About the Society

 black and white image for decoration While the emphasis of the SSCS is clearly on Christian spirituality, it also seeks to foster creative dialogue with non-Christian traditions of spirituality. The Society’s membership includes scholars active in a wide range of academic communities as well as artists, pastors, practitioners, and those in the helping professions—all those interested in reflecting critically on the life of the Spirit. Founded in 1991 at the American Academy of Religion (AAR) meeting in Kansas City, Missouri, the SSCS was established to facilitate the scholarly examination of spirituality and to maintain spirituality as a regular part of the AAR program. The SSCS received recognition from the AAR as a Related Scholarly Organization in May, 1992, and held its first annual meeting in San Francisco in November, 1992. The SSCS meets annually in conjunction with the AAR meeting. In addition to an annual meeting, the SSCS has launched Spiritus, a refereed, scholarly journal that aims to foster dialogue about critical issues in the field of spirituality.

Janet Ruffing

The Society for the Study of Christian Spirituality is the single most important opportunity for scholars in the field whose primary focus is on Christian tradition to reflect deeply on both how we teach Christian Spirituality as well as share our cutting age research and writing in our field. As we approach our 20th anniversary as a society, we are proud of our journal, Spiritus, that has consistently covered wide-ranging issues in our field as well as provoked thoughtful interdisciplinary reflection among us and readers beyond our face-to face annual meetings at AAR for the last ten years.

Janet Ruffing

President of the Society for the Study of Christian Spirituality, 2010-11

Professor of the Practice of Spirituality and Ministerial Leadership at Yale Divinity School, New Haven, CT.