King, Ursula (2009) The Search
for Spirituality: our global quest for meaning and fulfilment,
Norwich: Canterbury Press
The
theme of this book resonates at both a deep personal (spiritual)
and intellectual level with me, as someone for whom, occasionally
at least, the simplicity of the spiritual, stripped of the complexities
of the realities, politicking, and inconsistencies of religion,
are yearned for. The ‘deep spiritual crisis’ and ‘immense
spiritual hunger’ (p.ix), that Ursula King identifies in
her overview of the turn to the spiritual in contemporary society
is certainly recognisable in one’s own experience! What
Ursula King provides in her overview, in this often profound and
wise volume (admirably brief given its scope), is material on
spirituality: in interfaith dialogue (that religions are at base
reflecting religious experience); ‘within life’s dance’
(across the phases of life – which is a particularly insightful
chapter); in education and health (which examines children’s
spirituality research and the ways in which psychotherapy and
spiritual development overlay); from a gendered point of view
(which takes seriously gender differences and the challenges us
towards a non-dominant view of the world); in nature and science
(towards a revaluing of material existence); the arts and environment
(showing how one might creatively respond to the inspiration provided
within nature).
An excellent introductory text on the breadth of ways in which
‘spirituality’ crops up across contexts, this is more
than that, however. This is a very human and humane book, clearly
borne of years of learning and encounter with the spiritual in
differing contexts. Providing a revised perspective on the traditional
boundaries of pietism, the inner life becomes of wider ethical
import and relevance. Gone are gender, national, and religious
boundaries, subsumed by the fact of our own humanity. I am more
than a privately praying being, I am personal, spiritual being
because of my relation with others (Buber’s I-Thou) and
the world. Thus I am not a closed entity, immune from the effects
of a suffering world, I am travelling alongside and learning from
fellow-travellers. There is a moral imperative implicit in spiritual
engagement – this is no quietist manifesto . As a book which
provides a taste of what a more satisfying spirituality in the
modern context might be like, this is a tantalising introduction
to further reading and action.
More widely, one wonders if the turn to the spiritual of the
present time – as it is often conceived – is a rather
simplistic ahistorical view of ‘spirituality’. Surely
we are not the first generation to be disillusioned by mainstream
orthodoxies or to find religion unhelpful to us in our spiritual
search? Just as studies of popular religion in previous eras have
shown (e.g. Williams, 1999 and Parker, 2005), people have always
engaged with religion as they have needed, as the resources of
religion ‘did the job’ for them. Perhaps, as bonds
with religions amongst some in the population have gradually loosened,
because of a combination of factors, the vacuum of the need for
ritual and spiritual wisdom is being replaced by a range of eclectic
sources? The search for an authentic way of life is not new (this
book does not suggest otherwise). However, if there is one criticism
of the wonderful volume it the extent to which is seems to promote
this presentist view of spirituality by its stressing spiritual
crisis as a new phenomena, when in fact it is probably only occurring
in a revised form because of the changing standing of religion
in social and private life. What might we learn from previous
generations’ spiritual longings responded to outside of
religious bounds?
Parker, S.G. (2005). Faith on the Home Front: aspects of Church
life and popular religion in Birmingham, 1939-1945. Bern: Peter
Lang.
Williams, S.C. (1999). Religious Belief and Popular Culture
in Southwark, c. 1880-1939. Oxford: OUP.
Dr Stephen Parker
Head of Postgraduate Studies and Professional Learning
University of Worcester
Henwick Grove
Worcester
WR2 6AJ
Email: s.parker@worc.ac.uk
Web profile: http://www.worc.ac.uk/departments/10502.html
Associate Fellow of the University of Warwick Religions and Education
Research Unit:
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/wie/research/wreru/aboutus/staff/associatefellows
|