This Post Has 6 Comments

1. Malcolm March 13, 2007

   This is a helpful list Jonny, but it all seems very positive (to me at least!) I wonder if we also need to identify the negative (or less positive) contours of contemporary spirituality as well. For a starters I might want to suggest that much contemporary spirituality has a tendency to be consumerist (‘Mind Body Spirit’ fairs can be intensely consumerist for example). I’m not adding this dimension because I believe that contemporary spirituality is bad (as it happens, I relate much more to the contours you highlight than much of what passes for ‘spirituality’ in churches) but because we need to be honest about the shortcomings too and see Christ in the midst redeeming and transforming. What do you think?

2. David March 13, 2007

   Great list, i would also add:
   Transformational
   Trinitarian
   Contexualised
   Biblical
   Practical
   Missional
   Radical
   Erudite
   Traditional
   Prophetic
   Human

3. Mark March 13, 2007

   nice 😉

4. julie March 13, 2007

   gritty, unnerving, dangerous, transformative, risky, surprising, interpretive, wide, inclusive, generous, illusive, unbounded, robust, flexible, fragile, fragmented, transitory, translative, initiating, funny, subversive………………..

5. jonny March 14, 2007

   thanks guys… malcom i didn’t unpack these here but under authentic when i chatted about them at blah i did speak about the darker side of life, reality, pain. but it’s a good point. i don’t know if you have read david tacey’s the spirituality revolution but he has a great section making exactly that point where he suggests contemporary spirituality shies away from that stuff. i’d look it up and quote it but i leant it to someone at blah on monday.
   julie i like your list a lot more than mine!
   david i was avoiding things like biblical as i was trying to get a list that captured christian spirituality but also resonated with contemporary views on spirituality so i guess i would have included that stuff in improvised. but i like human – sounds better than embodied!

6. andrew March 14, 2007

   malcolm has a good point. the worship at my father’s funeral would, imho, make it into the contours of this kind of spirituality and a few different words that described it could be added to that list.
   anger was part of it, as well as appearing in some of David’s pslams

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