Spiritual Direction Research Articles

Analisis Hubungan antara Iman kepada Tuhan Yesus Kristus, Putera Allah dan Penghayatan Hidup Doa Para Frater CSE Komunitas Studi Landak, Kalimantan – Barat

Dalam pembinaan calon iman di seminari tinggi, ada 2 (dua) aspek penting yang tidak terpisahkan, yaitu pembinaan intelektual dan pembinaan hidup rohani. Dalam kenyataannya, bagaimana kita dapat melihat hubungan empiris antara iman kepada Yesus Kristus dengan penghayatan doa para kandidat tahbisan suci? Apa kontribusi konkretnya terhadap peningkatan pembinaan calon imam di seminari tinggi? Demi menjawab permasalahan tersebut, kami mengadakan penelitian deskriptif kuantitatif dengan analisis deskriptif terhadap para frater CSE. Dengan mengukur hubungan variabel Iman kepada Yesus Kristus, Putera Allah dengan variabel Penghayatan Hidup Doa Para Frater CSE. Kami memiliki keyakinan bahwa hubungan iman kepada Yesus Kristus dan penghayatan hidup doa akan membawa calon imam kepada perjumpaan yang hidup dengan Allah dalam Kristus dan mengubah hidupnya secara baru. Karena itu, kami merumuskan hipotesis minor sebagai demikian. Perjumpaan dengan Tuhan Yesus Kristus, Putera Allah sebagai Dasar Kehidupan Rohani Para Frater CSE komunitas studi Landak, Kalimantan – Barat. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa hipotesis minor dapat diterima. Kami mencatat ada hubungan yang signifikan antara iman kepada Yesus Kristus, Putera Allah dengan Penghayatan Hidup Doa Para Frater CSE Komunitas Studi Landak, Kalimantan - Barat. Ada hubungan positif antara Iman kepada Yesus Kristus, Putera Allah dengan Penghayatan Hidup Doa Para Frater CSE Komuntias Studi Landak, Kalimantan - Barat dengan skala prosentase antara 63% dan 55%.

VALUE DEVIATIONS IN SOCIAL NETWORKS AS A THREAT TO THE SOCIO CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT OF UKRAINE

Problem setting. Nowadays, social networks have become an integral part of communication processes in society. The influence of social networks on the socio-cultural development of Ukraine has both positive and negative manifestations, since both values and antivalues are spread in these communication systems, there are subjects who are guided by the norms of morality and law, and those who neglect them, direct their efforts to the harmonization of a certain sphere of public life, or vice versa, produces xenophobic sentiments, inciting enmity in the domestic society at the cultural, national, religious and other levels.
 Recent research and publications analysis. Significant numbers of scientific works are aimed at elucidating the signs and criteria of deviating as a social phenomenon. According to A. Demkiv, those values, the worldview and behavior that deviate from the organizational culture that exist in a certain social community are considered deviant. In the context of this research, it is important to note A. Khlebnikova's reflections on the recognition and determination of the axiological status of the social network in modern society and the scientific work of P. Kravchenko, which proves that religion, morality, values, language, traditions contribute to the internal consolidation of local social groups, and in this process, social networks perform a leading role. Researchers A. Onishchenko, V. Gorovoy, V. Popik and others devoted their scientific research to uncovering the negative impact of social networks on the development of the Ukrainian state and its socio-cultural and informational spheres.
 Paper objective. This research involves the disclosure of the negative impact of value deviations of social network subjects on the domestic socio-cultural area, information and spiritual security of Ukraine.
 Paper main body. The wide range of values presented in social networks has a consolidating, humanistic nature – they are reproduced by scientific and creative communities, spiritual and cultural associations, volunteer and human rights organizations, and so on. In turn, anti-values are presented in the content of extremist organizations, xenophobic associations of various orientations, which creates an ideological basis for the emergence of social conflicts, disintegration processes, and civil confrontation. Thus, social networks have become an influential actor in the development of the socio-cultural, spiritual, value, information space of our country.
 Considering Ukrainian society as a holistic formation, it is worth noting that value deviations are those ideas about the ways of being and about spiritual life that do not correspond to the humanistic and national guidelines for the democratic development of Ukrainian society. In the context of the research, worldview guidelines that contradict moral attitudes, existing legal norms, accepted traditions of the domestic society, etc. can be considered as value deviations in social networks.
 Freedom in social networks has a dual manifestation: on the one hand, it is free opportunities for self-realization of individuals and diverse perspectives for the development of the country's socio‑cultural space, and on the other hand, freedom in social networks creates conditions for the popularization of antihuman attitudes, pseudo-values, xenophobic ideologies and worldview systems.
 Conclusions of the research. The value deviations of social network subjects are a logical continuation of the deformations of the moral, political, legal, spiritual and other humanistic direction attitudes that are widespread in Ukrainian society. Undoubtedly, the influence of value deviations on domestic socio-cultural development is destructive and it can manifest itself in illegal, immoral, aggressive models of behavior.

ВИКЛАДАННЯ ПРЕДМЕТІВ РЕЛІГІЙНОГО СПРЯМУВАННЯ В АВСТРАЛІЙСЬКИХ ШКОЛАХ ДРУГОЇ ПОЛОВИНИ ХХ СТ

The article contains general review of the state of Australian education in context of teaching subjects of religious direction; historical review of system of education is done, since the times of land settlement of the continent; key changes that happened in Australian society regarding reinterpretation of the place of subjects of spiritual direction in the educational state program were highlighted. Key reasons the caused the transformation of understanding of importance of teaching religion in state educational establishments are defined and described, these are demographical changes that happened in Australian society after the World War II and eventually led to necessity of upbringing the ability of understanding and respect of citizens towards the representatives of different beliefs and values, forming cultural pluralism in pupils of these schools, which is the determinative feature and demand towards democratic society and transformation from catechistic approaches towards pedagogical approaches in teaching subjects of spiritual upbringing, which had its main feature in forming the pupil’s ability to manifest positive influence of religion for the development of the society; to understand peculiarities of basic church traditions and educate tolerance and sense of respect for all religions as representatives and providers of all-human values. Result of rethinking by Australian society for the important role of religion for the democratic development of the state is indicated, which led to the practice of studying according subjects of spiritual direction in state schools, having given for the pupils the chance to receive knowledge and abilities as result of studying miscellaneous religious beliefs. The review is done regarding opportunities and conditions for teaching religion in educational establishments of Australia by representatives of religious confessions; principles of choice of the content of program of subject of spiritual direction and criteria for its estimation by school administration and also the keeping of democratic rights of parents and pupils, that content the freedom of choice towards of subjects of this kind are noted. The article contains the presumption that the experience of teaching subjects of spiritual direction can be valuable for Ukrainian education at modern stage of its development in the context of value-directed education of pupils of secondary schools.Key words: Australia, religious education, democracy, multi-confession, multi-culture, cultural pluralism, state schools, teaching religion, catechistic approaches, pedagogical approaches.

Dimensione personale e comunitaria della direzione spirituale nella visione di San Basilio

The Personal and Communal Dimensions of Spiritual Directionaccording to St. Basil the Great Spiritual direction in Basil the Great’s vision consists in a faithfulness to the Scriptures understood as a thorough and detailed practical search for a way to fulfill the two commandments of love and to acquire personal responsibility in both dimensions of love. The Basilian community presents itself as an environment for spiritual direction in which both the guide and the guided share a common participation in the same pilgrimage of faith. It offers an authentic basis for discernment and gift exchange in which each member of the community grows spiritually. The Basilian community is a place for the life of the Word, in the unity of the Spirit, in which the communication of the common we is lived out as the only response to You of God. St. Basil the Great, as guide and legislator, has outlined an image of spiritual direction as the ministry of showing forth, offering and reflecting the Heavenly Father's fatherhood and the motherhood of the Church.

Tips for Social Media Faith-Sharing Outreach

Tips for Social Media Faith-Sharing Outreach Sean M. Salai S.J. (bio) When Catholics create spaces on social media for faith sharing, rather than simply launch prepackaged videos into the digital ether, positive things happen. But when Catholics wade into the egoistic muck of social media without a faith perspective, or bring a pre-digital mindset to it, they get dragged down into it and fail to reach others. This is the primary lesson I learned from leading 74 people through a private “Spiritual Exercises Faith Sharing Retreat Group” on Facebook for 30 days in the fall of 2020. This type of retreat offers a promising example that I will unpack in this article to encourage diocesan catechetical directors and church media evangelizers in using the internet effectively as a space for faith-based interaction in their own outreach. It will be helpful to start with a word of context. I am a Jesuit priest, spiritual director, former newspaper reporter, and America magazine special contributor with a research interest in the question of how Catholics use social media to share our faith. I was born in 1980, at the tail end of what Pew Forum defines as “Generation X.” I, therefore, grew up with one foot in an analog world and one foot in the emerging digital world. I grew up thinking of a telephone as something with a cord in the wall that placed calls; I was well into my teenage years when the internet became widely available and was heading off to college when I received my first (very large and clunky) cellular telephone. Yet, computers and the internet became widespread during my high school years. As someone positioned between Baby Boomers and Millennials (the first digital natives) on the generational spectrum, I feel somewhat at home with the world before and after the digital revolution; and I have a desire in ministry to create more intergenerational opportunities in a faith-based community to bridging the gaps between generations. That personal context shaped my desire to adapt the traditional retreat experience of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola to the youth-oriented culture of social media. [End Page 235] For my Doctor of Ministry research project at The Catholic University of America, from which I graduated in May 2021, I learned a number of things in creating this intergenerational faith-sharing retreat group through America’s existing Facebook groups. First, it’s possible to use the internet to unite people of faith (as opposed to further isolating and dividing them) if Catholics make the effort. Second, people are decent and spiritual in their behavior when they find themselves in a faith-based group on social media that revolves around sharing their prayer experiences, as distinct from exchanging their political or ecclesial opinions. Third, both secular and ecclesial literature on digital communication provides helpful guidelines to anyone making this effort. Finally, the experience of sharing faith in a virtual setting does not replace participants’ offline religious participation, but rather encourages them to stay involved at the same level or become even more committed to both online and offline spiritual activities. I settled on an asynchronous format of daily video reflections with faith-sharing prompts (in which participants could come and go on their own schedule without needing to be online at the same time) as the best way of mediating between competing values to help Catholics of all ages feel more connected than isolated online. My goal was to go beyond merely consuming videos and other digital materials in a privatized fashion, but also to attempt something more creative than crowding 74 people into one synchronous Zoom gathering. As group members grew in a shared catechesis of both the Exercises and the online setting, their common experience evangelized them by forming them for digital discipleship. The Possibilities of Online Interaction I designed my group around the general goal of exploring one effort to evangelize Catholic media consumers through social media, namely a 30-day Ignatian online faith-sharing retreat group based on the Exercises and advertised through America Media’s Facebook page. My general objective aimed to give America consumers the experience of an online faith...

Divining Gospel: Oracles of Interpretation in a Syriac Manuscript of John by Jeffrey W. Childers

Reviewed by: Divining Gospel: Oracles of Interpretation in a Syriac Manuscript of John by Jeffrey W. Childers John F. Healey jeffrey w. childers, Divining Gospel: Oracles of Interpretation in a Syriac Manuscript of John (Manuscripta Biblica 4; Berlin: de Gruyter, 2020). Pp. 230. $99.99. The “Divining Gospel” of the title refers to a very particular type of text used by diviners. John’s Gospel was especially favored, the divinatory process being based on the concept that specific divine guidance could be attached to particular sections of the base [End Page 511] text. It is usually unclear what mechanism was used to locate the correct answers, but an eighth- to ninth-century Latin Gospel of John (Paris, BnF, lat. 11553) has an elaborate diagram that appears to have been used to identify the correct oracle. In the Divining Gospel tradition, the content of the particular passage of the Gospel was less important than the sors or oracle to be found at the foot of the page or in the margin. The general concept of text-based divination of this kind goes back to pre-Christian Egypt, but it was adopted by Christians (despite some official church nervousness on practices that would certainly later be regarded as tainted by magic and, indeed, sorcery). There is evidence of continued interest in sortilege, however, in the Syriac-speaking churches as late as the nineteenth century (p. 167, referring to BL Or. 4434). The Syriac manuscript that is the direct concern of this book, BL Add. 17.119 (sixth/seventh century), is a unique manifestation of this tradition, in which the sortes, Syriac puššāqē (ἑρμηνείαι in Greek), are inserted into the running text of John’s Gospel. In this manuscript each puššāqā is written in red ink, which distinguishes it from the biblical text. When read with the rest of the text as if they belonged to it, the puššāqē are in most cases meaningless. The sortes are numbered in the margin, the last in the Syriac being no. 308 (with several missing at the end), and there is evidence that lists of sortes were sometimes kept separately from the base text. An example may help the reader imagine the overall effect. In John 9:3–4, the Syriac reads: “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but in order that the works of God might be seen in him—the puššāqā [no. 140]: He will be saved from flight and the lost thing will be found—I must do the works of the one who sent me” (my translation and italics; cf. p. 128). One can easily imagine theologians of the post-Reformation era complaining about misuse of the Word of God, magical practices, sorcery, and so on. The attitude in academic research is reflected, as Childers notes, in the use of BL Add. 17.119 in the edition of the Syriac Gospels edited by Philip Edward Pusey and G. H. Gwilliam (The Fourfold Holy Gospel: Tetraeuangelium Sanctum in the Peshitta Syriac Version [London: British & Foreign Bible Society, 1901]): they simply used the manuscript as a source of information on the text of John, without even mentioning the puššāqē. In the work under review only the puššāqē are edited and translated. In fact, it is only in very recent years that the approaches and methodology of the “new philology” and focus on book culture have come to the fore. From this perspective, the BL MS is a real-world artifact in its own right, a special manifestation of the book culture of late antiquity. This “edition” of the Gospel of John was a divining handbook (a “Diviner’s Edition”!) used to answer practical questions. C. explores the mechanisms through which it might have been employed and argues persuasively that the consultation with the priest or monk who had charge of the Divining Gospel might have provided opportunities for pastoral engagement and spiritual direction. It is very unusual, in any case, to have a single Gospel rather than all four Gospels in a complete codex, and this is already a pointer to “special use.” The puššāqē are not exegetical in the normal sense, though the disconnect between particular...

ПРИЙНЯТТЯ РІШЕНЬ КОМАНДИРОМ У НЕВИЗНАЧЕНИХ УМОВАХ

The article is devoted to the study of factors influencing decision-making by the commander under non-predetermined conditions in terms of training of servicemen in higher military educational institutions. The problem is considered from the standpoint of the future commander's capacity building in his moral, professional and personal components. The psychological factors that determine decision-making in conditions of uncertainty are highlighted. The cadet's research contained the following diagnostic and corrective techniques: J. Kelly's test with a role construct of a decisive and indecisive commander to identify personality traits that identify a commander who has the ability to act decisively under non-predetermined conditions, a dynamic method of psychom drawing "Symbol of one's own life" identification of features of value orientations and features of characteristics of thinking in a projection of development of own being; expert description of the commander's decision-making in a situation with uncertain conditions. In a special process to promote the organization of the influence of factors that help decision-making in uncertain conditions (trust in the commander, the relationship of brotherhood), showed its effectiveness (t-Student t = 5,71 at p<0,05 between the two groups at the end of the experiment at t-Student t = 2,28 at p> 0,05) it is possible to achieve a higher level of training of the future officer. The scientific novelty of the obtained research results is as follows: 1) Improved methodological approach to the formation of readiness for management decisions in extreme conditions; in conditions of uncertainty, taking into account the peculiarities of the analyzed unit, rational and irrational in the moral and psychological state of the individual and group; 2) The method of optimization of decision-making in the conditions of uncertainty which consists in the analysis of the information on the person and division in which it serves, a substantiation of the project of development of psychological structure of collective and the interconnected structure has received further development. Thus, the commander's decision-making under non-predetermined conditions can be considered from a situational approach, when at a certain time, taking into account the level of psychological readiness, the commander decides "for battle", as well as from the systemic, structural and functional, when the training system contains long ontogenetic development of the soldier's personality in his physical, psychophysiological, moral, spiritual directions.

Leprosus i księżna. Pielęgnacja zakaźnie chorych w świetle dokumentów z procesu kanonizacyjnego św. Elżbiety Węgierskiej

The aim of the article is to present the image of the care of the infectiously ill in the documents of the canonization process of St. Elizabeth of Hungary (1207–1231). The material under discussion includes the testimonies of the saint’s spiritual director Conrad of Marburg, her four servants and additional hagiographical material. The accounts made by direct observers of the duchess’ life emphasize the variety of forms of her involvement in the care of lepers and suffering from diseases that cause similar symptoms, arousing disgust in people from her surroundings. The narrative, rich in drastic details, plays the role of a hagiographic argumentatio illustrating the heroism of the central character of the testimonies.

The Spirit of Early Evangelicalism: True Religion in a Modern World by D. Bruce Hindmarsh

Reviewed by: The Spirit of Early Evangelicalism: True Religion in a Modern World by D. Bruce Hindmarsh John Coffey D. Bruce Hindmarsh, The Spirit of Early Evangelicalism: True Religion in a Modern World ( Oxford Univ. Press, 2018). Pp. 376; 29 illus. $38.95 cloth. If the eighteenth century was the century of "Enlightenment," it also witnessed the rise of "Evangelicalism." Both abstract nouns still function in public discourse as umbrella terms that disguise the complexity beneath, and both are still pitted against each other. We do well to remember that eighteenth-century English-speakers talked of neither "the Enlightenment" nor "Evangelicalism." Yet the terms have proved indispensable to historians, and the book under review is necessary reading for students of each. Bruce Hindmarsh is one of the leading authorities on eighteenth-century evangelical religion, having published two important monographs in the field: a study of the eminent Anglican preacher, hymnodist and spiritual director John Newton, and a brilliant comparative analysis of different models of conversion—Methodist, Moravian, Scottish Presbyterian, and Evangelical Anglican. This book, dedicated to John Walsh and Mark Noll, is a magnum opus, the culmination of thirty years of deep reflection on eighteenth-century religion and culture. Crucially, it is not a narrow exercise in ecclesiastical history. Instead, it [End Page 489] situates evangelicals in relation to the history of reading, science, law, and art—and to the emergence of an even grander abstraction, "modernity." In the Introduction, Hindmarsh describes evangelicalism as "a distinctive form of Christian spirituality" that first appeared in the midst of the transition from the authority of the ancients to the authority of the moderns, and "a profound turning towards nature and natural knowledge" (3–4). It "emerged on the trailing edge of Christendom and the leading edge of modernity" and can be defined as "a protest against the idea that adhering to Christian civil society as a nominal Christian was sufficient for salvation" (100). In chapter 1, Hindmarsh scrutinises the manuscript journals of the most famous evangelical preacher of the era, George Whitefield, highlighting the fear that "religion had cooled" (9). The world was full of "nominal Christians," who needed to become "serious Christians," "real Christians," Whitefield's evangelical fire fed on various combustible materials: the discipline of Oxford Methodism, the fearlessness of Lutheran Pietism, the Calvinism and biblicism of English Nonconformists, and an emphasis on the indwelling Holy Spirit arising from personal experience. Evangelical spirituality, Hindmarsh argues, "was part of the story of modern agency, or one of the 'sources of the self'" (42). Chapters 2 and 3 develop one of the book's main arguments, that evangelical devotion was "a form of traditional Christian spirituality expressed under modern social conditions" (48). Chapter 2 emphasises the modernity of evangelicalism: its exploitation of markets, trans-Atlantic communications, the periodical press, the advent of celebrity, religious toleration, and urbanization. "The dominant forms of social organization among evangelicals were not traditional, based on the territorial and hierarchical parish, but modern, based on voluntary gatherings" (49). Evangelical religion was "surprizing" and "new"—it promoted personal narratives, small cell groups, and ecumenical ideals. It has thus become—and here Hindmarsh paraphrases Martin Marty—"the typical Protestant way of relating to modernity" (60). At the same time, evangelicalism was "ancient and modern." Chapter 3 explores "the classical sources of evangelical devotion": Scripture, Anglican formularies, and Puritan and Reformed theology. There are case studies of key texts appropriated by evangelicals: The Life of God in the Soul of Man (1677) by the Scottish Episcopalian Henry Scougal, and The Imitation of Christ (c. 1441) by the medieval mystic Thomas à Kempis. Evangelicals naturalized, simplified, and popularized both, though their libraries were dominated by seventeenth-century authors, especially Puritans. Chapters 4 through 8 explore how evangelicals related to new developments in science, law, and art. Chapters 4 and 5 argue that English evangelicals, like German Pietists, created a "culture in which scientific literacy was fostered and new natural knowledge was widely disseminated" (120). There remained traces of older Platonic and alchemical philosophies, but the evangelical intelligentsia broadly "accepted Locke's sensationalist epistemology and Newton's union of terrestrial and celestial mechanics" (115). John Wesley was a keen reader of scientific literature and...

The Spiritual Formation of Evelyn Underhill by Robyn Wrigley-Carr

Reviewed by: The Spiritual Formation of Evelyn Underhill by Robyn Wrigley-Carr Kathleen Henderson Staudt (bio) The Spiritual Formation of Evelyn Underhill. By Robyn Wrigley-Carr. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2020. 185 pp. $15.00 pbk. / $13.49 eb. "Goodness and Love are caught, not taught," reflects Evelyn Underhill in an early retreat. Robyn Wrigley-Carr, a scholar of Christian Spirituality and practicing spiritual director, demonstrates the deep truth of these words in her compact [End Page 161] and abundantly annotated study of Evelyn Underhill's spiritual formation under the guidance of Baron Friedrich von Hugel, demonstrating how this formation is manifest in Underhill's pioneering work as a spiritual guide and retreat leader in the 1920s and 30s. Though plentiful scholarship on both figures already exists, this book is unique in offering personal portraits of von Hugel and Underhill in relationship to one another. The chapter on von Hugel (known affectionately as "the Baron") begins with an accessible portrait of the Baron himself, from his role in the Catholic Modernist movement to his published writing on spirituality. It notes especially his monumental exploration of Catherine of Genoa as exemplifying the "mystical element" in Christianity and shows how he draws on Catherine's wisdom in his work with directees. Von Hugel's emphasis on balance between the intellectual, institutional, and mystical elements of religion is threaded through his work, and Wrigley-Carr gives a welcome reminder of the value of this balanced approach to spiritual formation. It becomes particularly significant in the Baron's work with Evelyn Underhill, whom he gently encouraged away from a broadly transcendental and theocentric spirituality toward a balanced and "ordinary" approach to the spiritual life, rooted in an incarnational, mystical, and Christocentric spirituality. These themes would become signatures for Underhill, especially in her later retreat work. Most compelling is Wrigley-Carr's account of the correspondence and visits that helped to form both von Hugel and his directee. Readers enter this friendship gradually, with a biographical chapter on von Hugel followed by one on Underhill. These chapters appreciate the ardent and original personalities of these two people. Wrigley-Carr then brings the two together in a third chapter that explores how this relationship formed Underhill herself . The Baron provided her with biannual letters of direction that she was instructed to reread monthly. Because they lived near one another, the two had occasional social visits in between his letters. However, the spiritual direction conversation took place by letter, not least because of the Baron's deafness and delicate health. Still, they came to know one another quite well. Underhill and others report the depth, generosity, and good humor of the Baron's personality, which they experienced as radiating from his life of prayer. People would say the same of Underhill later in her life, calling her a "mother of souls." After von Hugel's death, Underhill wrote of a sense of continuing "contact" with his spirit. The relationship between them, though it lasted less than two years, clearly played a formative role. Wrigley-Carr insists persuasively that Underhill was not simply a "popularizer" of von Hugel's ideas. She shows instead the depth of formation that comes out of this friendship. To this friendship Underhill owes a fresh centering on Christ—she credits the Baron's prayers with leading her to "experience Christ"—and an appreciation of what she often calls our "amphibious existence" as creatures of matter and spirit. A Roman Catholic himself, the Baron encouraged Underhill's return to the Anglican church rather than pushing her toward a conversion to Roman Catholicism. This decision led to Underhill's important and persisting contributions to the revival of retreats and the contemplative life in the Anglican tradition, for both clergy and laity. The organization of this book indirectly provides some guidance to scholars and practitioners who desire to go deeper with the themes of spiritual formation and the journey toward Christian spiritual maturity that are threaded through [End Page 162] Wrigley-Carr's discussion. The subheadings within these chapters, for example, become a remarkably concise and helpful road map to some of the themes that often arise in relationships of spiritual guidance. For example...

Manuscript Miscellanies, Jerome's Letters to Women, and the Dominican Observant Reform in Fifteenth-Century Italy

This article examines the manuscripts into which compilers bound Dominican letters of spiritual direction in fifteenth-century Italy. It argues that manuscript compilers sought to model Observant Dominican sanctity after Jerome's late antique practice of writing letters of spiritual direction to women. The paper aims to contribute to the growing conversation around the development and spread of an Observant Dominican identity by demonstrating that compilers modeled Observant beati after Jerome's authoritative persona in order to argue for the ancient precedent of the reformers’ often controversial agendas, chief among them their active ministry to women.

The Abbaye du Saint Esprit: Spiritual Instruction for Laywomen, 1250–1500 by Pinder Janice

Reviewed by: The Abbaye du Saint Esprit: Spiritual Instruction for Laywomen, 1250–1500 by Pinder Janice Thomas A. Fudge Pinder, Janice, The Abbaye du Saint Esprit: Spiritual Instruction for Laywomen, 1250–1500 (Medieval Women: Texts and Contexts, 21), Brepols, Turnhout, 2020; cloth; pp. x, 219; 1 b/w illustration, 2 b/w tables; R.R.P. €75.00; ISBN 9782503586816. Vernacular writings for the spiritual instruction of women in late medieval Europe were not isolated phenomena. Ideas of spiritual direction took many forms. Janice Pinder argues that the Abbaye du Saint Esprit likely emerged in northern France or the southern Netherlands from a 'context of experimentation with new forms of religious life among the laity where features of beguinal life and prayer were familiar and viewed with approval' (p. 8). One should not misjudge the force and influence of female spirituality between the Atlantic and the deeper reaches of central Europe. One cannot read the Abbaye without thinking of related texts addressed to communities of women elsewhere. Around 1413 the Czech priest [End Page 246] Jan Hus composed a similar text, Dcerka: O poznání cěsty pravé k spasení (The Daughter, or How to Know the Correct Way to Salvation), for a Beguine-like community of women living together in Prague. Running to about 13,000 words and consisting of ten chapters, Hus focuses his spiritual instruction with the repeated declaration 'slyš, dcerko' ('hear, O daughter'). This is not the place to compare those texts, but the analysis might be fruitful. The Abbaye also uses a similar device, employing the French fille to address the readership. Following Bernard McGinn, Pinder suggests that vernacular theology was a result of conversations surpassing simplistic readings of Scripture, rote catechetical memorizations, or the hearing of formal sermons. We have lost the gist of those conversations, but texts like the Abbaye provide hints. Based on thirteen extant manuscripts and with plenty of discussion about those manuscripts, their history, modification, striking omissions, and additions, Pinder succeeds in demonstrating several things: there is no single edition of the text; the transmission history is complex; it endeavours to communicate to a lay audience the idea of the spiritual quest; and it relies upon a variety of sources to achieve that aim. Importantly, Pinder understands the Abbaye as depicting a struggle between vices and virtues, a contest in which the daughters of the Holy Spirit oppose the daughters of the Devil. The context for this battle is the cloister. Allegorically, the holy spaces of the religious house are signposts for the pilgrim who must navigate the minefields of adversity created by the daughters of the Devil. The architecture of the convent parallels the cloister of the soul. Spiritual aid and instruction are encountered in cellars, chapter houses, chapels, dormitories, granaries, infirmaries, refectories, and in the stone walls, to say nothing of the foundations. Conscience is where the Holy Spirit desires to dwell. The ladies of truth, purity, humility, and poverty are active. The fortress against sin and temptation is buttressed by Lady Obedience and Lady Mercy, while Patience and Fortitude provide reinforcement. Truth is encountered by means of Lady Preaching in the refectory where souls are fed. Lady Contemplation fits out the dormitory, Prayer the chapel, Compassion the infirmary, Devotion the cellar, and Meditation the granary, while Lady Charity is abbess, Wisdom the prioress, Humility the sub-prioress. Lady Discretion is treasurer, while Lady Prayer is the choir-mistress supported by Lady Jubilation. Lady Penance works in the kitchen, Temperance serves food and drink in the refectory, and Sobriety reads at table, while the ladies Pity, Mercy, Fear, Honesty, Courtesy, Simplicity, Reason, Loyalty, Generosity, and Zeal perform other functions. The spiritual life attracts deadly enemies, namely the four daughters of the Devil—pride and presumption; murmuring and detraction; envy; and false judgement—who seek to thwart the progress of the female seeking spiritual maturity. The Abbaye shows women actively engaged and not passive recipients of spiritual instruction. A major thematic thread in the Abbaye is the soul's ascent to God and the practices that enable and enhance that goal. The ethos of the Beguine is apparent throughout, and the world of the Beguine appears to constitute the...

How We Love: A Formation for the Celibate Life by John Mark Falkenhain

Reviewed by: How We Love: A Formation for the Celibate Life by John Mark Falkenhain Br. Patrick Sean Moffett, CFC, PhD How We Love: A Formation for the Celibate Life. By John Mark Falkenhain, OSB. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2019. Pp. 235. $29.95. Br. John Mark Falkenhain, a Benedictine and psychologist, has devoted much of the opening decades of the new millennium to researching and teaching about initial formation for a life of celibate chastity. In August of 2019, while Review for Religious was still in hibernation, he gathered his findings and insights under the title How We Love. His text has already become a standard resource for those actively engaged in religious formation in the United States. Executive Director of the Religious Formation Conference, Sister Ellen Dauwer, SC, reports: "The work of Br. John Mark Falkenhain, OSB in the area of celibate chastity is a significant contribution to literature on the vows. In our ministry of preparing formators as well as in our programs that prepare religious women and men for life commitment, How We Love is a fundamental resource. It brings an essential contemporary perspective to formation for celibate life and is well grounded in theory and practice." The work of a master teacher, How We Love offers a well-integrated program for formation in celibate chastity in a series of clear and concise presentations, well-honed in years of interaction with groups of aspiring religious and their formators. This review serves to alert those who might be on the periphery of such work. Senior women and men religious or diocesan priests will do well to [End Page 277] compare current forms of formation for celibate life with their own preparation, or lack thereof, for the life-long experience of the sexual dimensions of self-understanding, self-accepting and self-giving. As communities become increasingly disparate in age and culture, senior religious do well to learn what is going into the formation of younger members. Of special note are brief reviews of current psychological understandings of sex, gender, sexual orientation, and same-sex attraction, as well as church teachings on homosexual orientation and homosexual acts. He confronts directly the controversy surrounding the phrase "intrinsically disordered" (97) and invites discernment on what specific meaning congregations give to the expression "present deep-seated homosexual tendencies" or "gay subculture" (99). A continuing engagement in theological reflection is presented as essential to formation for the celibate life. Five theologies of consecrated celibacy are surveyed as contexts for discerning meaning in lived experiences of our sexuality. Attractions, longings, fantasies, relationships, entanglements, uncertainties, regrets, repentance, resolutions, and ecstasies all invite examination through the lens of our understanding of the call to celibate chastity. Here, I believe, the book opens up realms that call out for further clarification and elaboration. The presentation of the five theologies is understandably schematic: Celibacy for the Sake of the Kingdom: The Eschatological Dimension; the Apostolic Dimension; Spousal Theology of Celibacy; and an Ascetic Theology of Celibacy. An additional section entitled "In Persona Christi Capitis: Celibacy in Imitation of Christ" is presented (I suggest problematically) as relating specially to priestly or clerical celibacy. Those engaged in the formative process will need to seek richer resources on religious brothers and sisters imitating Christ through their celibacy. Theologians might respond by tapping rich traditions and translating them into current exigencies. The revisions of constitutions and rules of various congregations following Perfectae Caritatis are informative. In 1975 Donald Goergen, OP, traced celibacy back to the Torah and opened decades of conversation with The Sexual Celibate. F.'s bibliography offers important leads into emerging social issues. How best can we follow up on these leads to articulate the case for celibate chastity in religious life in 2021 and beyond? Review for Religious would welcome such contributions. As a practicing psychologist, F. appropriately reminds the reader that the main focus of spiritual direction and religious formation ought not be psychological in nature. He offers a useful examination of the internal and external forum and the roles of specialists in the formation process. While not promoted in the book, there are on-line resources to be found at https://www.sliconnect.org/mental-health-matters...

Penghulu sebagai Ujung Tombak Konstruksi Pemikiran Beragama Moderat di Sintang

The transnational religious thought of Salafi Wahabi has received a significant response from some Muslims in Sintang City. The response, among others, is marked by the establishment of a Salafi Study Center at Abu Bakr mosque that has influenced some congregations of the surrounding mosques such as al-Amin mosque, Nur Mosque, and al-Muttaqin Mosque in Kampung Ladang area. In addition, another religious thought of Jamaah Tabliqh also gets adherents from the surrounding community in Masuka. They have set up a mosque to accommodate their religious activities. The positive response to the transnational religious thought has also been found in the hinterland of Ketungau Hilir and Tempunak sub-districts in Sintang City area. This work discusses the roles of Penghulu (the official Islamic religious leaders) in Sintang District in responding to the growing of the transnational religious thought. Based on qualitative data and analysis gathered in the field, the work suggests that the marriage administers (the penghulu) have not shown their satisfying performance with well structured programs. In fact, the penghulu sets in a strategic position within the society. They have focused more on marriage counselling as their services to religious guidance to the community. Special programs for spiritual direction with a broader range of materials have not been attracting their attention due to their limited time allocated and facilities available. Therefore, this work recommends that it is urgent to initiate the construction of knowledge that is not easily to be exposed by transnational religious traditions that tend to act radically. The penghulu may better provide insight into Islamic moderation or moderate Islam to the community in the region.

La direzione spirituale come relazione di aiuto

This article, entitled The spiritual direction as a relationship based on offering help highlights the task of the Spiritual Director, who walks alongside the seminarian, aiding him in the art of discernment. This ongoing process is always under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, who works through the gifts of the Spiritual Director and the seminarian. In this article, we will begin with the fact that, in order to accompany someone in spiritual growth it is necessary to engage well in a period of discernment. Both spiritual direction and discernment bear fruit under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

제 4차 산업혁명 시대의 영성지도 : 조나단 에드워즈를 중심으로

코로나19 이후 급속화 된 제 4차 산업혁명의 도래는 피할 수 없는 추세가 되었고, 우리의 삶의 방식과 태도에 커다란 영향을 주고 있음을 우리는 부인 할 수 없다. 이와 더불어 과학과 기술이 고도화 된 사회에서 영적인 갈급함은 더 심화 될 것이며 이를 해결하기 위하여 전 세계적으로 영성에 대한 관심과 함께 실천적인 영역인 영성지도가 부상하고 있다. 따라서 본 논문은 제 4차 산업혁명 시대를 맞이하여 조나단 에드워즈의 사례를 중심으로 영성지도 사역에 대하여 탐구하고, 한국교회와 목회자들에게 주는 시사점이 무엇인지 연구하였다. 에드워즈는 대 각성운동을 이끈 인물로 300여년이 지난 오늘까지 기독교 신앙뿐만 아니라 다양한 분야에 걸쳐서 광범위하게 영향을 미치고 있다. 에드워즈는 경건한 가정에서 태어나 아버지와 외할아버지로 부터 간접적으로 영성지도를 받았으며, 노샘프턴 교회에서 23년 동안 목회하면서 성도들 그리고 목회자 후보생들을 멘토링 함으로써 일종의 영성지도 사역을 행하였다. 또한 그는 영적도움이 필요한 사람들에게 편지를 왕래함으로써, 그리고 목회 사역을 통하여 영혼의 돌봄과 치리를 함으로써 영성지도 사역을 감당 하였다. 우리는 흔히 에드워즈를 미국 역사상 가장 탁월한 목회자요, 신학자요, 기독교 철학자로만 기억하고 있지만 본 논문을 통하여 그는 무엇보다 영성지도자임을 재조명하였다. 그러므로 제 4차 산업혁명 시대라는 큰 도전을 맞이하고 있는 한국교회와 목회자들은 영성지도 사역의 중요성을 인식하고, 에드워즈의 사례를 통해 배운 바를 적용해야한다. 뿐만 아니라 이들은 신학적 인간론에 대한 새로운 이해, 일상의 영성 회복, 다양한 매체를 통한 영성지도 준비, 소그룹 활성화를 통한 그룹영성지도, 영적분별에 대한 지도 그리고 공공성 회복 등에 대한 준비가 필요함을 발견해야 한다.

Каритативная практика ислама

The article is devoted to the socio-philosophical and religious studies analysis of the charitable activities in Islam. The subject of the research is the theological foundations of caritative activity in Islam. The mechanism of interfaith interaction in the field of charity is considered on the example of the Vladimir Mukhtasibat of the Central Spiritual Directorate of Muslims of Russia. Recommendations for the creation of applied strategies in the field of caritative partnership are given. The modern policy of the state is aimed at the implementation of interfaith interaction, including the interaction of religious organizations with government authorities. At the present time, the norms of socio-caritative relations between religious organizations and the state are mostly declared, definitions are generalized and are unable to concretize most of the interaction mechanisms. The key to the successful functioning and development of caritative activity is the equality of religious organizations and the absence of priority spiritual directions for state bodies when building a policy of caritative interaction.

The Unmaking of a Pedophilic Priest: Transnational Clerical Sexual Abuse in Guatemala

AbstractThroughout the second half of the twentieth century, Latin America became something of a dumping ground for U.S. priests suspected of sexual abuse, with north-to-south clerical transfers sending predatory priests to countries where pedophilia did not exist in any kind of ontological sense. This article, in response, engages the case of Father David Roney of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota. After a career of accusations and payouts, with Roney entering and exiting Church-mandated therapy programs, Bishop Raymond Lucker retired this notoriously predatory priest to rural Guatemala in 1994. By placing Roney beyond the reach of psychiatrists, psychologists, and spiritual directors, the Roman Catholic Church leveraged a psychological and juridical difference between two geographical settings in order to render the pedophilia of this priest effectively non-existent, thereby insulating itself from further reputational damage and additional litigation. Given that the Roman Catholic Church has long been an empirical point of reference for studies of subject formation—from pastoralism and mysticism to ritual and the confession—this article adds that the Church also provides ample evidence of an opposite process: of unmaking people.

Evelyn Underhill and the Christian Social Movement

AbstractEvelyn Underhill is mainly known for her work in mysticism and spirituality. This article explores the political dimension of her work and argues her early work in mysticism and later work in spiritual direction and retreat work underpinned her engagement with leading figures in the interwar Anglican church and their social agenda. During this period Underhill worked closely with William Temple, Charles Raven, Walter Frere and Lucy Gardner among others. In the interwar years she contributed in important ways to the Church of England Congresses, and the Conference on Christian Politics, Employment and Citizenship (COPEC) initiative. She challenged what she called the anthropocentric tendency in the Christian Social movement and insisted on the centrality of the spiritual life for any effective social reform. Underhill worked to engage the general public, as well as Christian communities, in a spiritual life that she saw as essential to the efforts of individuals and organizations seeking to alleviate contemporary social harms.

Spiritual Practices Are Boring: a Psychoanalytic Understanding of Spiritual Ennui

Boredom in prayer or in a spiritual discipline can be a common experience among people of faith. Questions arise about what is going wrong, and some may stop their practice altogether. Believers bring their histories and personalities to the devotional moment, which may account for some of this boredom. D. W. Winnicott and spiritual theology reveal the underlying dynamics at play in certain types of boredom and offer practical methodology for discernment and navigation through such experiences. Spiritual theology indicates that boredom in prayer may be a result of sin, God-initiated purgation, or a developmental capacity or deficit. In cases of developmental capacity or deficit, spiritual theology does not fully explain why the deficit exists or how to develop that capacity. Psychoanalytic theory bolsters spiritual theology by providing a deeper understanding of such boredom experiences and a methodology for working with them. Case studies from psychoanalytic theory and spiritual direction amplify theoretical concepts by providing examples of practical applications.