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7 - Catholic spirituality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Lawrence S. Cunningham
Lawrence S. Cunningham
Affiliation:
University of Notre Dame, Indiana
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Summary

INTRODUCTION

The word “spirituality” in our own time has come to mean something quite vaguely attached to feelings – thus, one commonly hears the phrase “I am spiritual but not religious.” Historically, however, the term “spiritual” meant one who lived under the impulse of the Holy Spirit as a follower of Jesus Christ. The scriptural root for this usage derives from a classic passage in Saint Paul's Letter to the Romans (8:1–17) where Paul sharply distinguishes those who live “according to the flesh” from those who live according to the Spirit. For Paul, the contrast between “flesh” and “spirit” should not be confused with some kind of radical dualism, say, between, body and soul. For Paul, the word “flesh” (and Paul distinguishes “flesh” from “body”) means those carnal impulses that degrade a human person and are further identified with death. By contrast, those who live “according to the Spirit” are those who have the Spirit within them and are further identified to be, according to adoption, what Jesus is by nature: “Children of God” who are able to cry out and call God “Abba” (see Rom. 8:15ff; and Gal. 4:4–6).

A person who lives in the Spirit is one who is linked to Christ through participation in his death and resurrection through baptism, by partaking in his body and blood through the eucharist, by being a part of his body in union with all others who make up the assembly of Christian believers, who follow his word, and await his coming in the final resurrection.

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An Introduction to Catholicism , pp. 147 - 171
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2009

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References

Barton, Stephen, ed., Holiness Past and Present (London: T & T Clark, 2003). Valuable essays on holiness in an ecumenical context.
Casey, Michael, Towards God: The Ancient Wisdom of Western Prayer (Liguori, Miss.: Triumph, 1996). A useful survey of the history of prayer in the West.Google Scholar
Cunningham, Lawrence and Egan, Keith, Christian Spirituality: Themes from the Tradition (New York, N.Y.:Paulist, 1996). A basic introduction.Google Scholar
Dreyer, Elizabeth and Burrows, Mark, eds., Minding the Spirit: The Study of Christian Spirituality (Baltimore, Md.:Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005). Important methodological essays.
Downey, Michael, ed., The New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality (Collegeville, Pa.: Glazier, 1993). Comprehensive resource from a Catholic perspective.
Gutiérrez, Gustavo, We Drink from Our Own Wells (Maryknoll, N.Y.:Orbis, 1983). Spirituality from the perspective of liberation theology.Google Scholar
Harmless, William, Mystics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007). A valuable book on how to understand and read mysticl texts.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Graef, Hilda, Mary: A History of Doctrine and Devotion (2 vols., London: Sheed & Ward, 1965). An old but useful survey.Google Scholar
Orsuto, Donna, Holiness (London and New York, N.Y.:Continuum, 2006). A useful overview of Catholic spirituality written by a lay theologian.Google Scholar
Sheldrake, Philip, Spirituality and History (New York, N.Y.: Crossroad, 1992). A useful study of how spirituality has an historical shape.Google Scholar
Sheldrake, Philip, ed., The New Westminster Dictionary of Christian Spirituality (London and Louisville, Ky.: SCM and Westminster, 2005). Highly informative and ecumenical in scope.
Waaijman, Kees, Spirituality: Forms, Foundations, Methods (Leuven: Peeters, 2003). Massive study done from a Catholic perspective with a phenomenological orientation.
Wimbush, Vincent L. and Valantasis, Richard, eds., Asceticism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995). A collection of essays from a comparative perspective.
Zaleski, Philip and Zaleski, Carol, Prayer: A History (Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 2005). An excellent survey of prayer in cross-cultural perspective.Google Scholar

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