SNEAK PREVIEW For additional information on adopting this title for your class, please contact us at 800.200.3908 x501 or [email protected] HUMAN EXPRESSIONS OF SPIRITUALITY … Edited by Margaret M. McKinnon Our Lady of Holy Cross College Bassim Hamadeh, CEO and Publisher Christopher Foster, General Vice President Michael Simpson, Vice President of Acquisitions Jessica Knott, Managing Editor/Project Editor Kevin Fahey, Marketing Manager Jess Busch, Senior Graphic Designer Melissa Barcomb, Acquisitions Editor Stephanie Sandler, Licensing Associate Copyright © 2013 by Cognella, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted, reproduced, transmitted, or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying, microfi lming, and recording, or in any informa- tion retrieval system without the written permission of Cognella, Inc. First published in the United States of America in 2010 by Cognella, Inc. Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identifi cation and explanation without intent to infringe. Printed in the United States of America ISBN: 978-1-60927-950-9 (pbk) Contents Introduction 1 By Margaret McKinnon Part I Western Religions—Abrahamic Faiths Chapter 1: Judaism 25 Israel's Sacred History 27 By Eliezer Segal Chapter 2: Jewish Spirituality 43 What Is Jewish Spirituality? 45 By Martin A. Cohen Chapter 3: Christianity 49 Th e Taking of the Gospel to the Gentiles; Paul 51 By Scott Gambrill Sinclair Th e Patristic Era 57 By Scott Gambrill Sinclair Monasticism 63 By Scott Gambrill Sinclair Th ree Major Types of Christianity 67 Its Nature and Criteria By Scott Gambrill Sinclair Th e Challenge of Modernity 75 By Scott Gambrill Sinclair Chapter 4: Christian Spirituality 79 Christian Spiritual Th eology 81 Its Nature and Criteria By Simon Chan Chapter 5: Islam 107 Arabia, Muhammad and History of Islam to About 700 ce By William Shepard Expansion and Flowering Th e History of Islam from About 700 to 1700 ce By William Shepard Chapter 6: Muslim Spirituality 131 Th e Quran as the Foundation of Islamic Spirituality 133 By Seyyed Hossein Nasr Part II Eastern Religions Chapter 7: Hinduism 143 Hinduism 145 By David Smith Chapter 8: Hindu Spirituality 175 An Introduction to Hindu Spirituality 177 By Arvind Sharma Chapter 9: Buddhism 183 Th e Buddha 185 By Charles S. Prebish and Damien Keown Chapter 10: Buddhist Spirituality 199 Connecting Inner and Outer Transformation 201 Toward an Expanded Model of Buddhist Practice By Donald Rothberg Part III Secular Spirituality Chapter 11: Secular Spirituality 223 Secularization 225 By Judith Fox Part IV Social Th emes Chapter 12: Ecology and Indigenous Peoples 245 Earth Spirituality and the People's Struggle for Life 247 Refl ection from the Perspectives of Indigenous Peoples By Elizabeth S. Tapia Chapter 13: Ecology and Judaism 259 Religion and Nature 261 Th e Abrahamic Faiths’ Concepts of Creation By His All-Holiness Bartolomeus, Professor Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg, and Fazlun Khalid Chapter 14: Compassion 271 Compassion as Justice 273 By Richard Reilly Chapter 15: Justice 291 Biblical Justice 293 Leroy H. Pelton Chapter 16: Food 315 Global Food Disorder 317 L. Shannon Jung Chapter 17: Art 331 Religion and the Arts 333 John R. Hinnells Chapter 18: Music 351 Music and Global Spirituality 353 Hal A. Lingerman Introduction By Margaret McKinnon “Our hearts are restless until they fi nd their rest in Th ee.”* n the opening quote, we fi nd that our hearts are restless until they fi nd a home in the divine or within the depths of one’s own being. Th e yearning and seeking of the heart for a resting place is the search I of human spirituality. Th e word “spirituality” will mean something diff erent to each person. For one person it is a searching for, or expression of, one’s correlation to a greater and more meaningful context. For another, it is a relationship with God; and for still another, it may be a person fi nding one’s home in the universe that may involve in-depth searching for an enhanced sense of self. In the end, one has to ask the question, “Who am I?”† Th ere have been many fi gures of wisdom throughout the ages who have explored the longings of the human spirit, from the shamans and elders of the primal peoples to the spiritual teachers of the world’s religions. In this book, we will explore what these sages still have to teach us. Today, the topic of human spirituality is an academic fi eld. Th ere are many journals and university courses being developed around this theme as well as individuals seeking out study in a more familiar approach. During the academic year of 2007–2008, Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia, where Dr. Daniel Perdue and I teach, undertook to develop a simpler program of general educa- tion. According to Dr. Perdue, * St. Augustine. “Th e Confessions of St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo.” Th e Confessions of St. Augustine. Cyber Library International School of Th eology Leadership U. July 12, 2002. Leadership University. April 2010 <www.leaderu.com/cyber/ books/augconfessions/bk1.html>. † Barbara Stevens Barnum. Spirituality in Nursing: From Traditional to New Age. New York: Springer, 2006. p. 1. Introduction | 1 2 | Human Expressions of Spirituality Each department made an attempt to provide a course for the new list. Religious Studies pursued the category of “diverse and global communities.” … Th e University was encouraging us to off er a survey of world religions, which would fi t with this idea. Religious Studies is not a single discipline but rather interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary study. Th us, Religious Studies is compartmentalized, focusing on a single topic. As it happens in all religious studies departments, some faculty are fully conversant in one fi eld while relatively unaware of another. For instance, one might be an expert in the New Testament while having no more acquaintance with Hinduism than the average person on the street. Th is situation implies that, whereas it might be nice to fulfi ll the University’s wish to require a survey of world religions, not all would be able to do it.* Th inking of our real-world situation, Dr. Perdue came up with the title of “Human Spirituality” for our general course off ering. It is a very broad title, and anyone in Religious Studies can do some version of it. He chose this title for the course because it is appealing; many books sell by title alone as do many courses. It is also fl exible and versatile. Th e catalog entry states, Th ese courses are designed to provide students with an understanding of communities, cultures and identities other than their own, and with the ability to apply methods of inquiry from various academic disciplines to the understanding of diverse cultures and societies and the interactions among them.† In closing, Dr. Perdue sees the course description as a way of allowing for a wide variety of off erings, a “big tent” under which anyone in Religious Studies can fi nd shelter. Th e only requirement is that the course addresses at least one theme as expressed in at least two spiritual communities. Th us, the survey of world religions fi ts.‡ With the development of the course, this book was born! In this text, the reader will fi nd a plethora of information from an historical overview of primal and world religions of West and East: in particular Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism and their accompanying spiritualities, as well as that of secular spirituality. In the second half of the text, social themes such as ecology, compassion, justice, food, art, and music are also explored and how they impact the human spirit and the human community. A variety of scholars and specialists have contributed to this text. Within the numerous chapters, you, the reader, will learn from many diff erent scholars their views on the world’s religions and gain a sense of the accompanying spiritualities. Hopefully, you will expand your knowledge and be able to see a world of * Dr. Daniel Perdue. Personal interview. February 8, 2010. † General Education, Diverse and Global Communities, Religious Studies 108 Human Spirituality. Dept. home page. Virginia Commonwealth University. April 2010. <www.has.vcu.edu/academics/ugrad/gened.html>. ‡ Dr. Daniel Perdue. Personal interview. February 8, 2010. Introduction | 3 spirituality that can provide meaning to your place within the cosmos. In experiencing the many spiritual paths, you may not only discover your own spiritual tradition more deeply, but come to appreciate and even assimilate the vast spiritual legacies of our world today. What Is Spirituality? Th e word “spirituality” defi es a simplistic defi nition. Spirituality is found within every person of all ages; it is an inherent spiritual dimension that includes experience whether as an indivudal or a community and for some people it even sees itself as a search for union with the transcendent.* We know that the human person is made up of body, mind, and spirit. To understand the makeup of the human, we need to know what spirituality is. Th is word takes on many diff erent meanings depending upon the religion, fi eld, or person defi ning it. Spirituality is known as the quality of being spiritual, an incorporeal or immaterial nature.† It can also refer to an ultimate reality or transcendent dimension of the world.‡ Next the reader will see a short description of what spirituality is according to the primal and world religions as well as in the secular fi elds.