What's the Story?: Spirituality and Writing

Abstract

What is spirituality? As in other papers (Gearon, 1995, cf Wright, 1996; Gearon, 1996, 1997), I maintain here that spirituality may be defined as our relationship with ultimate reality. Spirituality is thus inevitably, by this definition, always metaphysical (Gearon, 1995, again, cf. Wright, 1996, but also Wright, 1997). I want to develop this theme here by contending that such notions of ultimate reality are determined, themselves defined, by texts, that spirituality today, in literate societies, is defined by writing. Developing this intentionally provocative idea of spirituality's ultimate definition and determination by writing, particularly through notions of narrative and text, this paper provides a critical examination of the place of the literary form in contemporary debate on spirituality in education. Marking out the contentious territory of various interdisciplinary boundaries – some more disputed than others – an attempt is made to parallel the problems centring on our understanding of spirituality with problems associated with the interpretation of texts. By way of an open conclusion, designed as with the main body of the paper to stimulate debate, these albeit brief considerations will be set within the more specific concerns of ‘Engaging the Curriculum – A Theological Programme’, (Thatcher, 1995; Markham, 1996, 1997, 1997a; Gearon, 1997a, 1997b, and, forthcoming, 1998, 1998a), a major project to promote an interdisciplinary awareness of spiritual and theological issues in the curriculum in a genuinely international context. (The bulletin and now journal of the project is, beyond the UK, circulated in Australia, Canada, India, Ireland, Israel, Japan, the Philippines, the United States, amongst other countries.)