed Method for Health Services Research,” International Journal of Circumpolar Health 74 (2015), https://doi.org/10.3402/ijch.v74.27438.
- 23.
See S. Tagalik, Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit: The Role of Indigenous Knowledge in Supporting Wellness in Inuit Communities in Nunavut, National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health (Prince George, BC: University of Northern British Columbia, 2009). Within the USA, publicly funded behavioral health services recognize psycho-socio-spiritual factors as critical to recovery, yet a quantitative-dominant research approach largely limits inquiry into positive feelings of self and others.
- 24.
Berling, 39–40.
- 25.
See Kim, 21.
- 26.
Berling, 28, and therein 26–27, citing, Maxine Greene, Releasing the Imagination: Essays on Education, the Arts, and Social Change (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1995), 3. Experiences are transformative when something new emerges through a transcendent connection. See, generally, Graves. The Civil Rights era demonstrates that real change came about because of the shifts in dominant culture boundaries and individual willingness to engage in ongoing, unifying practices across difference, whether the context for those practices was religious or secular.
- 27.
Berling, 39–40.
- 28.
Alejandro García-Rivera, St. Martin de Porres: The “Little Stories” and the Semiotics of Culture (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1995), 102–5.
- 29.
Berling, 72–73. As Berling emphasizes, understanding is enhanced when one has a clear sense of one’s own identity and is not overwhelmed by uncertainty in learning of other traditions nor so rigid that forming relationships becomes difficult.
- 30.
Berling, 53.
- 31.
García-Rivera, 2.
- 32.
García-Rivera, 102–5.
- 33.
Berling, 71.
- 34.
Guorong, 443.
- 35.
Alejandro García-Rivera, “Interfaith Aesthetics: Where Theology and Spirituality Meet,” in Exploring Christian Spirituality: Essays in Honor of Sandra M. Schneiders, IHM, ed. Bruce H. Lescher and Elizabeth Liebert (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2006), 178–93.
- 36.
García-Rivera, “Interfaith,” 189–91. García-Rivera gives the following example of interfaith aesthetic. As the Christian can admire an ancient, hand-crafted tea bowl and its expression of the Buddhist non-duality of self, the Buddhist can admire a painting of spiraling colors and its expression of the reach of God’s love. Faith continually forms through the aesthetic experience of love that connects the particular to a greater whole. Similarly, in the example of interfaith aesthetics, a true sharing in the non-conceptual unity of beauty results in admiration if not love for that which is loved by another.
- 37.
Berling, 36–37, citing, Jonathan Z. Smith, Imagining Religion: From Babylon to Jonestown (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982), 21. The lack of attention in religious studies and theology to cultural and historical patterns and systems has been noted.
- 38.
Berling, 52, 56, and citing at 57–58, Paul F. Knitter, “Beyond a Mono-Religious Theological Education,” in Shifting Boundaries: Contextual Approaches to the Structure of Theological Education, ed. Barbara G. Wheeler and Edward Farley (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1991), 151, 162. This form of accountability in a spirituality framework will be marked by, at the very least, humility.
- 39.
It is likely that a self-assessment measurement could be conducted along the lines of the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual Well-Being (FACIT-SP) which assesses for satisfaction in beliefs and relationships in coping with illness. See www.facit.org.
- 40.
Berling, 22–25, 63, discusses Paulo Freire, bell hooks, and Mary Boys as contributing to her thought process.
- 41.
These cultural differences include age, sex, gender, disability, and addressing social conditions.
- 42.
See Berling, citing Knitter, 57–59.
Bibliography
Ardelt, Monika. “Empirical Assessment of a Three-Dimensional Wisdom Scale.” Research on Aging 25, no. 3 (2003): 273–84.
———. “Wisdom and Expert Knowledge System: A Critical Review of a Contemporary Operationalization of an Ancient Concept.” Human Development 47 (2004): 257–85.
Berling, Judith. Understanding Other Religious Worlds: A Guide for Interreligious Education. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2004.
Chatwood, Susan, Francois Paulette, et al. “Approaching Etuaptmumk: Introducing a Consensus-Based Mixed Method for Health Services Research.” International Journal of Circumpolar Health 74 (2015). Accessed January 13, 2018. https://doi.org/10.3402/ijch.v74.27438.
Connolly, William. “Europe: A Minor Tradition.” In Powers of the Secular Modern: Talal Assad and His Interlocutors, edited by David Scott and Charles Hirschkind, 75–92. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 2006.
García-Rivera, Alejandro. St. Martin de Porres: The ‘Little Stories’ and the Semiotics of Culture. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1995.
———. “Interfaith Aesthetics: Where Theology and Spirituality Meet.” In Exploring Christian Spirituality: Essays in Honor of Sandra M. Schneiders, IHM, edited by Bruce H. Lescher and Elizabeth Liebert, 178–93. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2006.
Gelpi, Donald. The Gracing of Human Experience: Rethinking the Relationship Between Nature and Grace. Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 2001.
Graves, Mark. Mind, Brain, and the Elusive Soul: Human Systems of Cognition and Spirituality. Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing, 2008.
Kim, David Kyuman. Melancholic Freedom: Agency and the Spirit of Politics. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.
Lemmons, Willem. “Hume and Spinoza on the Emotions and Wisdom.” Scottish Journal of Philosophy 3, no. 1 (2005): 47–65.
O’Brien, Suzanne Crawford, ed. Religion and Healing in Native America: Pathways to Renewal. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2008.
Stewart III, Carlyle F. Black Spirituality and Black Consciousness: Soul Force, Culture and Freedom in the African-American Experience. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 1999.
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Gordon, E.S. (2018). Critical Engagement: Integrating Spirituality and “Wisdom Sharing” into Higher Education Curriculum Development. In: Park, J., Wu, E. (eds) Interreligous Pedagogy. Asian Christianity in the Diaspora. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91506-7_7
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