THE WAY January 2020
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THE WAY a review of Christian spirituality published by the British Jesuits January 2020 Volume 59, Number 1 BECOMING HUMAN THE WAY January 2020 Foreword 7–8 A Tribute to Denise Critchley-Salmonson 9–10 David Harold Barry The Spirit in Contemporary Culture The Creature and the Sovereign Self: The Anthropology of the 11–21 Spiritual Exercises and Contemporary Spiritual Narcissism Helen Orchard The importance of spirituality is an idea that is widely (although not universally) accepted in the Western world today. ‘Mind–Body–Spirit’ sections are common in bookshops. Helen Orchard suggests that people of religious faith need to treat these facts with caution, as some spiritualities can mask a self-indulgent individualism. The approach in the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius Loyola is very different. Through Wonder to Fruitfulness 23–31 Brian O’Leary The Irish Jesuit Brian O’Leary is a familiar writer in the pages of The Way. In this essay he describes a spiritual path that leads from wonder, which comes naturally to a child but can be deeper in an adult; through gratitude, a conscious thankfulness for God’s many gifts; to fruitfulness, an availability to others that has the power to transform an individual’s relationship with God. The Metaphor of the Garden in Spiritual Life 32–45 Jakub Walczak The poet Dorothy Gurney claimed that ‘One is nearer to God in a garden / than anywhere else on earth’. In this article Jakub Walczak explores the image of the garden in the different ways it can be applied to spiritual life. He contrasts an exterior garden, that makes life possible, with an interior one, where the emphasis is on the work necessary to cultivate and allow plants to flourish. Talking with Other Religions 47–57 Kathleen Taylor The last half-century has seen rapid developments in the relationship between Christianity (here, specifically, Roman Catholicism) and other religions. Kathleen Taylor traces a journey from the belief that there is ‘no salvation outside the Church’ to a recognition that different faiths represent a variety of unique ways of being human, which are nevertheless capable of fruitful dialogue with one another. THE WAY January 2020 Thinking Faith Beyond Reason? The Problem of Solving the Meaning of Life 59–64 John Moffatt Simplistic accounts of the relationship between science and religion are widespread today. They suggest that it is necessary to choose between reason and faith. Here John Moffatt, in an article originally published online in Thinking Faith, demonstrates that the two perspectives are in fact complementary, and that both are needed to arrive at an adequate explanation of what it is to be fully human in the world. God of Seeing: Rehearsing the Presence of God in the Spiritual 65–76 Direction Relationship Anneke Viljoen Even regularly worshipping Christians may have little expectation that God will intervene directly in their everyday lives. Here Anneke Viljoen describes how she became aware that this was her own unreflective position, and how an imaginative encounter with a challenging story from the Hebrew Bible, explored in spiritual direction, led her to adopt a very different perspective. Sins of Weakness and Sins of Strength: A More Biblical Moral 77–89 Theology John Zupez Traditional moral theology, John Zupez argues here, has often focused primarily on what he calls ‘sins of weakness’—a familiar list of forbidden acts, many of them related to sexual practice. He finds in the Bible an alternative tradition, touched on by the Second Vatican Council and currently being revived by Pope Francis, which takes as its subject ‘sins of strength’, including the failure to take personal responsibility for the state of the wider world. Feminine Psychological and Spiritual Clues to the Spiritual 90–102 Exercises María Prieto Ursúa Historically, most writing on spirituality has been done from a male perspective. More recently, women’s voices and experience have increasingly been heard. Is it possible, though, to trace the contours of a spiritual outlook that is specifically feminine (rather than female)? This is the question that María Prieto Ursúa, a professor of psychology from Spain, addresses here. THE WAY January 2020 The Church as Missionary Servant in a Godless World: 103–111 Erich Przywara on the ‘Holy Saturday’ Form of the Church Riyako Cecilia Hikota Two of the major Roman Catholic theologians of the twentieth century, Hans Urs von Balthasar and Karl Rahner, both acknowledged the Polish-German Jesuit Erich Przywara as a mentor. Each developed aspects of Przywara’s work on Holy Saturday, the day of waiting between the crucifixion and the resurrection. Here Riyako Cecilia Hikota considers what this understanding can contribute to a theology of the Church. Book Reviews Roger Dawson on a handbook of spiritual direction Gavin Murphy on an A to Z of Ignatian spirituality and sixteen inspirational Jesuits Grégoire Catta on Aquinas and virtue Tim McEvoy on four movements of spiritual growth Cathy Jones on the lives of women religious Luke Penkett on a fresh introduction to Julian of Norwich Carol McDonough on contemplation, ecology and the ocean Philip Sheldrake on essays about English spirituality by Benedicta Ward Karen Hurley on discipleship FOR AUTHORS The Way warmly invites readers to submit articles with a view to publication. They should normally be about 4,000 words long, and be in keeping with the journal’s aims. The Editor is always ready to discuss possible ideas. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We are grateful to the editors of Manresa for permission to publish the translation of María Prieto Ursúa’s article. The scripture quotations herein are generally from the New Revised Standard Version Bible © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, and are used by permission. All rights reserved. THE WAY January 2020 ABBREVIATIONS Autobiography ‘Reminiscences (Autobiography)’, in Ignatius of Loyola: Personal Writings, translated by Philip Endean and Joseph A. Munitiz (London: Penguin, 1996) Constitutions in The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complementary Norms (St Louis: Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1996) Diary ‘The Spiritual Diary’, in Ignatius of Loyola: Personal Writings, translated by Philip Endean and Joseph A. Munitiz (London: Penguin, 1996) Dir On Giving the Spiritual Exercises: The Early Manuscript Directories and the Official Directory of 1599, translated and edited by Martin E. Palmer (St Louis: Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1996) Exx The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius, translated by George E. Ganss (St Louis: Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1992) GC General Congregation, in Jesuit Life and Mission Today: The Decrees and Accompanying Documents of the 31st – 35th General Congregations of the Society of Jesus (St Louis: Institute of Jesuit Sources, 2009) and Jesuit Life and Mission Today: The Decrees and Accompanying Documents of the 36th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus (Boston: Institute of Jesuit Sources, 2017) MHSJ Monumenta Historica Societatis Jesu, 157 volumes (Madrid and Rome: Institutum Historicum Societatis Iesu, 1898– ) Papal documents may be found at www.vatican.va FOREWORD HEN I WAS STUDYING zoology and psychology at university in the W 1970s the ‘nature versus nurture’ debate was at its height. Were an adult’s character and outlook on life attributable primarily to the genetic disposition he or she had inherited, or to the upbringing he or she had received? It was hoped that by studying, for example, identical twins separated at birth, the question might receive a definitive answer. Instead, what happened was that the debate largely died out of its own accord. Few today would deny that both nature and nurture have a crucial role to play, and that it is the interplay between them that is perhaps the most significant factor. For people of faith, spiritual growth and development are important aspects of what it is to move closer towards reaching one’s full human potential. The articles in this issue of The Way consider, from different perspectives, what such growth and development look like, and how best to achieve them. Brian O’Leary describes a journey with three stages. Beginning with a childlike wonder, a person is led through gratitude to a radical availability to others that, perhaps counter-intuitively, is the high point of individual fulfilment. This contrasts with many of the more self-indulgent attitudes described by Helen Orchard, which are evident in many popular contemporary descriptions of spirituality, and which she contrasts with the path marked out in Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises. From a Christian perspective, sin is the great barrier to becoming fully human. John Zupez shows how an adequate understanding of sin involves recognising the failure to reach out to others, by contrast with an older approach that focused primarily on individual, often sexual, transgressions. One reason for the long prevalence of this more limited outlook may be that spirituality has frequently been viewed, for the most part, from a masculine perspective. María Prieto Ursúa sketches a feminine understanding that might balance the traditional approach. Another invitation to breadth of understanding is offered by Anneke Viljoen, who points to the transformative effects of actively believing in a God who intervenes directly in ordinary individual human lives. The Christian Church has been intended from the outset as a principal forum in which the task of becoming human can be realised. In the twentieth century the image of Holy Saturday, a time of waiting The Way, 59/1 (January 2020), 7–8 8 Foreword between the seeming catastrophe of the crucifixion and the dawning glory of the resurrection, proved highly fruitful theologically in coming to a deeper understanding of the Church. The article by Riyako Cecilia Hikota introduces this topic through the work of the Jesuit theologian Erich Przywara. A fuller understanding of the relationship between the Christian Church and other religions was also developing in the twentieth century, and ways in which this continuing process is currently bearing fruit are explored by Kathleen Taylor.