Spirituality in a European Context

Abstract

Spirituality in a European Context Philip Sheldrake (bio) The idea for a special "European" issue of Spiritus came from the Editor and my fellow members of the Editorial Board. On a purely practical level, this collection of essays seeks to expand the horizons of the journal beyond its predominantly North American base and to acknowledge an increasingly global readership. On a more theoretical level, to explore a distinctively European perspective on Christian spirituality underlines the inherently contextual and culturally specific nature of all spirituality. This counters any tendency to understand "spirituality" as a single, fixed, timeless, and placeless entity above and beyond the plurality of actual human narratives. The essays in this issue do not embrace a complete European perspective because geographically, culturally, and religiously Europe is such a diverse reality. In practice, all of the contributors are currently based in Western European universities and schools of theology, although one is originally from Greece. Religiously, the contributors represent the three major families of European Christian spirituality: Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and the Churches of the Reformation. I am not going to attempt a comparison between European spirituality and the spiritual character of other parts of the world. What I want to offer is some background to the contemporary European situation as it impacts on religious identity and approaches to spirituality, and to summarize a few key characteristics of European spirituality today. I will include some specific remarks about the British situation. Then toward the end, I will introduce the individual essays themselves. Before describing the contemporary flavor of European spirituality, a number of background issues must be outlined. In my opening sentence, I placed the word "European" in quotation marks for a reason. "Europe" and "European" are contested realities both geographically and culturally—and nowadays also religiously. To many people, Europe and its constituent countries are currently suffering from a crisis of identity. The reasons are complex, but some are particularly relevant to the spiritual climate. First, to the consternation of the traditional and self-described members of the European family, the collapse of the Soviet bloc revealed a new range [End Page 1] Click for larger view View full resolution Dark Crucifixion © Joachim Brink of countries in Eastern Europe, such as Poland or Romania, who not only see themselves once again as geographically and culturally European but also demand membership of the European Union (EU) and the freedom to move to and work within Western European countries. Until recently, this economic and increasingly political association of states had been an exclusively Western European club of financially advanced countries. Not only is "Europe" now unequivocally more culturally diverse, but the question of specifically religious identity has become an issue. Apart from immigration to the West from places like Russia, several new member countries of the EU are predominantly Eastern Orthodox or have significant Orthodox populations. Until their accession to the EU, only one country, Greece, was mainly Orthodox. As a result, the Eastern Christian tradition, including its spirituality, can no longer be seen as a tropical luxuriance represented in the vast majority of EU countries by small [End Page 2] and culturally marginal groups of exiles or immigrants. Eastern Christianity nowadays must be seen as part of the European religious and spiritual mainstream. This reality is expressed by the inclusion in this issue of Spiritus of a contribution by an Orthodox theologian. Second, the status of Islam is a controversial question in relation to Europe's specifically Christian identity. In the aftermath of European colonialism, some Western countries, notably France, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, have over the last fifty years attracted immigrant populations from former colonies that include significant numbers of Muslims. Now, countries aspiring to future EU membership include Macedonia (formerly part of Yugoslavia) with a substantial Muslim minority, Albania with a Muslim majority, and Turkey which, while constitutionally a secular state, is ninety-nine percent Muslim. This fact presents a significant challenge to simple notions of European religious and cultural identity. Now, some leading Western politicians question whether Turkey is truly European. Turkey has for many years been treated as a quasi-part of Europe (although only three percent of the country lies geographically in Europe...