Christian Spirituality and Spiritual Theology in a Globalized World

Abstract

Christian Spirituality and Spiritual Theology in a Globalized World Rossano Zas Friz De Col, S.J. (bio) Communication between spirituality scholars can certainly not aspire to be univocal, like a mathematical exchange, but it is opportune for them to find a common language and horizon in order to share their research. I think that it is not only appropriate, but also somehow vital to work towards this goal when we consider the phenomenon of the globalization of knowledge. In effect, globalization embraces us all and is virtually impossible to avoid unless one makes a conscious choice of going into isolation. This means global contact and communication, where the distances and technical difficulties, which previously prevented contact, can no longer be used as a pretext for avoiding it. It implies the exchange of ideas, which in the case of the academic study of spirituality, brings about dialogue between people with different spiritualities and cultures, not in order to reach a mathematical conformity or the dominance of one tradition of spirituality over another, but rather to further mutual interaction that helps to increase knowledge and maybe even to reach common ground. This article is the first step towards that dialogue between scholars of different languages and cultures, in this case centered on the North American English-speaking world and the Latin-European one (Spanish and Italian-speaking). To that end, by presenting the work of authors who have had an impact in their own linguistic group, we are propounding a comparison that will establish affinities and divergences between them. In this way, we hope to reach and clarify the position that offers the possibility of shared research. Traditionally, it has been affirmed that Latin-European Spiritual Theology is a theological discipline that considers the phenomenon of spirituality in a broad sense, from the perspective of theological reflection, while scholars in the English speaking North American context tend to adhere to a perspective of Christian Spirituality, which does not start out from this kind of reflection, but rather from an approach of theological neutrality. Today it no longer seems possible to hide behind such prejudices—heritage from a pre-globalized world—in order to justify one’s unawareness of the other. This essay attempts to overcome the prejudices and preconceptions and hopes to achieve this goal, simply owing to greater communication starting [End Page 118] from the more distinctive authors. For the moment the working theory—which will later be substantiated or not—is that the divergences are not as numerous as the preconceptions and prejudices make them out to be, but, to the contrary, the number of affinities could be surprising. In this section, there will be a very brief review of the publications from the two continents, starting from the 1990s up until the present-day. The following section will compare the distinctive authors from the two respective areas. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE STUDY OF CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY IN NORTH AMERICA According to Professor Bruce Lescher, the creation of the Society for the Study of Christian Spirituality in 1992 was a great step forward in establishing spirituality as an academic discipline in North America.1 Two topics immediately captured scholars’ attention: the role of the researcher’s self-implication in the discipline, and Christian spirituality’s place in the university. The first topic, self-implication, means that the scholar cannot be “objective” to the research subject-matter but is somehow involved in it.2 With regard to the second topic, three different approaches emerged:3 The first is theological and centered on faith and its growth.4 The second is an anthropological-hermeneutical approach in which spirituality informs a basic dimension of human experience, which must be interpreted and personally appropriated.5 The third approach is historical and contextual in nature. This approach argues that the anthropological approach alone cannot suffice, as all spirituality is rooted in particular social and historical contexts.6 Owing to a lack of space, it can be briefly stated that these were the guidelines for research in the 1990s and have continued to be developed in time,7 as have the relationship between spirituality and theology,8 the hermeneutical approach,9 and the historical-contextual one.10...