Since the formal foundation of the academic study of Christian spirituality, methodological questions have remained crucial for the guidance of research in the discipline. Recently, there has been a resurgence of interest in this topic: What kind of "imaginary" should spirituality draw on for an understanding of its basic parameters of inquiry? How do different methodological starting points impact the discipline's self-understanding? The session analyses a range of fundamental methodological referents including i. the notion of "spirit" in the music of Willie Nelson, ii. the concept of "embodiment" explored through an East Asian etymological approach, iii. "spiritual practice" framed within transformative relationality as understood, for example, by M. Buber, P. Ricoeur, and H. Thurman, and iv. "human intelligence" as the primary means through which spirituality is activated resourcing pragmatic and liberationist methodologies.
In this study, I seek to elucidate the embodied and relational implications of 靈性 (Língxìng), rendered as spirituality, through an East Asian etymological approach that challenges Western-centric origins. Within Chinese ideographic structure, 靈性 is a compound of 靈, which signifies a “relational spirit,” and 性, which indicates “innate nature.” This term etymologically underscores not only the cosmotheandric spiritual nature inherent in humans but also the integration of body and spirit. 靈性 plays a central role in exploring the spirituality discipline of East Asian scholars, and it also complements the early Western dualistic meaning of spirituality rooted in a rigid ascetic Christian context. Such an East Asian etymological analysis would contribute to interdisciplinary studies of Christian spirituality transcending the barriers of any centralism. By doing so, this proposal aims to create an inclusive space for interplay between East Asian and Western spiritualities, suggesting an embodied understanding of all lived spiritual experiences.
This paper argues for the centrality of spirituality, especially in times of cultural crisis, outlining a methodology of spiritual companioning called Just Listening that works as a fulcrum of action between justice and freedom. The paper draws upon the work of Martin Buber and his concept of I and Thou, and Paul Ricouer’s hermeneutic of mimesis praxeos, as well as Martin Luther King, Jr., Howard Thurman and other voices in marginalized communities. These inform a methodology of spiritual practice rooted in the concept of belovedness that moves toward the notion of beloved community. This employs a circular, iterative process—present, proximate, grounded, unknow(n), and discovery—to cultivate transformative relationality. Through active steps of pause, notice, and encounter, persons and communities deepen their own self-understanding and just relationship with the other and wider creation.
This paper discusses the concept of "Spirit" in the music of Willie Nelson. Beginning with a Christological concept album in 1971, Yesterday's Wine, Willie Nelson used music as a medium to discern a theology of spirituality. This procedure reaches a climax in the 1996 album spirit. This record is a series of explorations into the meaning of “spirit” as an experienced reality. More than a claim that the concept affords numerous meanings, the album posits that this multivalence is the meaning of Spirit. This idea finds support from works such as Charles Taylor and Friedrich Schiller, who help to explain the potency of Nelson's exploration. For spirit, both its poetic and symbolic presence means that the album is not an attempt to explain Spirit. It is an event where the meaning of Spirit is discovered. Its meaning is lived-through in the lyrical poetry and fragile sonics of the album.
In what ways can spirituality be a life-giving resource in our death-dealing age? What methodological resources can help to inform our study of spirituality? In this paper, I argue that pragmatic and liberationist methodologies have much to offer. I approach philosophical pragmatism and liberation theology as non-reductive empirical discourses that foreground the role of human intelligence in promoting human flourishing. Such an approach helps to expand our understanding of spirituality as a pervasive quality of human experience, and it sheds significant light on spirituality as an active function of human intelligence. Within a pragmatic model of inquiry, knowing is an “adaptive activity” that involves a dynamic process of doubt, belief, inquiry, and judgment. As I show, in both pragmatism and liberation theology, human intelligence, broadly understood, is a—if not the—primary means by which human beings transact with the world and through which spirituality is, in fact, “activated.”