Contemporary Spirituality Research Articles

A New-Old Spirituality: How Spirituality has Softened and Revitalized Religion

Abstract This article seeks to continue the unfolding of the tangled relationship of spirituality and religion but from the vantage point of Christianity (religion), and more specifically, from Christian practice and from the perspective of representatives of institutionalized religion (clergy) and rather unchurched participants in organized religious practice. While first-wave scholars argued that religion and spirituality are at odds with each other, second-wave scholars rather consider the relationship between the two more blurred and hybrid. Following the lead of this latter group of scholarship, I make the case that contemporary spirituality at the intersection of “individualized spirituality” and “institutionalized religion” can be understood as a new-old spirituality and that religion is being changed by spirituality. This entails that people are approaching old Christian practices in new ways and new places often urged by a new kind of motivation. By attending to issues of subjectivity and regarding experience as a significant source of authority without leaving the theistic framework of religion altogether, this new-old spirituality is available and attractive to constituencies as varied as clergy, children, incarcerated, and young people. Hence, it can be argued that religion is not only giving way to spirituality. Religion is also softened and revitalized by spirituality, as empirical studies in the Scandinavian countries show a resurgence and revitalization of religious practice, both inside and at the margins of institutionalized religion, and, thus, a sacralization of the congregational domain.

Det andliga nutidsläget och kyrkan

In April 1919, the publication of the first part of the edited collection Det andliga nutidsläget och kyrkan ("The Contemporary Spiritual Condition and the Church") caused an intense debate within the Church of Sweden and in the daily press. The editors of the book were driven by ideals of open and honest dialogue about religious and ethical reformation in a time of deep spiritual distress and invited contributions from academia and lay people as well as clergy. Some of the contributions have been analyzed in previous research, as examples of contemporary theological debates. This article presents an analysis of the contributions of the books and of the most salient themes in the debate, covering 192 newspaper articles between April 1919 and May 1920. The analysis contributes to previous research by the additional new material concerning how theological issues were connected to contemporary political and cultural debate. This concerns the implications of modernization in contemporary Sweden, such as individualization, social justice, and secularization. Furthermore, the debate in the newspapers, previously not thoroughly researched, highlights how the book became a locus for issues such as participation of the laity in theological debate, and the role of the Church as a public authority in a secular, modernized society. These themes present fruitful openings for further research on the role of Christian actors in new forms of public debate shaping modernity in Sweden.

THE EVOLUTION OF WESTERN SPIRITUALITY: FROM ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME TO CONTEMPORARY PRACTICES

This article provides a comprehensive overview of the history of spirituality in the Western world, examining its evolution from ancient Greece and Rome to contemporary practices. The article explores the development of key religious and philosophical traditions, including early Christianity, the Protestant Reformation, and the Enlightenment, and analyzes their contributions to the evolution of Western spirituality. The article also investigates the emergence of contemporary spirituality, highlighting its emphasis on personal experience and individual growth, and its rejection of traditional religious institutions and dogma. While contemporary spirituality has been criticized for its lack of structure and its tendency to promote subjective experiences over objective truth, it has also had a significant impact on Western culture, particularly in the areas of health and wellness. The article discusses the challenges that contemporary spirituality poses, including the potential for spiritual bypassing, the need for authenticity in spiritual practices, and the importance of recognizing spirituality as a deeply personal and individual experience. Additionally, the article explores the future of Western spirituality, considering the impact of changing cultural and social trends and the ongoing evolution of spiritual practices. The article also examines important works and figures that have contributed to the development of Western spirituality from Ancient Greece and Rome to contemporary times, showing the diversity and richness of spiritual perspectives and practices over time. Ultimately, this article offers a comprehensive overview of the history of Western spirituality and highlights its enduring influence on Western culture and society, while also providing insights into the challenges and opportunities that contemporary spirituality presents.

A Preliminary Genealogy of Yoga in Italy: Between Religion and Contemporary Spirituality

In this article, we design a preliminary genealogy of yoga in Italy, showing its positioning within the growing field of “contemporary spiritualities”, their premodern, esoteric and theosophical roots and Catholicism. Our main claim is that yoga and contemporary spiritualities as practiced in XXI-century Italy are neither entirely new nor are they clearly an alternative to more established religions. We rely on the methods and tools of a “discursive study of religion” approach to unpack the intricacies, genealogical roots and definitional boundaries that yoga, contemporary spiritualities and religion in Italy share. More specifically, we question the novelty of contemporary spiritualities in Italy, unveiling some of their esoteric, theosophical and anthroposophical roots, presenting, in turn, a preliminary genealogy of yoga in Italy, discussing its positioning amid Catholicism and contemporary spiritualities. We conclude by reflecting on the creation, use and limits of sociocultural theorizing about interpreting and understanding the spiritual and religious field, with a specific emphasis on the overlapping and porous boundaries between the concepts of religion, contemporary spiritualities, Western esotericism and modern yoga.

On the Contemporary Spirit of Dunhuang Culture and the Pathway of Digital Development

On the Contemporary Spirit of Dunhuang Culture and the Pathway of Digital Development

Invitation to the Contemporary Spirituality Conference

The Contemporary Spirituality conference will be held in Ljubljana, Slovenia, at the Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, on October 6–7, 2023. The conference aims to draw attention to various aspects of religious life, rituals, and spirituality in past and contemporary societies.

Stefania Palmisano, Nicola Pannofino, Contemporary Spiritualities. Enchanted Worlds of Nature, Wellbeing and Mystery in Italy

Stefania Palmisano, Nicola Pannofino, Contemporary Spiritualities. Enchanted Worlds of Nature, Wellbeing and Mystery in Italy

Modern Postural Yoga and the Health-Spirituality-Neoliberalism Nexus

The practice of yoga has become an integral part of practitioners’ lifestyles, spirituality and therapeutic paths across the world, not to mention institutional and governmental interventions of a pedagogical, rehabilitative and political nature in settings as diverse as schools, hospitals and prisons. While social science literature has explored some of these areas of analysis, we currently know little about how particular conceptions of health and wellbeing, of the sacred and of the economic-political continuum overlap, diverge and reciprocally influence each other, with reference to yoga and beyond. Using the example of “modern postural yoga”, this article aims to provide a preliminary account of what we term the Health-Spirituality-Neoliberalism Nexus, that is, of the ways in which different “social fields”, such as the medical/therapeutic, the spiritual/religious and the political/economic fields, are partly governed by the same practical-discursive logics and display profound “symbiotic relationships”. More specifically, this article elucidates how specific health discourses, centred around practitioners’ self-care, self-responsibility and self-control, dominate not only the medical/therapeutic field, but also the landscape of contemporary spiritualities and the widespread neoliberal ethos that characterizes the current social, political and economic model of Westernized societies. Here, the categories of physical and psychological health, the idea of a fulfilling spiritual life, and economic success display deep “elective affinities” that we seek to uncover by mobilizing a series of foundational sociological concepts such as the Bourdieusian notion of “field” and a Foucauldian reading of “biopolitics” and “governmentality”.

The Rise and Fall of Christian Ireland by Crawford Gribben

Reviewed by: The Rise and Fall of Christian Ireland by Crawford Gribben Kevin Hargaden (bio) Crawford Gribben, The Rise and Fall of Christian Ireland (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021), 352 pages. 'The dominance of Christianity in Ireland was never complete and has never been uncontested' (p. 2). So begins Crawford Gribben's superb account of the history of the Irish Church. Over the course of five immensely readable chapters, Gribben takes the reader across 1600 years and demonstrates that the rise of the Church was never as stratospheric as is popularly held, both within and without the Church, and he offers solid ground to place its precipitous fall in context. This is an excellent book, which will be of value to those interested in history, Christianity, or Irish culture. In the opening chapter, Gribben tells a story familiar in rough outline to many – the conversion of Ireland in the fifth century – but with much finer detail than many of us have to hand. Patrick and Palladius, the two main figures in that early stage of conversion, are explored at length. In his introduction and then continuing in this chapter, Gribben elegantly outruns popular theories about the pre-Christian religion of the Celts. What we do know for certain is limited, but this evidence does not match the widely accepted narrative that Christianity came with a persecuting zeal against the pagan beliefs that were prevalent on the island. The conversion process advanced by assimilation rather than annihilation. 'Christians co-opted traditional legends', 'sanctified festivals' and even turned some Celtic deities 'into saints' (pp. 35–36). He also disposes of the idea that can be found in some contemporary spirituality traditions that the Irish Church understood itself as an alternative to the centralised Roman orthodoxy. In the seventh century, Columbanus could write, to Pope Boniface, that the Irish Church were disciples of Peter and Paul who 'accept nothing outside the evangelical and apostolic teaching' (p. 56). The mission appeared complete: 'Christianity had converted the Irish' suggests Gribben, 'But Christianity might also have created the Irish' (p. 56). In chapter two, Gribben charts how a religious insurgency matured into the most stable institution on the island. A noteworthy strength of the book is how Gribben demonstrates that while Ireland is definitionally peripheral from the European continent, it was never isolated (p. 16). In one fascinating aside he mentions how the partial skeleton of a barbary ape was discovered [End Page 454] at the Emain Macha site in Armagh, dating from a century before Christ (p. 24). If nothing else, this suggests that Irish people were embedded within a wider consciousness long before they joined the European Economic Area and became poster-children for economic globalization! That outward-looking stance was embraced by the Irish missionaries who moved from their local monastic strongholds into Britain and then deep into the continent. The arrival of Scandinavian pirates we now know as Vikings drew 'Ireland into extensive international networks' and, in time, 'together in the structures of a common faith' (p.69). Through Gregorian reform, the arrival of the Normans, the rise of the mendicant orders and the tumult that followed the partial solidification of English rule in Ireland, the Church stayed strong. As Churches across Europe were about to become engines of acrimony with the Reformation, in Ireland it 'existed as a genuinely incorporating body' for the different communities that shared the island (pp. 86–87). The book is about the rise and fall of Christian Ireland, not Catholic Ireland. And chapter three is a fascinating account of how we came to have our three historic Christian identities: Protestant and Dissenter along with Catholic. More is said about why the Reformation never truly took hold in Ireland, but Gribben's suggestion that a key factor was the commitment of the 'Old English families in the Pale' to stay faithful to Rome is compelling (p. 91). A striking insight in this chapter – at least to this reviewer who is a leader in a Presbyterian congregation marked by its busyness – is how dreadfully lax the early Irish Protestants were. 'The small number of committedly Protestant clergy were sometimes left with nothing to do' (p. 99). As haphazard...

Exploring Foucault on Care of the Self and Power Relations from an Orthodox perspective

Michel Foucault (1926-1984) was indisputably one of the most significant theorists of the twentieth century. His work is generally interdisciplinary in nature delving especially into the humanities, and to a greater extent it includes philosophically oriented historical research in philosophy, history and theology. All this was in a quest for truth and to reflect on humanity which is the focus. Foucault recurrently pursued a manner in which to comprehend the ideas that form our present. In the materialist and consumer driven world of the 21st Century, spiritual practices in Christianity are often viewed by growing numbers of subjects as being based on what are considered to be obsolete religious traditions. The article focuses on the notion that Christianity indeed has a huge role to play in life and in understanding contemporary spirituality and religious life. Foucault was seemingly motivated by a strong yearning to discover a substitute for intimacy with the creator God and a desire to see power relations made devoid of the ability to limit a subjects freedom and domination by, for example, churches and their doctrines and dogmas. He argued that self-awareness was not a goal in itself, but rather something that is pursued in order for one to care for oneself in a world in which there are power relations in existence. Foucault maintained that by caring for oneself, one could transform oneself into a more ethical person. Through considering one’s previous and imminent actions and by evaluating if the actions align with ones ethics and goals, one can get to realise how insignificant one is when compared to the limitlessness creation. A standpoint on spirituality and Christianity per se, is advanced based on Michel Foucault’s work on spiritual observances in Christianity.

Contemporary spiritual seeking: understanding information interactions in contemplation and spirituality

PurposeDiscussions in contemporary spirituality frequently highlight a phenomenon of spiritual seeking; moreover, people often describe their spiritual journeys in terms of a search. This paper takes a closer look at this metaphor by presenting a study that analysed spiritual seeking and its informational features in contemporary non-institutionalised settings.Design/methodology/approachIn this study, the authors conducted semi-structured interviews with thirteen spiritual teachers and speakers who were asked questions about spiritual seeking in contemporary non-institutionalised spirituality.FindingsThe authors' participants explained that contemporary spiritual seekers sought spiritual information as a result of affective, developmental and metaphysical concerns. Moreover, their analysis indicated that spiritual information-seeking behaviour incorporated practices such as prayer, yoga and meditation, and contemporary spiritual information interactions were facilitated through spiritual retreats, meditation classes, yoga classes and online social platforms.Research limitations/implicationsSince the authors focused on spiritual seeking in contemporary non-institutionalised settings, their findings cannot exhaustively represent all spiritual pursuits in contemporary society. Their study (1) identifies the informational features of contemporary spiritual seeking, (2) explains spiritual seeking as an activity that may theoretically reside within a broader framework of profound information interactions and (3) helps theorise the concept of qualitative profundity in information science research.Originality/valueThis study provides an intuitive contextual approach for undertaking information research in under-explored domains such as contemplation and spirituality.

The satsang dispositif: Mooji’s teachings, power, authority, and self-transformation

ABSTRACT This article seeks to contribute to the study of power and authority in the context of the contemporary sociology of religion. It provides a discursive and ethnographic account of the neo-Advaita guru Mooji and his teachings, with a focus on the main practice he advocates, namely the satsang. The article explores the guru–disciple relationship, the authoritarian and charismatic role of the teacher, and the devotees’ processes of disciplining and self-transformation as they attempt to reach self-realisation or enlightenment. Following a Foucauldian framework, the article introduces the concept of the satsang dispositif, the main disciplining, confessional, and self-transformative apparatus characterising Mooji’s teachings. The article ends by summarising the findings of the case study presented, discussing their relevance to the study of contemporary spiritualities in general and underlining the importance of questioning the claims of spiritual seekers regarding self-determination and self-actualisation.

‘A chain of deep-laid and premeditated villainy’

The flurry of recent interest in what scholars have dubbed ‘conspirituality’ has focused attention on the intersection between conspiracy theories and the overlapping subcultures of New Age, alternative, and esoteric spirituality. These important insights have also highlighted the extensive histories of cultures of conspiracy which exist within larger religious traditions and the related question of why adherents of specific varieties of religion appear to be highly susceptible to strains of conspiracist thinking. To further illustrate the ubiquity of conspiracy theory in contemporary spirituality, this article offers a historical overview of the intricate culture of conspiracy which has developed in the Roman Catholic Church since at least the French Revolution by outlining its five major permutations: anti-Masonry, antisemitism, anti-communism, anti-Satanism and anti-modernism. This article demonstrates the centrality of conspiracy theories in how a sizeable portion of Roman Catholics have responded to what they perceive as the threatening aspects of modernity as well as the renewed popularity of conspiracy theories within a Roman Catholic spiritual milieu during Pope Francis’s papacy.

The Africanness of African Literatures and New Patterns in Human Civilization

The explosion of African literatures in 2021 is not a coincidence, but is dictated by the continent’s decolonial, diasporic and hybrid cultural manifestations, its more than a hundred years of struggle for cross-regional integration, its spirit of vigorous and persistent action, and the unique attraction of an Africanness that upholds its selfhood, bridges the gaps, and remembers its history but looks to the future. The diasporic characteristic of attending to, absorbing and squarely facing the tension of heterogeneous cultures means that indigenous African literatures contain a distinctive world consciousness and rational philosophy. They have given rise to diverse civilizations marked by dialogue, inclusiveness and the contemporary spirit of African nations, enabling African literatures to participate effectively in the dialogue of world literature and in new patterns of civilization, displaying as they do a strong vitality, creativity and influence in the positive-sum game with Western culture. This will provide positive encouragement to the mutual learning, integration, harmony, symbiosis and coexistence of civilizations.

Identification Model of Writhing Posture of Classical Dance Based on Motion Capture Technology and Few-Shot Learning.

Chinese classical dance is cut into the inner verve from a grasp of external form in dance instruction, and the aesthetic fashion and artistic norms of classical dance are established with historical depth. The “professional specificity” of characters and the “language description” of plots are eliminated in Chinese classical dance creation, highlighting the contemporary spirit of classical dance creation. Chinese classical dance was born during the early years of the People's Republic of China. The term “classical dance” did not refer to all Chinese classical dances at the time; rather, it referred to a dance form that embodied China's national spirit and had a classical cultural heritage based on Chinese traditional dance. The average frequency of step-over was 0.9, which was higher than the average rate of basic turnover of 0.75 and step-by-step turnover of 0.5, according to the results of the SPSS19.0 analysis. As a result, except for a few points with loud noise, it can be concluded that stepping over is an effective feature. The recognition model of the somersault posture of classical dance is studied in this paper, a database for real-time acquisition of three-dimensional data of human motion is established, and the Google model of human body characteristics is obtained based on feature plane matching of human body posture, all using motion capture technology and few-shot learning. The above data has good reference and application value for improving teachers' teaching level and arousing students' learning enthusiasm in the dance teaching process when applied to posture teaching and analysis. The captured data can convert human motion in real three-dimensional space into data in virtual three-dimensional space. Motion capture technology converts human motion information into a technology that can be recognized by computers.

Seeking Sekhmet

Despite their seemingly secular location within numerous museums across the globe, ancient statues of the Egyptian goddess Sekhmet have become focal points of contemporary spiritual pilgrimages for those seeking knowledge of “Herstory” and the numinous. The purported experiences of Goddess devotees indicate the development of a canon of reception which regards museums as both educational resources and houses of the sacred. This article examines the intersection of contemporary Goddess Spirituality with museum exhibits featuring statues of Sekhmet, considering the implications of secular institutions housing artifacts deemed of sacred significance. It will conclude by outlining how the engagement of special interest groups, such as Goddess devotees, present specific concerns, as well as potential benefits to the heritage industry.

Study on the “Defamiliarization” Narrative in Mo Yan’s Novel the Republic of Wine

Mo Yan understands the narration of defamiliarization profoundly. With his extraordinary creative personality, compassionate human feelings, and unique aesthetic judgment, he makes pioneering exploration and innovation in his novel The Republic of Wine. The defamiliarization of the novel’s language is firstly reflected in the change of the name, and the renewal of the semantic connotation gives the work a “new” and “defamiliarized” characteristic. As the core imagery and aesthetic element, the meaning of “wine” extends to the connotation and reflection of nationality. At the same time, the novel’s ironic rhetoric gives the plain words a strong critical meaning. Furthermore, the novel adopts a variable narrative point of view and a changing narrative subject, so that the story presents a rich plurality in pursuing the value of the subject and exploring artistic methods, overflowing with the brilliance of interweaving the real and the fantastic, overlapping the realistic and the absurd, reflecting the torture of human nature and the search for the soul in a defamiliarized expression with modern temperament and contemporary spirit.

Shared Spaces Conference: Reflections on the Study of Spirituality and Spiritual Formation

Shared Spaces Conference:Reflections on the Study of Spirituality and Spiritual Formation David Pocta (bio) Father Ron Rolheiser once commented that spirituality is a universal language, one that brings Christians together to discuss our relationship and desire to walk with God and one another, one that transcends potential theological differences. This sentiment describes the rich ecumenical fellowship and scholarship that was enjoyed at the "Shared Spaces and Shifting Contexts: A Conference on the Study of Spirituality and Spiritual Formation" event at the Oblate School of Theology in November 2021. The intent of this conference was to enhance the symbiotic relationship between those who work in the academic field of Christian spirituality and those in the field of spiritual formation. While there are important distinctions to be recognized between them, these disciplines depend on each other as do theory and praxis or the integration of knowledge and lived experience. Recognizing that spirituality and spiritual formation can be, and have been defined numerous ways, consider the following. Sandra Schneiders states, "By Christian spirituality, taken in its substantive sense, I mean the lived experience of Christian faith, which is an ongoing project of life integration in the context of, in response to, and in terms of the revelation of God in Jesus Christ."1 According to this definition, the study of spirituality would necessarily include the historical and cultural context of the experience, the theological framework of the experience, and the hermeneutics of experience itself. To discuss spirituality, one describes and situates the lived experience of their Christianity. Regarding spiritual formation Dallas Willard asserts, "Spiritual formation for the Christian basically refers to the Spirit-driven process of forming the inner world of the human self in such a way that it becomes like the inner being of Christ himself."2 Spiritual formation refers to actions taken together by the Christian and the Spirit towards transformation into the likeness of Christ. It leans towards the pastoral and the practical; it engages the dynamic spiritual journey. In other words, spirituality helps us to frame where we are; spiritual formation moves us. Spirituality explains our context, formation our transformation. One could study and articulate Thomas Kelly's mystical itinerary in [End Page 20] A Testament of Devotion (the study of spirituality) or practice his method of "simultaneity," remaining in the presence of God while simultaneously engaging the outside world (the praxis of spiritual formation).3 The conference was sponsored by the Institute for the Study of Contemporary Spirituality (ISCS) at the Oblate School of Theology, the Society for the Study of Christian Spirituality (SSCS), and the Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care (JSFSC). The steering committee worked toward integrating study and praxis with plenary sessions and panel discussions to stimulate thought and sharing.4 The plenary speakers were tasked with framing the past century, the present, and the future. The panels illuminated academic spirituality and spiritual formation in academic settings, congregational contexts, and in a variety of emerging forms, each of which provoked the imagination, energized the participants, and as the steering committee and sponsors hoped, inspired dialogue and promise. In this issue, Spiritus shares the three plenary speeches from the conference to enable a wider audience to access the wisdom shared. The first essay by Dr. Glen G. Scorgie is entitled, "Patterns of the Wind: Reflections on Christian Spirituality Over the Past Century." Scorgie navigates the daunting task of describing the global winds of modernity and the divine pneuma over the last century. He draws from the French existentialists, Vatican II, and Charles Taylor to describe the complex and multi-faceted nature of both spirituality and spiritual formation. He concludes by saying, "There is a key role here for pontifex—those who can be bridge builders between the two."5 Scorgie offers a bridge from the past to the present while recognizing our need to contextualize our spirituality to properly engage our Christian practice. The second essay was written by Dr. Elizabeth Liebert, SNJM. Liebert's life experience as a religious nun, spiritual director, and academician gives her a unique voice to address her topic, "Theology and Spirituality: Pondering Anew Their Complex Interrelationship." Liebert spent many years teaching in a Presbyterian seminary as a...

Vernacular Religion and Contemporary Spiritualities. Tribute to Leonard Norman Primiano (1957-2021)

It is now more than a quarter century since Leonard Primiano’s seminal article “Vernacular Religion and the Search for Method in Religious Folklife” launched the concept of Vernacular Religion to denote the study of “religion as it is lived: as human beings encounter, understand, interpret, and practice it” (Primiano 1995: 44). Vernacular Religion demands that scholars take seriously the minutiae of how people live their religion in particular contexts, their interaction with material culture, their often flexible attitude to and use of tradition, their frequently complex relationship and negotiations with institutional forms of religiosity, and above all their agency. This issue of Traditiones brings insights into how people deal with enormous issues such as our place in the universe, our relationship with-other-than human beings, death, apocalypse and afterlives using an ‘toolkit’ of institutional and vernacular knowledge.

Viaje mágico y espiritual a una tierra de manzanos

From the current context of contemporary spiritualities, we wanted to approach an emerging form of tourism known as spiritual or mystical. In order to do this we have focused on the most important European destination in spiritual milieu: Glastonbury. Based on a qualitative methodology, field observa‑ tions and in‑depth interviews, we got closer to both those who organize these kinds of trips and those who are interested in participating on them. The work presented here is based on a specific case: Sandra and Pablo; a couple of Spaniards who, for several years, have accompanied groups of spiritual seekers on their pilgrimage to this magical and sacred place, emphasizing that they are people from outside the tourism sector.