Article: The Praxis of Spirituality: Experiencing God and Responding to that Relationship, by Janet K. Ruffing

Janet Ruffing begins her article by describing some of the questions facing Christian spirituality studies today. For Ruffing, practice begins with an inner experience of God followed by reflection and interpretation to discern its meaning. She then shows how mystical texts, theology and scientific disciplines can inform our understanding of spiritual practices. Here are the essay’s opening paragraphs:

As we reflect on the field of Christian spirituality over the last twenty-five years, . . . . methodological and definitional questions, philosophical questions, theological questions, and interdisciplinary contributions to our field remain in flux. We have witnessed a weakening of an assumed relationship between practicing a religion and spirituality in the West. And we have experienced an exponential growth in a variety of empirical approaches to the study of spirituality in psychology, business, neuroscience, health, and other social science approaches. It is timely that we ask whither is our field going?

In my reflections with you, I offer some preliminary remarks about the praxis of spirituality. Why do we engage in practices that facilitate deepening our experience of God and then shaping our basic relational life commitments, ministries, work, social and cultural life in response to this self-revealing God whose face is turned toward us as unconditional love and mercy?


Ruffing, Janet K. “The Praxis of Spirituality: Experiencing God and Responding to that Relationship,” in Transforming Spirituality. Proceedings of the International Conference held at Soeterbeeck (the Netherlands) 6 and 7 May 2016, Studies in Spirituality 28 (2018): 47-63. 

 

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