ABSTRACT
Though the concept of ‘spirituality’ is attractive to many people, it is also controversial. In its modern sense, it has developed only over the last two hundred years, and it reflects a growing divorce between the private and the public, and between the religious and the secular. Spirituality is the non-secular, non-public aspect of religion. What some object to in the concept of spirituality is the way it focuses on the private aspects of religious life to the exclusion of other aspects of collective and cultural life. Though there is a long and varied history of writing on Christian spirituality (see Jones et al. 1986), some would argue that we tend to misread this historic tradition
QUESTIONS FOR MINISTRY
• Do you have to be a ‘spiritual giant’ to have a spiritual experience? • How common are spiritual or mystical experiences? • What is their meaning in people’s lives? • Why don’t more people talk to the clergy about their religious experiences? • What happens to me when I pray? • Is it selfish to pray for myself? • Is authentic spirituality necessarily emotional? • What are the key elements of ‘spiritual direction’?
