Cite
Sheldrake, Philip. Spirituality: A Brief History. 2nd ed. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 2013.
Jeremy
Synth
Contribution::
Related::
Md
FirstAuthor:: Sheldrake, Philip
~
Title:: Spirituality: a Brief History
Year:: 2013
Citekey:: sheldrakeSpiritualityBriefHistory2013a
itemType:: book
Publisher:: John Wiley & Sons
Location:: Hoboken
ISBN:: 978-0-470-67352-2
LINK
.
Abstract
“Engagingly written by one of the world’s leading scholars in this field, this comprehensively revised edition tells the story of Christian spirituality from its origins in the New Testament right up to the present day. Charts the main figures, ideas, images and historical periods, showing how and why spirituality has changed and developed over the centuries. Includes new chapters on the nature and meaning of spirituality, and on spirituality in the 21st century; and an account of the development and main features of devotional spirituality. Provides new coverage of Christian spirituality’s relationship to other faiths throughout history, and their influence and impact on Christian beliefs and practices. Features expanded sections on mysticism, its relationship to spirituality, the key mystical figures, and the development of ideas of ‘the mystical.’ Explores the interplay between culture, geography, and spirituality, taking a global perspective by tracing spiritual developments across continent.”—Publisher’s description .
Notes
Annotations
Chapter 5 - Spiritualities in the Age of Reformations: 1450-1700
The political landscape of Europe changed as the nation state was born. The feudal system finally collapsed. A crisis of religious authority began with the Great Schism and continued throughout the fifteenth century. New lay spiritual movements appeared alongside calls for Church reform. Out of all this grew the Reformation. At the same time, a relatively self-contained Europe opened up to new worlds with the so-called discovery of the Americas by Columbus in 1492. Despite the fall of Muslim Granada in the same year, Christian Europe confronted Islam through the medium of the Ottoman Turks after the fall of Constantinople (1453) and throughout the sixteenth century. LOCATION: 2865
the reform movement predates Martin Luther, and that both Catholic and Protestant Christianity inherited this impulse. LOCATION: 2872
from the grassroots perspective, the impact of the Reformation only became definitive by about 1600 and was not complete until about 1700. During this period, a third kind of spirituality emerged alongside the monastic and mystical types. This can be called the “active-practical” type which emphasized finding God in everyday life and the practical service of other people – creating a spiritual climate favorable to lay Christians. LOCATION: 2874
Two important strands of late-medieval spirituality fed into the Reformation: the devotio moderna and Christian humanism. The devotio moderna (“modern devotion”) flourished in Flanders and the Netherlands from the late fourteenth century onwards. This movement represented urban middle class values and attracted educated laypeople and reform-minded clergy. The spirituality was an interesting mixture with an emphasis on education while being somewhat anti-intellectual. Equally, although the devotio owed something to Flemish mysticism, it preferred quiet piety to mystical enthusiasm. LOCATION: 2878
An originator of the movement was Gerard Groote of Deventer (1340–1384) who underwent conversion as a young man and became critical of clerical materialism. LOCATION: 2883
He produced writings addressed to laity and created a vernacular Book of Hours which was widely used. He shared with Christian humanists a high view of education to encourage a virtuous life. Groote emphasized scripture as the basis of person-centered educational method, the importance of individual moral formation, and the inculcation of a strong sense of community. LOCATION: 2886
The devotio moderna produced a literary culture, and many texts were disseminated, for example, by Ruusbroec, Suso, Tauler, and Ludolph of Saxony (1300–1378), whose Life of Christ (a composite text based on the gospels) had a significant influence on Ignatius Loyola, the sixteenth-century author of the Spiritual Exercises. The devotio moderna also promoted methodical approaches to prayer – for example, meditation manuals by Radewijns and Gerard van Zutphen. The most famous work of the movement was the Imitation of Christ attributed to Thomas à Kempis. LOCATION: 2894
A second form of late medieval spirituality that also had a significant impact on the Reformation was Christian humanism. This offered a new ideal of the Christian life that spoke more effectively to a lay world. LOCATION: 2901
Both the devotio moderna and Erasmian humanism underlined the desire for reform of the Church. The tragedy was that this intense desire was matched only by half-hearted efforts on the part of Church leadership. The resulting frustration led some reformers to take radical positions where a fragmentation of the Church became almost inevitable. LOCATION: 2909
In broad terms, the sixteenth-century Reformations were supported by people who sought a religion of the heart in place of formalism and an over-reliance on externals. LOCATION: 2913
The humanists detected at the heart of these a deeper spiritual malaise that reinforced reliance on human effort rather than on God’s grace and also provoked despondency. To put it simply, the spirituality that Erasmus critiqued was driven by fear of failure and of damnation. LOCATION: 2917
In different ways, the spiritual crisis of Martin Luther (icon of the Protestant Reformation) and the temptation to despair of the newly converted Ignatius Loyola (icon of the Catholic Reformation) derived from the same source. Both men experienced futility born of an inability, despite intense ascetic practice, to know for certain that they were acceptable to God. Each man sought to escape the vicious circle by exploring a different vision of the spiritual life. LOCATION: 2920
The best known of Luther’s 1517 theses concerned the sale of “indulgences,” that is, a way of supposedly obtaining remission of years in Purgatory on behalf of dead relatives. Apart from objecting to the sale of “spiritual goods,” Luther critiqued the notion that God’s forgiveness was influenced by human actions. How can we be sure of God’s mercy and be freed from anxiety about meriting God’s favor? Luther concluded that while human actions (“good works”) were valueless as offerings to God, they could be seen as an expression of gratitude for God’s freely given forgiveness. LOCATION: 2931
The keys to authentic spirituality were, first, being clear about human sinfulness yet also about God’s generous forgiveness and, second, having regular access to the means of God’s grace – that is, the scriptures and the sacraments. LOCATION: 2938
While rejecting the veneration of relics and reliance on the intercessory power of Mary and the saints, Luther retained individual confession and defended religious art and music against the iconoclasts. LOCATION: 2942
Luther rejected a two-tier view of holiness (where special lifestyles were “superior”) in favor of the holiness of the everyday life of work, family, and citizenship. Thus, all Christians had a common vocation – including ministering to others (priesthood of all believers) – while the ordained retained particular roles rather than special status. However, Luther did not support the view that God bypassed human mediation in favor of direct contact with individual believers. Church life remained a vital source of spirituality. LOCATION: 2944
Needless to say, for many people the most beautiful expression of Lutheran spirituality is its rich musical tradition, with such composers as Schütz, Buxtehude, and the genius of Bach.4 LOCATION: 2961
Calvin is perhaps the most influential Reformation leader, and his theology was principally developed in his classic, the Institutes of the Christian Religion (1539, subsequently revised), as well as in scriptural commentaries and theological treatises.5 Calvin shared with Luther a belief in human sinfulness and in the impossibility of fulfilling God’s requirements by human effort. Yet, Calvin, unlike Luther, believed that the law of God was more than a matter of keeping human depravity under control. The moral teaching of the Bible also had a positive function in that there was a genuine process of spiritual growth or “sanctification” where the believer is drawn into Christ by the Holy Spirit. LOCATION: 2969
Calvin’s spirituality has three principal characteristics – it is in some sense mystical, it is corporate, and it is social. First, Calvin had a sense of a mystical union between the believer and Christ. LOCATION: 2975
As the Institutes suggest, true knowledge of God consists in a union of love. God is not merely judge but also gently attracts the believer. LOCATION: 2979
Second, Calvin’s spirituality is corporate. He had a high view of the Church. To be converted is to be received into the common life of the community. LOCATION: 2981
Calvin inherited a pattern of quarterly celebrations of the Lord’s Supper but struggled unsuccessfully to have weekly celebrations in Geneva. While rejecting what he took to be the excessively material language of both Catholic and Lutheran positions, Calvin taught the notion of a “virtual presence” by which the power of Christ was united to the communicant by the work of the Spirit. LOCATION: 2983
Third, Calvin’s spirituality engaged strongly with society. Particularly in Geneva, spirituality became a public matter. Geneva was intended to be a Christian state in which citizenship and spirituality infused each other. LOCATION: 2987
A moral and spiritual life touched all elements of existence – public and personal. Behind this lay a sense that the Spirit of God was at work in the world and in all human activities. LOCATION: 2989
While Calvin accepted the fundamental mark of Protestant Reformation spirituality, that God initiates and accomplishes everything in the work of salvation, the notion of human cooperation with God reappeared in Calvinist spirituality in the thinking of Jacobus Arminius (1560–1609), a Dutch theologian. It was this more open, “Arminian” Calvinism that influenced the Church of England in the early seventeenth century. LOCATION: 2991
A third stream of reformers, the Anabaptists, is often overlooked in traditional histories of spirituality. Their name refers to the practice of adult “believers” baptism. Because they had no single founder and little in the way of formal organization, it is difficult to say precisely when Anabaptists began. However, from around 1525 (the first recorded adult baptism) groups spread up and down the Rhine from Switzerland to the Netherlands with other pockets in Austria and Moravia. LOCATION: 2999
This so-called Radical Reformation has been described as the “Protestantism of the poor.” LOCATION: 3004
figures as Thomas Müntzer and Hans Hut. Originally a follower of Martin Luther, Müntzer parted company with Luther over his belief in continued revelation and the priority of radical prophecy. LOCATION: 3007
His Prague Manifesto (1521) is an explicitly apocalyptic work. He described himself as the new Daniel in reference to another favorite text, the Book of Daniel in the Hebrew scriptures. Müntzer opposed the prevailing social order (affirming that all things are in common) and participated in the Peasants War of 1524. LOCATION: 3010
The original Anabaptist tradition had four important characteristics. First, adult faith rather than infant reception into the Church implied a voluntary process based on conversion with a related sense that God turned away no one who sincerely repented. LOCATION: 3015
Second, the inner process of spiritual transformation led not to a purely interior spirituality but to an outward change of life based on a radical interpretation of New Testament teachings. LOCATION: 3017
The Lord’s Supper was viewed as a form of covenant renewal with each other and with Christ, celebrated in homes or in common buildings rather than in formal churches. Third, and by implication, the Christian way was a journey of repentance, faith, regeneration, and a life of obedience to God. Fourth, belief that secular authority was corrupt, combined with a non-violent philosophy, led to a refusal to participate in public or military structures. LOCATION: 3020
In comparison to the continent, the English Reformation was a more political process. It stretched from the reign of King Henry VIII (1509–1547) through a Protestant ascendancy under Edward VI and a Catholic restoration under Mary to the eventual compromise settlement under Elizabeth I (1558–1603). LOCATION: 3034
The spirituality of the Church of England that developed during the seventeenth century was undoubtedly shaped by the principles of the Continental reformers but also retained pre-Reformation elements and was prepared to use aspects of Catholic Reformation spirituality (e.g. the works of Francis de Sales). The authority of the Bible was central but was set alongside the authority of Church tradition (expressed pre-eminently in the common worship of the Book of Common Prayer) and reason, for example, in the seminal writings of Richard Hooker during Elizabeth’s reign, On the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity. LOCATION: 3039
above all, Anglican spirituality was passed on by the Book of Common Prayer – not merely a reform of the pre-Reformation Missal but also a manual of teaching intended to promote a certain spiritual attitude. Personal spirituality was shaped by living and worshipping as part of a community both ecclesial and civic. Equally the notion of “common” countered those who sought a purified community of right believers. LOCATION: 3047
Anglican spirituality was strongly Christ-centered. Jesus Christ was, of course, the revelation of God and the privileged channel of God’s salvation. However, Christ was also the pattern of Christian living. An emphasis on the Cross of Christ at times suggested that God’s righteous judgment was held at bay by Christ taking upon himself the sins of the world, but at other times the dominant image was God’s love revealed in Christ’s suffering. Other important themes were God revealed in creation, a residual Christian humanism reflected in valuing everyday human existence, as well as music and the arts. LOCATION: 3052
A strand of Protestantism known as Puritanism flourished in seventeenth-century England and later in America, especially New England, where it translated itself into the great religious revival of the eighteenth century. Theologically Calvinist, Puritanism emphasized spiritual and moral renewal and was never at home in the mainstream of the Church of England. LOCATION: 3120
England, Puritanism enjoyed a brief period of ascendancy during the Commonwealth (1649–1660). After the restoration of the monarchy and the re-establishment of the Church of England, more Puritans left England for either the continent or North America, and those that were left became a small minority in a variety of religious traditions that we now know as Congregationalist, Presbyterian, and Baptist. LOCATION: 3124
An important medium for communicating the spiritual life was preaching – often spiritually evocative as much as expository – but there was also a strong emphasis on regular personal prayer, Bible study, and other spiritual reading, meditation (encouraged by writers such as Richard Baxter), examination of conscience, and fasting. LOCATION: 3133
It is difficult to know how far to define Quaker spirituality as Puritan. Later known officially as the Religious Society of Friends, the Quaker movement derived from the inspirational teachings of George Fox (1624–1691). He had sought a response to his spiritual quest among Puritans but found that no one could answer his needs. As a result, he came to a belief in “an infinite ocean of light and love” that existed within and overcame his darkness. This light was Christ. LOCATION: 3141
However, he differed from Puritans in believing that humans were essentially good rather than sinfully depraved. He also taught the presence of the divine “Inner Light” within every person and the sense of inward peace that followed from this. LOCATION: 3145
Although Fox’s original experience was intensely interior, he also taught that the power of God eradicated human conflict. Thus, authentic inner experience leads to a desire to work for the transformation of the social order. Quaker spirituality is intensely contemplative but also strongly ethical, associated with the quest for peace and social justice. LOCATION: 3150
During the nineteenth century, Quakers became involved in prison reform (e.g. the work of Elizabeth Fry) and in the abolition of slavery. During the twentieth century, Quakers were noted for their pacifism during two world wars and also for their work for world peace and for interfaith understanding.10 LOCATION: 3156
Although it may be argued that the key event in the Catholic Reformation was the Council of Trent (1545–1563), this was dominated by doctrinal and disciplinary issues which makes it difficult to derive a clear sense from the Council of the spiritual agenda of Catholic reform. Catholic Reformation spirituality had two major elements: the foundation of new religious orders and the development of new forms of lay Christian life and devotion that were interwoven with daily life. LOCATION: 3163
Several new religious orders were founded with an emphasis on intellectual formation, an appreciation of humanist values, and a greater ability than the older orders to lead active lives spreading the Christian faith. A new style of clerical religious community called “Clerks Regular” emerged. The first groups included the Theatines and the Barnabites who continued to give priority to personal asceticism and prayer. However, the most radical of the new orders and the one most associated with the spirituality of the Catholic Reformation was the Society of Jesus, founded by Ignatius Loyola in 1540. LOCATION: 3171
Ignatius Loyola (1491–1556) is best known as the founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). However, the main values of Ignatian spirituality and its famous text, the Spiritual Exercises, were directed from the start to a broader spectrum of Christians. In that sense, the Jesuits were a particular expression of a spiritual tradition that was wider than the order itself. LOCATION: 3177
The precise influences on Ignatius’ spirituality are a matter of debate. However, his own experience and his experience of guiding others are the key to the development of the Spiritual Exercises. Ignatius also grew up in a culture affected by centuries of crusading against the Islamic presence in Spain. This probably had an impact on his imagery. LOCATION: 3192
Exercises. It seems likely that the devotio moderna influenced Ignatius in other ways. LOCATION: 3196
The Spiritual Exercises is one of the most influential spiritual texts of all times. Despite their Reformation origins, they are nowadays used as a medium for spiritual guidance and retreats among an ecumenical spectrum of Christians. The text is not intended to be inspirational but is a series of practical notes for a retreat-guide that suggest how to vary the process according to the needs of each person. LOCATION: 3208
The explicit aim of the Exercises is to assist a person to grow in spiritual freedom in order to respond to the call of Christ. LOCATION: 3214
From the Exercises, it is possible to detect fundamental features of Ignatian spirituality. First, God is encountered above all in the practices of everyday life which themselves become a “spiritual exercise.” Second, the life and death of Jesus Christ is offered as the fundamental pattern for Christian life. Third, the God revealed in Christ offers healing, liberation, and hope. Fourth, spirituality is not so much a matter of asceticism as a matter of a deepening desire for God (“desire” is a frequent word in the text) and experience of God’s acceptance in return. The theme of “finding God in all things” suggests a growing integration of contemplation and action. The notion of following the pattern of Jesus Christ focuses on an active sharing in God’s mission to the world – not least in serving people in need. Finally, at the heart of everything is the gift of spiritual discernment – an increasing ability to judge wisely and to choose well in ways that are congruent with a person’s deepest truth. LOCATION: 3227
The word discernment means “to distinguish between things” or “to recognize something” and derives from the Greek diakrisis. LOCATION: 3235
Aristotle suggests that this kind of practical wisdom grows in and through our immersion in everyday human affairs. Discernment is not merely concerned with prayer. From the fourth century CE, discernment (diakrisis) is a key value in early monasticism. How are we to lead a spiritual life? LOCATION: 3237
In Ignatian spirituality, discernment implies the wisdom to recognize the difference between courses of action that are life-directing and ones that are potentially destructive and out of harmony with our relationship with God. Faced with choices we are subject to contradictory influences from inside and outside. Some of these incline us to what is life-giving or authentic (what Ignatius Loyola called “consolation”), others to what is inauthentic or flawed (what he called “desolation”). LOCATION: 3243
Throughout the Spiritual Exercises, Ignatius Loyola returns again and again to the subject of desire, which is always ordered towards a healthier way of choosing. LOCATION: 3251
in an appendix to the Exercises entitled three ways of prayer, there is the “prayer of the breath.” This suggests the slow, rhythmic, recitation of a familiar prayer such as “Our Father” with each word linked to rhythmic breathing. This approach is unusual in Western spirituality and comes closer to Eastern Christian hesychastic practices or to meditation in the Al-Andalus Sufi tradition that would have been known in late medieval Spain. LOCATION: 3259
For all its dynamism, Ignatian spirituality also encourages a strongly contemplative attitude – summarized in the distinctive idea of being “contemplative in action.” LOCATION: 3263
An important theme in Ignatian spirituality is sharing in Christ’s mission to the world. Consequently, the Jesuits abandoned traditional monastic structures and added a fourth vow of mobility expressed as obedience to the pope in relation to being sent anyway in the world. From the earliest days, Jesuits volunteered to work in the Americas, Africa, and Asia. The most famous early missionary was Francis Xavier, the “Apostle of the Indies,” one of Ignatius’ Paris companions who worked in India and Japan and died before entering China. LOCATION: 3278
It is striking that histories of Christian spirituality have conventionally given virtually no attention to the ancient presence of Christianity outside Europe, for example, in China, India, or Africa (e.g. Ethiopia), apart from studies of ancient Egyptian monasticism. However, this movement is scarcely treated as “African” or in any way indigenous. LOCATION: 3288
Turning to the impact of Spanish Catholicism on Central and Latin America, some contrasting examples will suffice to illustrate the complex story of spirituality in the colonial Americas. First, in Peru, a Dominican sister, St Rose of Lima (1586–1617) was the first canonized saint of the Americas. Her parents were settlers, and her severe penitential practice represented an imported, Spanish style of spirituality rather than anything distinctively Peruvian or indigenous. Second, however, in Mexico something different emerged. Bartolomé de las Casas (c. 1484–1566), originally a Spanish settler and entrepreneur then Dominican priest and Bishop of Chiapas, became known as the “Protector of the Indians” and a leading advocate of the rights of indigenous people in the so-called New World. His opposition to slavery and the colonial oppression of local people gained him many enemies among the settlers, and he was forced to return to Spain. LOCATION: 3300
In broader terms, anthropologists have noted that the “pure” faith of the Spanish invaders rapidly mixed with local beliefs in a dynamic syncretism which missionaries ultimately could not control. The combining of pre-Christian sacred sites with shrines to Christian saints or the Virgin Mary was quite widespread.15 LOCATION: 3314
Apart from Ignatian spirituality, the most striking spiritual movement of the Catholic Reformation was the reform of the Carmelite Order in Spain and its mystical teachings. The writings of Teresa of Avila (1515–1582) and John of the Cross (1542–1591) are among the greatest classics of Western mystical literature. Both were strongly influenced by the Song of Songs and the tradition of spiritual marriage. LOCATION: 3318
The writings of one seventeenth-century French Carmelite also became a bestseller and are still popular today. Brother Lawrence (1614–1691) was a lay brother in the Paris monastery of the Discalced friars for some fifty years. There he worked as a cook and sandal-maker. However, his simplicity was allied to a deep wisdom that drew many people to him for spiritual guidance including Archbishop Fénelon, another important figure in seventeenth-century spirituality. Lawrence’s letters and other fragments were edited after his death as The Practice of the Presence of God. Lawrence was unfairly caught up in the Quietist controversy because of his association with Fénelon. He stressed abandonment to God’s will but also the possibility of union with God through a prayerful practice of the presence of God in the midst of even the most ordinary, everyday tasks.17 LOCATION: 3362
Another important activity for encouraging the growth of lay spirituality was preaching. The absence of effective preachers was identified by Church authorities as a key reason for the success of Protestantism, and so a major emphasis on preaching, both instructional and inviting personal conversion, became part of Catholic reform. One extension was the parish mission. LOCATION: 3378
Traditional devotions to Mary and the saints continued to play a role. What was new was the greater emphasis on Christ-centered devotion often in the context of reinforcing belief in the presence of Christ in the Eucharist, allied to encouraging more frequent reception of Communion. LOCATION: 3388
Alongside the shift towards pastoral spirituality among the new religious orders and towards a varied pattern of lay devotion came a change in architectural style. In fact, both Protestant and Catholic communities (where they did not simply inherit medieval gothic buildings) frequently materialized their spiritualities in different versions of neoclassical architecture, inspired by the Renaissance. In the case of Protestant churches, the aesthetic lines were relatively simple and uncluttered, expressing a suspicion of visual ornamentation and an emphasis on hearing the preached word. In Catholic buildings, there was also an emphasis on spaces for listening to preaching (e.g. in the great Jesuit churches of Italy or Germany), but this “auditory” spirituality also involved an attention to acoustics for complex choral music. Catholic buildings also retained – indeed, enhanced – the importance of the visual. Baroque architecture and design expressed a sense of God’s glory – a spirituality of divine splendor allied to visual drama. LOCATION: 3398
Seventeenth-century France saw a second outstanding wave of Catholic reform, influenced in part by elements of Ignatian spirituality and Carmelite mysticism but with flavors of its own. However, the notion of a single “French School” of spirituality is misleading. There were several distinct and even conflicting trends. The two most theoretically developed traditions were associated with Pierre de Bérulle (1575–1629) and with Francis de Sales (1567–1622) and Jeanne de Chantal (1572–1641). There was another strand associated with Vincent de Paul and Louise de Marillac and two movements that were criticized as heretical, Jansenism and Quietism. LOCATION: 3407
Francis de Sales in his Introduction to the Devout Life wrote one of the most popular spiritual classics of all time. Its influence spread beyond the confines of the Roman Catholic Church. Arguably, his approach had a more significant impact than Bérulle. A Savoy aristocrat, Francis originally trained as a lawyer before becoming a priest. Although he became Bishop of Geneva (1602), he was never able to reside in that resolutely Calvinist city. He encouraged Catholic reform by means of popular preaching, by reforming the clergy, and by developing an effective lay spirituality. Francis developed a deep friendship with Jeanne (or Jane) de Chantal, a widowed Baroness, who went on to found the Order of the Visitation. Together they developed a form of spirituality suitable for men and women in every context, not least the everyday world. LOCATION: 3431
While appreciative of the contemplative tradition, Salesian spirituality also emphasized service of neighbor, particularly people in need. Francis encouraged spiritual direction for laypeople rather than simply for clergy. Influenced by Ignatian spirituality but with its own distinctive features, Salesian spirituality emphasized God in creation and God’s love for all humanity and desire to forgive anyone who sought reconciliation. An important theme was “the heart” – the heart of Christ mediating God to human hearts. The spiritual life was to be conformed to the ways of Jesus’ heart. The attraction of the spirituality of Francis and Jane lay in a warmth that avoided excessive sentimentality. LOCATION: 3437
The mid-nineteenth century saw a major revival of Salesian spirituality, notably a new family of male and female religious communities with lay associates known as “Salesians” founded by the Italian Don Bosco, with a strong concern for work with disadvantaged youth. Other smaller religious… LOCATION: 3444
The Vincentian spiritual tradition is associated with Vincent de Paul (or Depaul, 1580–1660) and Louise de Marillac (1591–1660). De Paul came from a poor background from which he… LOCATION: 3447
His was a socially engaged rather than theologically sophisticated spirituality. At the heart of it lay union with God… LOCATION: 3450
Vincent’s vision was also expressed in the development of lay confraternities dedicated to helping the poor in their homes. These were the forerunners of the famous Society of St Vincent de Paul founded by Frédéric Ozanam in the… LOCATION: 3454
The anti-mystical and penitential elements of Jansenism were a neo-Augustinian form of spiritual rigorism based on a pessimistic view of human existence. It was named after its main theoretician, the Louvain professor and later bishop of Ypres, Cornelius Jansen (1585–1638). Jansenists taught predestination and a limited atonement and attacked the Jesuits in particular for supposed moral liberalism and people… LOCATION: 3460
Quietism was, in its strict form, associated with the teachings of the Spanish priest Miguel de Molinos and, in a more moderate form, with the circle of Madame Guyon (1648–1717). Mme Guyon, fairly or unfairly, was associated with the notion of an excessively passive understanding of contemplation and with a total surrender to the initiative of God. Her works on prayer (e.g. A Short and Easy Method of Prayer) influenced such prominent figures as Archbishop Fénelon and had a wide following. Guyon’s teaching on prayer emphasized both affectivity and a kind of indistinct and objectless mystical contemplation. LOCATION: 3467
What was open to question (and what ultimately led to her condemnation) was the notion of the soul’s total “annihilation” in union with God and the lack of a solid sense of the salvific role of Christ in the spiritual life. LOCATION: 3472
Two fifteenth-century disciples of St Sergius, St Nils Sorsky (1433–1508) and St Joseph Volotsky (1440–1515), represent diverging interpretations of both monasticism and of spirituality more broadly. LOCATION: 3482
In broad terms, St Nils, trained on Mt Athos and representing the hesychast mystical movement, believed that the work of monks was primarily contemplative to be centered on the Jesus Prayer, the study of scripture and patristic theology, and by living simply. His tradition flourished especially in the northern forests, cultivating silence and largely avoiding connections with the growing political power of the princes of Moscow. This style of spirituality lay behind the powerful development of Russian iconography. LOCATION: 3484
The Josephites were also active and practical rather than purely contemplative-mystical. Their monasteries were large institutions with estates and farms, and some monks became noted social and political advisors to the Muscovite princes. In the short term, the Josephite school came to dominate the Church thanks to their close connections with the political class. There was a strong emphasis on building up the state for which the Church provided a ritual framework and a clear social discipline. LOCATION: 3490
The seventeenth century ended not only with the triumph of the spirit of Catholic reform but also with the dominance of an anti-mystical approach to spirituality. This is symbolized by the victory of Bishop Bossuet (1627–1704) over Archbishop Fénelon in France. A noted preacher, theologian, and intellectual, Bossuet in some ways reconciled the controversies of his time. LOCATION: 3498
Equally, Bossuet’s sympathy for moderate Jansenist viewpoints ensured that it was a moral, ascetical, and intellectual approach to spirituality that triumphed over the mystical. As a corollary, it is perhaps not surprising that, by way of compensation, a rather sentimental devotionalism increasingly flourished at the Catholic grassroots. LOCATION: 3503