This Blackwell Companion explores Christian spirituality through the format now well established for the series, essays grouped thematically exploring the topic in a number of different ways. Christian spirituality has established itself as an academic subject and the contributors reflect this. The majority are from North America but there is a strong British contingent. They show a variety of confessional allegiance, including members of Roman Catholic religious orders, Protestant clergy and a priest of the Romanian Orthodox Church.
Yet what is Christian spirituality and how does it relate to other theological studies? The editor explores these and related questions in his introduction with depth and sensitivity. The definition he gave his contributors was “the lived experience of Christian faith and discipleship”. He looks at the gap that has developed between this study and theology, the reasoned expression of faith, in the West and notes that the separation is far less in the Eastern Orthodox tradition. He indicates the ways in which some contributors examine the complex relationship between spirituality and religion. As will be seen, questions of definition recur throughout the collection.
Sandra M. Schneiders opens with an exploration of possible scholarly approaches to Christian spirituality. This allows for a detailed study of exactly what it consists of. Historical, theological and anthropological approaches are set out and examples are given of academic study making use of these categories.
Part II consists of two very different chapters on the Bible in Christian spirituality. Barbara Green demonstrates the contribution of the Old Testament through a dazzling survey of the ways Christians down the centuries have drawn on the Book of Jonah. She cites not only sermons and commentaries but also visual sources with a reproduction of a painting by Albert Herbert. (This comes out as rather grey.) In her essay Bonnie Thurston looks both at the cultural background and at what the New Testament says about prayer and personal experience of God.
Part III takes a historical approach. Columba Stewart looks at the Roman Empire from 100 to 600CE. He usefully widens the scope from what is personal to the development of the communal aspect of spirituality. He shows the potential for division even in this early period of the Church's life and Christian divisions are reflected in the remaining essays in this section.
John A. McGuckin surveys Eastern Christendom from 600 to 1700 (in fact to the end of the eighteenth century). He moves with great conciseness and scholarship from such significant founders of the Eastern tradition as Romanos the Melodist, John of Damascus, Symeon the New Theologian and Maximus the Confessor through Hesychasm to the Philokalia. In one of the Companion's few omissions there is no detailed treatment of later Orthodox spirituality, although, as will be seen, there are some references elsewhere. The development of the Western spiritual tradition from 600CE to the present day is covered in the next three essays. The coverage here from the Reformation period onwards crosses the Protestant‐Catholic divide and demonstrates unexpected cross‐currents in devotional practice. The information on North America in the last of these chapters contains much that will new to readers on this side of the Atlantic. Richard Fox Young explores territory that will be unfamiliar to many readers in his essay on Christian spirituality in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Oceania. He demonstrates usefully how the faith brought by missionaries absorbed elements from indigenous cultures. I would have appreciated some reference to the ancient churches in India, Ethiopia and Egypt here.
Part IV is theological. Marc A. McIntosh explores the nature of the Trinity, with each of the three persons giving and receiving, and of the human calling in creation, citing as witnesses a variety of Eastern and Western thinkers from Maximus the Confessor to Thomas Traherne. This is one of several examinations of spirituality related to creation occurring throughout the Companion. An essay on Christology explores the relationship between spirituality and faith and, following this, the importance of the Holy Spirit in leading the soul to God. This latter essay makes generous use of the writings of Vladimir Lossky, to some extent compensating for the lack of a detailed consideration of modern Orthodox thinkers. Philip Endean in his consideration of theology and the human person argues strongly that the study of spirituality can only develop if it is pursued from within a theological and confessional tradition. This is one of a number of points in the Companion where there is discussion of the trend in modern Western societies towards a more individualistic and popular spirituality. The definition of spirituality recurs as a topic in David Lonsdale's essay on the church, in which he considers the importance of liturgy. It is interesting that liturgical worship features little in the collection. Indeed there is no entry for “worship” in the index. Wonder at the created world and the discovery of God through human communion are explored by Ann Loades in her chapter on sacramentality. The last essay in this section looks at the relationship between spirituality and the actions of Christians in community, with comments on the moral consequences of liturgical prayer. As can be seen, the range of concerns covered in this section is extremely wide, with certain themes recurring throughout and frequently wider resonance than the actual titles of the essays would suggest.
Part V looks at the ways in which other disciplines can contribute to the study of Christian spirituality. In the first of seven essays John A. Coleman analyses work done by social scientists in the USA, mainly in the last 15 years, on the relationship of spirituality to organized religion. Spirituality is once again defined in some detail in Janet K. Ruffing's chapter on personality sciences. Drawing on recent American research she shows how the disciplines of psychology and psychoanalysis have moved from basic hostility to the whole concept of religion to a more sympathetic approach. Robert John Russell looks at ways in which the life sciences, mathematics and physics can assist the study of spirituality. The relationship of science and religion tends to be discussed more in terms of arguments for or against the existence of God and so it is salutary to see it here focussed more directly on spiritual experience. The following chapter takes a more classical approach, surveying Christian views of aesthetics from the early church onwards, relating it to the thought of Plato and Aristotle. Amy Hollywood surveys recent work by feminist scholars, concentrating on the study of female medieval mystics. Susan J. White considers anthropological and other approaches to the study of ritual and at the possibilities for dialogue with students of spirituality. Michael Barnes concludes this section by locating the study of Christian spirituality in the wider context of the theology of religions. These essays clearly open up the possibility for that study to be part of a wider scholarly discourse.
The sixth and final section sets out future agendas. David Hay provides a brief history of the study of religious history as a discipline before setting out some questions to be answered in taking it further. David B. Perrin concisely summarises different strands of mysticism before setting out possible post‐modern approaches. It is good to have a citation of another nineteenth century Russian thinker, this time Vladimir Solovyev. Philip F. Sheldrake considers the issues involved in the interpretation of all forms of religious “texts” (including buildings) and traditions, as well as the important question of who should be recognised as their authoritative interpreters. Creation again features when ecological concerns are addressed in an essay on the relationship of Christian spirituality and nature. In an essay on practice Elizabeth Liebhart looks at the relationship between pastoral theology and spirituality. Michael Battle draws on Latin American theology and, rather more, on the work of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, to demonstrate a form of liberation spirituality for communities comprising those who are both physically and spiritually poor. The section concludes with an examination, from a Korean feminist theological perspective, of ways inter‐faith dialogue might enrich Christian spirituality.
This is very much a work for those academically involved in the study of Christian spirituality. However, many of the essays, particularly those in the Biblical and historical sections, while demanding, are not beyond the reach of a more general reader. The index is very good at bringing together the great variety of themes explored throughout the compilation. The Blackwell Companion to Christian Spirituality represents a full survey of the latest research in the field and will form an essential component of academic libraries with theological collections and make a valuable contribution to public libraries with specialist collections in the humanities.
