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Spirituality MIAMI UNIVERSITY The Graduate School Certificate for Approving the Dissertation We hereby approve the Dissertation of Scott Wagar Candidate for the Degree: Doctor of Philosophy Director: Kate Ronald Reader: Jason Palmeri Reader: LuMing Mao Graduate School Representative: Liz Wilson ABSTRACT SPIRITUAL-BUT-NOT-RELIGIOUS DISCOURSES IN PUBLIC RHETORIC AND IN COMPOSITION by Scott Wagar Spirituality has become widely recognized as a concept distinct, if not always divorced, from religion, and the term has taken on positive and ethical connotations even as its meaning and value continue to be debated. From the disciplinary framework of composition and rhetoric studies, this dissertation explores rhetorical and pedagogical implications of spirituality in its contemporary sense. Although spirituality has been of continuing interest within composition and rhetoric, relatively little work has placed the concept in its contemporary societal and rhetorical context. My project helps to fill this gap in the discipline’s knowledge by: examining multiple sites of public rhetoric on spirituality, including online opinion articles and blogs, spiritual “self-help” texts, and a Facebook group for spiritual-but-not-religious (SBNR) persons; discussing the use of a spiritual-autobiography assignment in an undergraduate composition course; and demonstrating parallels between the discipline of composition and rhetoric and certain prominent articulations of spirituality. I employ rhetorical analysis as well as person- based research drawing on interviews with Facebook users and with composition students. My findings in the first section of the project include the existence of a “definitional wrangle,” in which public rhetors use the unfixed status of “spirituality” to advance particular positions on the concept’s desirability or lack thereof. Further, I observe that some rhetors perceive connections between their spiritual and/or religious beliefs and their communicative ideals, and I suggest that such connections may offer rhetorical resources in the search for more civil and dialogic public discourse. In the latter part of the project, I assert that contemporary discourses of spirituality appear to be influencing composition students who write about experiences of deep meaning and/or religion. Finally, I argue that the concept of spirituality can serve composition and rhetoric studies by providing the discipline with a framework for understanding itself, insofar as many of the core values and practices of the field, such as its ethos of radical inclusivity, could be deemed “spiritual.” Ultimately, I suggest potential benefits as well as challenges and limitations of calling upon spirituality as a public communicative resource and as a framework for disciplinary understanding within composition and rhetoric. SPIRITUAL-BUT-NOT-RELIGIOUS DISCOURSES IN PUBLIC RHETORIC AND IN COMPOSITION A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Faculty of Miami University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of English by Scott Wagar Miami University Oxford, Ohio 2014 Dissertation Director: Kate Ronald © Scott Wagar 2014 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................................1 CHAPTER ONE “Spirituality” in Public Discourse .......................................................12 CHAPTER TWO The Rhetoric of Scholarly and Popular SBNR Texts .........................46 CHAPTER THREE “Struggle and acceptance; honesty, openness and above all kindness in our exchanges”: An SBNR Social Networking Site .......................................77 CHAPTER FOUR “Here’s my dirty little secret: church doesn’t make me feel spiritual”: SBNR and the Composition Classroom ..........................................................117 CHAPTER FIVE Composition and Rhetoric and Spirituality ......................................148 WORKS CITED.............................................................................................................175 APPENDIX A .................................................................................................................193 iii In memory of my mother, Barbara Wagar (1949-2013) iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Many people deserve thanks for supporting, teaching, and inspiring me during (and before) the writing of this project, including teachers, friends, and family. I’ll always remember the final day of the graduate seminar taught by Kate Ronald during my first semester at Miami; Kate had left the room to allow the students to complete our course evaluations, and several of us stood around when we were finished, talking – with a bit of wonder in our voices – about how Kate was the kind of teacher we all hoped we could be one day. As my dissertation chair, Kate has always been supportive of this somewhat unusual project, and when we weren’t talking about spiritual-but-not-religious discourses, we were talking about Springsteen; I particularly treasure the memory of our visit (along with Caroline Dadas) to Asbury Park during the Glory Days Springsteen Symposium. I will always be grateful to Kate for her friendship and what she has taught me about rhetoric, pedagogy, and life. Jason Palmeri was the first faculty member I met at Miami, when he excitedly showed me around the department on a late-spring visit when Bachelor Hall was nearly empty. I have been lucky enough to work and study with Jason in several different capacities, and his constant enthusiasm and ability to expertly blend encouragement and constructive feedback has helped shape my thinking, teaching, and scholarship – including this project – for the better. LuMing Mao has been a kind and intellectually inspiring presence as a teacher and committee member. Liz Wilson provided a valuable perspective from outside of composition and rhetoric – and is always a joy to speak with. Beyond my committee, I would also like to thank Jim Porter, Cynthia Lewiecki-Wilson, and Heidi McKee for their mentorship, feedback, and advice. I was lucky enough to work alongside many amazing fellow graduate students during my time here; their friendship, encouragement, and good humor helped make this journey possible. I want to especially acknowledge my cohort members Lisa Blankenship, Dom Ashby, and Joe Burzynski. I also want to thank, among others, Lance Cummings, Caroline Dadas, Bre Garrett, v Aurora Matzke, Kerrie Carsey, Mavis Rutherford, and Chanon Adsanatham. Special thanks to Joe Griffin for opening my eyes to the world of Rick Springfield Studies and for that technical- writing textbook you left behind for me. Thanks as well to my students at Miami, including those who graciously agreed to participate in my research for this dissertation and whose words have enriched this project. I also thank my many friends outside of academia, including Vic for the implicit challenge in his long-standing prediction that I wouldn’t finish school until after I turned 40. Sorry to disappoint you, Vic! Thanks to the Dunbar Library at Wright State University, where much of this work was completed. My family members have always been incredibly supportive, and it’s no exaggeration to say that I would not have reached this point without them. Lottie Augustyniak, Ethel Wagar, Connie Johnson, Darren Johnson, and Ed and Donna Augustyniak are among those who have played significant roles in my life. My life has also been enriched immeasurably by animal companions including Toby, Tabitha, Liam, Flower, Muse, Monchichi, and Waila. My parents-in-law, Sophie and Bernie Weinzimmer, have always treated me like a son, and I am grateful for them. My own parents, Barbara and Scott Wagar, have given me more than I could ever possibly repay. My mother did not live to see me reach this milestone, but whenever I manage to manifest kindness, love, and strength or to notice those qualities around me, I know she is there. Mom and Dad, thank you, and I love you. Finally, I thank my partner, Julianne Weinzimmer, for her boundless support during this project (and beyond), and for sharing so much affection, joy, sorrow, and laughter with me. Julianne has helped open me up to experiences of trust and love I did not know were possible. She has my love and gratitude always. vi Introduction What we are witnessing today is not so much a disappearance of religion, but rather a relocation of the sacred. Gradually losing its transcendent character, the sacred becomes more and more conceived of as immanent and residing in the deeper layers of the self. At least in many places, religion is giving way to spirituality, in short. --Dick Houtman and Stef Aupers, “The Spiritual Turn and the Decline of Tradition” (2007) Engage with those teachers, teachings, and practices that make you more just and more kind, and drop everything—no matter how many people believe it—that makes you less so. --Rabbi Rami Shapiro, “An Interview with Rabbi Rami” (in Pennington, 2014) Many Buddhist traditions cherish the idea that certain holy ones may choose not to become enlightened but return to the wheel of illusion again and again until all humankind is enlightened. If I could hold up an ideal for us as teachers . it would be that. --Mary Rose O’Reilley, The Peaceable Classroom (1993) This project argues that contemporary discourses around “spirituality” and the idea of being “spiritual but not religious” deserve the attention of scholars and teachers in composition and rhetoric. The project has its roots in a complex mixture of longstanding academic
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