Spirituality and Ethics: Exploring the Connections

Theological Studies

Volumn 58, Issue 1, 1997, Pages 109-123

  Spohn, William C ^a  

^a SANTA CLARA UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 84994810325     PISSN: 00405639     EISSN: 21691304     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/004056399705800107     Document Type: Article

References (86)

1. See John P. Burgess, "Does Scripture Matter? Scripture as Ethical Norm in a Time of Ecclesial Crisis," an unpublished paper delivered at Society for Christian Ethics convention at Albuquerque, January 7, 1996.
2. Christian ethicists' customary neglect of the moral import of loving God is ably redressed in Edward Collins Vacek, S.J., Love, Human and Divine: The Heart of Christian Ethics (Washington: Georgetown University, 1994).
3. See Wade Clark Roof, A Generation of Seekers: The Spiritual Journeys of the Baby Boom Generation (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1993), esp. the bibliography, at 269-85.
4. Michael Downey comments that both the institutional dimension of religion and critical reflection "are sorely neglected in so many developments of spirituality today which tend to be overly subjective to the detriment of more objective and external consideration, as well as preoccupied with pragmatic result The results, as so many currents in contemporary spirituality manifest, is a highly individualized, indeed privatized approach to the sacred, devoid of any clear sense of belonging to a community, and a lack of a clear sense of critical social responsibility which any authentic awareness of the sacred demands" (Understanding Christian Spirituality [New York: Paulist, 1996] 25).
5. For a historical treatment, see Mark OTKeefe, O.S.B., Becoming Good, Becoming Holy: On the Relationship of Christian Ethics and Spirituality (New York: Paulist, 1995);
6. see also the various articles in The New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality, Michael Downey, ed. (Collegeville: Liturgical, 1993).
7. Joann Wolski Conn, "Spirituality," in The New Dictionary of Theology, Joseph A. Komonchak, Mary Collins, Dermot A. Lane, ed. (Collegeville: Liturgical, 1991) 972.
8. Bernard McGinn, John Meyendorff, and Jean Leclercq, Christian Spirituality: Origins to the Twelfth Century (New York: Crossroad, 1985) xv-xvi.
9. "Theology and Spirituality: Strangers, Rivals, or Partners?" Horizons 13 [1986] 253-74.
10. For more historical treatments, see Louis Bouyer, Jean Leclercq, and Francois Vandenbroucke, A History of Christian Spirituality, 3 vols. (New York: Seabury, 1977).
11. We Drink from Our Own Wells: The Spiritual Journey of a People [Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1984] 37.
12. Charles Taylor, Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modern Identity [Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University, 1989] 215.
13. Jesus as one whose spirituality-his experiential awareness of Spirit-was foundational for his life" (Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time: The Historical Jesus and the Heart of Contemporary Faith [San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1994] 15).
14. See also Dorothée Soelle, The Window of Vulnerability: A Political Spirituality (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1990).
15. For womanist expressions of spirituality, see Emilie M. Townes, In a Blaze of Glory: Womanist Spirituality as Social Witness (Nashville: Abingdon, 1995);
16. and A Troubling in My Soul: Womanist Perspectives on Evil and Suffering, ed. Emilie M. Townes (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1993).
17. Wayne A. Meeks, The Origins of Christian Morality: The First Two Centuries (New Haven: Yale University, 1993) ix;
18. see also his definition of ethics as second-order discourse (ibiid.4). 11 Bernard McGinn, "The Letter and the Spirit: Spirituality as an Academic Discipline," Christian Spirituality Bulletin 172 (1993) 1-10, at 4.
19. See also Henry David Aiken, "Levels of Moral Discourse," Reason and Conduct: New Bearings in Moral Philosophy (New York: Knopf, 1962) 65-87.
20. Sandra M. Schneiders assesses the various strengths and weaknesses of these methods; see her "Spirituality as an Academic Discipline: Reflections from Experience," Christian Spirituality Bulletin 1/2 (1993) 10-15
21. "A Hermeneutical Approach to the Study of Christian Spirituality," Christian Spirituality Bulletin 2/1 (1994) 9-14.
22. See Bernard McGinn, Anti-Christ: Two Thousand Years of the Human Fascination with Evil (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1994);
23. Roger S. Gottleib, "Ethics and Trauma: Lévinas, Feminism, and Deep Ecology," Cross Currents 44 (1994) 222-39;
24. Donna L. Orsuto, The Saint as Moral Paradigm," Spirituality and Morality: Integrating Prayer and Action, ed. Dennis J. Billy, C.S.S.R., and Donna Lynn Orsuto (New York: Paulist, 1996) 127-40.
25. Liberal virtue theorists such as Judith N. Shklar allow for a gamut running from cruelty to fairness and tolerance (Ordinary Vices [Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap, 19841)
26. Susan Wolf, "Moral Saints," Journal of Philosophy 79 (1982) 419-39
27. Robert Merrihew Adams, "Saints," Journal of Philosophy 81 (1984) 392-401.
28. See Richard J. Foster, Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth, rev. ed. (San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1988).
29. see Lawrence S. Cunningham, "Cassian's Hero and Discernment: Some Reflections," in Finding God in All Things: Essays in Honor of Michael J. Buckley, S.J., ed. Michael J. Himes and Stephen J. Pope (New York: Crossroad, 1996) 231-43.
30. See, e.g., the various articles in The Westminster Dictionary of Christian Spirituality, ed. Gordon S. Wakefield (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1983);
31. and The Islamic Spirituality: Foundations, ed. Seyyed Hossein Nasr (New York: Crossroad, 1987).
32. See Downey, Understanding Christian Spirituality 117-19.
33. See Amelie Oksenberg Rorty, "Moral Imperialism vs. Moral Conflict: Conflicting Aims of Education," in Can Virtue Be Taught?, ed. Barbara Darling-Smith (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame, 1993) 33-51.
34. Spirituality is still in the process of being defined as an academic discipline. See Walter H. Principe, "Toward Defining Spirituality," Studies in Religion I Sciences religieuses 12 (1983) 139
35. "Christian Spirituality," in The New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality 931-38;
36. Gordon Wakefield, The Westminster Dictionary of Christian Spirituality (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1983) v;
37. Joann Wolski Conn, ed. Women's Spirituality: Resources for Christian Development (New York: Paulist, 1986) introduction;
38. Jon Sobrino, Spirituality of Liberation: Toward Political Holiness (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1988) 13-45;
39. Sandra M. Schneiders, "Spirituality in the Academy," TS 50 (1989) 676-97.
40. Daniel C. Maguire, The Moral Core of Judaism and Christianity: Reclaiming the Revolution (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993) 41.
41. Peter J. Paris, The Spirituality of African Peoples: The Search for a Common Moral Discourse (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1995) 22.
42. See Martha C. Nussbaum, Love's Knowledge: Essays on Philosophy and Literature (New York: Oxford University, 1990) 54-105;
43. Owen Flanagan, Varieties of Moral Person- ality: Ethics and Psychological Realism (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University, 1991);
44. William C. Spohn, "Passions and Principles," TS 52 (1991) 69-87.
45. See Lawrence A. Blum questions one new moral commonplace: the assumption that women operate under an ethic of care and relationships while men operate under an ethic of principles and rationality does not stand up empirically or philosophically (Moral Perception and Particularity [Cambridge: Cambridge University, 1994] 183-267).
46. See also Kathryn Tanner, "The Care That Does Justice: Recent Writings in Feminist Ethics and Theology," Journal of Religious Ethics 24 (1996) 171-91.
47. Beiden C. Lane, "Desert Attentiveness, Desert Indifference: Countercultural Spirituality in the Desert Fathers and Mothers," Cross Currents 44 (1994) 193-206.
48. see Richard A. McCormick, S.J., who uses the same metaphor for a moral theology attuned to spirituality (Corrective Vision: Explorations in Moral Theology [Kansas City, Mo.: Sheed and Ward, 1994]).
49. For another nontheistic spirituality, see Vaclav Havel, Living in Truth (Boston: Faber and Faber, 1990).
50. Géraldine Finn takes exception to Havel and other "spiritual" readings of the fall of Communism in her 'The Politics of Spirituality: The Spirituality of Politics," Listening 27 (1992) 119-32.
51. See Iris Murdoch, The Sovereignty of Good (New York: Schocken, 1971).
52. Murdoch cites Philippians 4:8 in her Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals (London: Viking Penguin, 1992) 301.
53. see Bernard T. Adeney, Strange Virtues: Ethics in a Multicultural World (Downers Grove, 111.: Inter-Varsity, 1995).
54. On discernment in Jesuit spirituality, see David Lonsdale, S.J., Listening to the Music of the Spirit: The Art of Discernment (Notre Dame: Ave Maria, 1993);
55. Philip Sheldrake, S.J., Befriending Our Desires (Notre Dame: Ave Maria, 1994);
56. See G. Simon Harak, S.J., Virtuous Passions: The Formation of Christian Character (New York: Paulist, 1993).
57. see also Jon Sobrino, The Principle of Mercy: Taking the Crucified People from the Cross (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1994).
58. see his On Job: God-Talk and the Suffering of the Innocent (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1992).
59. Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, But She Said: Feminist Practices of Biblical Interpretation (Boston: Beacon, 1992) 89, 115, 156, 176.
60. Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, Bread Not Stone: The Challenge of Feminist Biblical Interpretation (Boston: Beacon, 1984) 60.
61. Schüssler Fiorenza, But She Said 157.
62. Richard B. Hays, The Moral Vision of the New Testament: A Contemporary Introduction to New Testament Ethics (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1996) 282.
63. Schüssler Fiorenza's book Jesus: Miriam's Child, Sophia's Prophet (New York: Continuum, 1994).
64. James D. Whitehead and Evelyn Eaton Whitehead, Shadows of the Heart: A Spirituality of the Negative Emotions (New York: Crossroad, 1995).
65. Wilkie Au and Noreen Cannon, Urgings of the Heart: A Spirituality of Integration (New York: Paulist, 1995).
66. Lisa Sowie Canili, Love Your Enemies: Discipleship, Pacifism, and Just War Theory (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1994).
67. Stanley M. Hauerwas, The Peaceable Kingdom: A Primer in Christian Ethics [Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame, 1983] 145.
68. See also James M. Gustafson, "The Sectarian Temptation: Reflections on Theology, the Church, and the University," Catholic Theological Society of America, Proceedings 40 (1985) 83-94
69. Hauerwas's reply in Christian Existence Today: Essays on Church, World and Living in Between (Durham: Labyrinth, 1988) 1-21
70. See Christopher Manes, Green Rage: Radical Environmentalism and the Unmaking of Civilization (Boston: Little, Brown, 1990);
71. Reweaving the World: The Emergence of Ecofeminism (San Francisco: Sierra Club, 1990);
72. Ian Ball, Margaret Goodall, Clare Palmer and John Reader, ed., The Earth Beneath: A Critical Guide to Green Theology (London: SPCK, 1992);
73. Charles Cummings, Eco-Spirituality: Toward a Reverent Life (New York: Paulist, 1991);
74. John F. Haught, The Promise of Nature: Ecology and Cosmic Purpose (New York: Paulist, 1993);
75. Richard N. Fragomeni and John T. Pawlikowski, ed., The Ecological Challenge: Ethical, Liturgical and Spiritual Responses (Collegeville: Liturgical, 1994);
76. Um des Menschen willens: Moralität und Spiritualität, ed. Michael Schramm and Udo Zelinka (Würzburg: Echter, 1994);
77. George E. Tinker, "Spirituality, Native American Personhood, Sovereignty and Solidarity," Ecumenical Review 44 (1992) 312-24;
78. John Bolt, The Greening of Spirituality: A Review Article," Calvin Theological Journal 30 (1995) 194-211.
79. David Loy, "Avoiding the Void: The Lack of Self in Psychotherapy and Buddhism, , , Journal of Transpersonal Psychology 24 (1992) 176
80. Corrado Pensa, "A Buddhist View of Eco-SpirituaHty: Interdependence, Emptiness and Compassion," in Ecospirituality: Perspectives from World Religions, ed. Augustine Thottakara, C.M.I., Spirituality Series No. 5 (Rome: Center for Indian and Inter-Religious Studies, 1995) 80-96, at 89.
81. James Gustafson points out that nature is characterized by conflict as much as by harmony (A Sense of the Divine: The Natural Environment from a Theocentric Perspective [Philadelphia: Pilgrim, 1994]).
82. John D'Arcy May, u Hights of the Earth' and 'Care for the Earth': Two Paradigms for a Buddhist-Christian Ecological Ethic," Horizons 21 (1994) 48-61, at 56;
83. see also Kenneth Kraft, "The Greening of Buddhist Practice," Cross Currents 44 (1994) 163-79.
84. Ken Jones, "Getting Out of Our Own Light," in Dharma Gaia: A Harvest of Essays in Buddhism and Ecology, ed. Allan Hunt Badiner (Berkeley, Calif.: Parallax, 1990) 183-90
85. May, "Rights of the Earth" 58.
86. Gottleib, "Ethics and Trauma" 238.