Undergraduate Projects/Long Essays

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Browsing Undergraduate Projects/Long Essays by Subject "1nculturation or Inspiritualitization"

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    Spirituality As A Common Ground For Dialogue in Mission
    (Tangaza University College, 1997-02) Pals, Wilfred
    I grew up in an environment where most people are not Christian. There are people who belong to various Hindu spiritual traditions in its diversity and people who practice Islamic spirituality. As a student in primary school I had not given much thought to this question of differences. But as! grew up in my Christian faith this whole question of different religious traditions began to bother me. I hope that it will continue to bother me so that I may find some, if not convincing, at least satisfactory answers. It is up to each individual to find some answers or to give some kind of meaning to one's existence in one's own unique way. Today there is lot of attention given to the spiritual dimension of religion. At the dawn of the third millennium religious belief is intensifying worldwide. Most of humankind believe their lives have meaning and purpose. This conviction is the essential message of all religions. When people are overcome by change, the need for spiritual belief intensifies. The thinking of the 19th century philosopher Friedreich Nietzsche, which culminated in the propagation of the "God is dead" philosophy, is being repudiated by the powerful counter trend of religious revival. Even the blind faith that was placed in science and technology is being challenged by many. They have come to the realization that science and technology do not reveal what life means. This is learned through literature, arts and spirituality. In the light of present tragic experiences, people everywhere have begun to ask "how reasonable is reason", if the employment of its maximum potential for the creation of new technology does not guarantee that it can prevent the irrational use of such technology. Today's post modern nihilism, proclaims the trivialization of existence. People who have experienced the catastrophes based on human self-sufficiency are afraid of such an attitude. AS a result of several influences "spirituality" has come to be seen as a more integrated and integrative dimension of the life of faith. Today there is a greater awareness of the need for the interface of many religious traditions and cultures. There is no doubt that each is aware of one's own separate identity but at the same time there is a realization of the global interconnection of all. Both od these elements have led people to see spirituality as a way of life. Since Vatican 11, the Catholic Church has experienced a renewed interest in spirituality that covers a wide range of elements: the primacy of religious experience; biblical spirituality; renewed liturgy; recovery of its tradition's spiritual classics; interest in Eastern forms of the spiritual life; the relationship between spirituality and psychology; liberation and feminist spiritualities; mysticism and so on. The term "spirituality" has become so popular that many things are said about it. It has undergone an astounding expansion in the last few decades. Before Vatican II it was an almost exclusively Roman Catholic term. Today it has been adopted by Protestantism, Judaism, non-Christian religions, and even by secular movements like Feminism and Marxism. Though difficult to define, it is experienced as analogous in all of these movements. The term no longer refers exclusively, or even primarily, to prayer and spiritual exercises, much less to an elite state or superior practice of Christianity. From its original reference to the "interior life" of the person, usually a cleric or religious, who was 'striving for perfection' that was beyond the scope of the 'ordinary' believer, the term has broadened to connote the whole of the life of faith and even the life of the person as a whole, including its bodily, psychological, social and political dimensions.' One of the important characteristics of spirituality (which is noted in this essay) is that it cannot be neatly simplified. One can understand it and foster one's own spirituality and the spirituality of others. Spirituality, despite the general confusion about its meaning, is a subject which can no longer be politely ignored by the Church which would prefer a less 'emotional' approach to faith. Today, we are increasingly aware of the thirst for spirituality and its importance in the dialogue with non-Christian religions. Hence, in this paper, I am concerned to show how relevant this whole idea of 'spirituality' is today. I would like to make a humble effort to show how spirituality can work as a common ground for dialogue (which is so much spoken and written about) in the practice of our missionary mandate. In the paper I have resorted to many sources to present the available evidence on what I wish to develop. The paper will be conditioned by the culture(Indian) in which I have lived and by my limited knowledge and experience.