ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that philosophical reflection on forms of spiritual life should take as a primary focus the historical and cultural variety of forms of spiritual exemplarity. What the authors find, across spiritual traditions, are certain persons who are distinctive as exemplars of a life devoted to the aspiration to, if not attainment of, some set of spiritual goods, such as virtue, saintliness, holiness, enlightenment, or other forms of intimacy or harmony with the deeper grounds or source of the world. Traditionally, attention to spiritual exemplars has been part of theology and religious studies, rather than mainstream philosophy of religion, albeit with honourable exceptions. A striking feature of the world's ancient philosophical traditions—from India, Greece, and China—is the presence of special figures who act as exemplars of virtue, wisdom, and other attainments constitutive of a good life. An exemplar can change type over time, depending on the particularities of their life and postmortem fortunes.
