A Brief History of Spirituality

Описание

reducing matters to names, dates, and superficial generalizations? The only realistic answer is to select only some personalities, traditions, and themes. The result is inevitably subjective
but I hope it is also reasonably balanced. The book follows a
broadly chronological framework blended with thematic elements that are highlighted as particularly characteristic of an age.
In recent years for teaching purposes I have also found it helpful
to identify four major paradigms of Christian spirituality. I call
these ‘‘the monastic paradigm,’’ ‘‘the mystical paradigm,’’ ‘‘the
active paradigm,’’ and ‘‘the prophetic-critical paradigm.’’ These
are identified in the pages that follow.
Sadly in such a brief volume it proved impossible to do
proper justice to the great riches of both Western and Eastern
Christianity. After the early Christian centuries the book concentrates on Western Christianity while summarizing aspects
of the East where possible.
The introduction addresses the question ‘‘what is spirituality?’’ The historical treatment begins with a chapter on the
scriptural and early Church foundations of spirituality and summarizes the key features of Christian spiritualities. Chapter 2
discusses the ‘‘monastic paradigm’’ of spirituality and the reasons
for the relative dominance of monastic ways of life in the period
up to the twelfth century. It also briefly discusses the divergence
of Eastern and Western religious cultures and its impact on
spirituality. Chapter 3 charts major shifts in spirituality between
the twelfth and fifteenth centuries particularly in relation to the
re-emergence of cities – especially the movement of spirituality
outwards from the cloister and the emergence of a more subjective ‘‘mystical paradigm.’’ This chapter ends with an epilogue that
looks towards the Reformation. Chapter 4 explores the age of the
Reformations and the breakdown of Western ‘‘Christendom’’
from the mid-fifteenth to the end of the seventeenth century.
The period also sees the dominance of a third form of spirituality,
what I call ‘‘the active paradigm,’’ with its emphasis on finding
xii Preface

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