Christian Spirituality Studies Blog

Many of us can name novels and poetry which affected us deeply and nourished our inner being. In his new book Matthew Wickman describes how his reading of literary works led to spiritual experiences. Here is the book's overview:

Spiritual experiences are famously transformative. They sometimes inspire dramatic effects of conversion and healing, of vision and new life direction. But even in their more quotidian forms they expand our cognitive and emotional capacities, help cultivate virtues, and intensify our feelings of closeness to God, others, and things we deem ultimate. For Wickman...

Andrew Dyck's syllabus is for a course introducing students to the early formation and continuing presence of Anabaptist spirituality. Here is the course description:

The spirituality of sixteenth-century Anabaptists has not only shaped differing Mennonite denominations, but also inspired other Christian groups in the twenty-first century. This course will trace key expressions of this 'radical Reformation' spirituality, and consider how those are expressed in contemporary Christian contexts. As well as reading about Anabaptist spirituality, students will read writings of the first...

SSCS member Doug Christie's new book is an exploration of the teachings and practice of apophatic spirituality and its profound capacity to help those suffering from loss and absence. Here is the book's description:

The primary aim of this book is to reconsider the meaning of darkness within mystical and contemplative thought and practice--especially as the ground and source of love. The book examines how a sustained, critical attention to apophatic spiritual traditions can help us respond to the gaps, silences, and empty places that have become such a prominent feature of contemporary...

SSCS member David Perrin's article appears in a volume of the open access journal Acta Theologica titled "In the Divine presence. Essays in honour of Kees Waaijman on his 80th birthday," Here is the article's abstract:

John of the Cross (1542-1591), a Christian theologian and Catholic priest born in Spain, lived through the worst of the Spanish Inquisition. Emmanuel Lévinas (1906-1995), a Jewish philosopher and layman born in Lithuania, lived through the 1917 Russian Revolution and the collapse of the old regime. What, then, brings these two eminent thinkers together: one from the...

SSCS member Andrew E. Dyck's dissertation (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 2017) is available for download. Here is the dissertation's abstract:

In this dissertation, I address the question of how one group of Protestant evangelicals— Mennonite Brethren in Canada—can draw organically on spiritual practices coming from other Christian traditions. This question is significant in light of the discussions among North American evangelicals about the appropriateness of adopting spiritual disciplines from Christians—such as Catholics—whom Protestants have at times viewed with criticism and...

SSCS member Christopher Morris's PhD dissertation (University of Divinity, 2020) is freely available for download. Here is its abstract:

This thesis is a study of the work of the Camaldolese Benedictine monk, Fr Bruno Barnhart (1931-2015). He envisions the Christian life from the perspective of wisdom and centred in participatory knowing. Barnhart develops a vision for wisdom today inspired by the Second Vatican Council and framed around four key ‘turns’: an umbrella turn, ‘the sapiential awakening’ representing the fundamental turn towards a wisdom approach; and three further turns to...

SSCS member Emily Griesinger has made this syllabus available to other Society members. Please contact the blog moderator by email if you'd like a copy. Here is the course's introduction:

Spiritual Auto/Biography: One of the central features of contemporary culture, according to Andrew Delbanco, is an “unslaked craving for transcendence.” In this special topics seminar we will examine classic and contemporary spiritual auto/biographies and memoirs that use storytelling devices—plot, setting, character, tone, point of view, imagery, symbol—to express and convey religious experience.  We...

Richard Bernier has made this syllabus available for SSCS members for a course he is teaching this semester. Copies can be requested by contacting the blog moderator by email. Here is the course overview:

The characteristics of Christian spirituality, its roots in scripture, the balance between contemplation and action, its communal dimension, its attitude to the world, are analyzed through the study of a selection of men and women whose lives exemplify various aspects of Christian spirituality over the past two thousand years. The course examines notions of transcendence and immanence...

SSCS member Richard Bernier has made this syllabus available to other members. Here is the course's overview:

This course focuses on the phenomenon of spirituality as a personal and social response to the human quest for self-integration and self-transcendence. It examines the roles of both religious tradition and secular culture in shaping approaches to the spiritual journey. Consideration of the characteristics of Christian spiritual traditions is complemented by reflection upon the meaning and variety of spiritualities present in the pluralistic postmodern culture.

SSCS members...

This article, co-authored by SSCS member Glen Scorgie, reports on a qualitative study designed to explore what first generation Chinese converts, mostly immigrants to the US, experienced in evangelical Protestant Christianity that led to their conversion and supported their new faith. Here is the article's abstract:

Christianity has become the religion of choice for a growing number of diasporic Chinese. This qualitative study examines the conversion narratives of first-generation Chinese converts to evangelical Protestant Christianity, exploring in particular the spiritual experiences...