Spirituality as Lived Interpretation: A Transformative Encounter between Two Traditions
Issue: Vol 35 No. 1 (2016)
Journal: Religious Studies and Theology
Subject Areas: Religious Studies Buddhist Studies Islamic Studies Biblical Studies
DOI: 10.1558/rsth.28265
Abstract:
Recent attempts to define the object of and suitable method for spirituality – such as Kees Waaijman’s and Sandra M. Schneiders’ – invoke phenomenological and meta-cognitive approaches which prevent (rather than favour) engagement with lived experience. I propose, instead, to conceive spirituality as interpretive encounter and dialogue between the researcher’s and the studied subject’s experiences of inner transformation. The researcher gains access to other spiritual traditions by assuming her own spiritual localization and by reaching out to other living experiences and traditions in their distinctiveness. This mutually enriching conversation itself progressively sheds light on its undergirding foundation: the human longing for God.
Author: Jean-Pierre Fortin
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