Biblical Spirituality
This article was almost entitled ‘Evangelical Spirituality’. The reason it is not is that it is doubtful if such a creature as ‘evangelical spirituality’ really exists, at least in modern evangelicalism. In so saying, I do not mean that evangelicals are not interested in spirituality, they are, and fervently so; I mean that into the sea of modern evangelicalism flow many ‘spiritualities’ and it is virtually impossible to identify a commonly accepted evangelical spirituality.
Evangelicals have shown an intensified interest in ‘spirituality’ these last thirsty years or so. This is hardly surprising since society at large has been obsessing about spirituality for roughly the same time – consider the many books on spirituality on the shelves of any popular bookshop. The Beatles evangelised the spirituality of Indian mysticism in the sixties. George Lucas was the High Priest of Eastern spirituality in the seventies and eighties. He, along with Shirley MacLaine, popularised a smorgasbord of New Age spiritualities (largely forms of eastern pantheism wedded to western materialism ). This feverish search for spiritual experience was not so much a religious awakening as a symptom of deep cultural change in the West – a change from the objective, rational and cognitive (modernism) to the subjective, irrational and emotional (postmodernism).
Postmodernism, or the new romanticism , is a mood that values feeling over fact, mystery over meaning, and intuition over inquiry. Late twentieth century evangelicals, discovered not surprisingly (for we are much more influenced by world trends than we care to admit) that in comparison with their fore-bearers, they were less interested in doctrine (too cerebral and divisive) or religion (too formal and stuffy) and more interested in spirituality (faith experienced). They rather smugly believed they were more concerned with ‘reality’ in their Christian life than a previous generation; actually, their pursuit of spirituality fitted snugly into the late C20 world they inhabited where ‘experience’ was the holy grail of a postmodern mindset. Thus, for evangelicals, over the last generation, the hallmark of authenticity (orthodoxy is passé for it has to do with dull doctrine) is less belief than identifiable spiritual experience . All too often spiritual experience is almost an end in itself: we tie spiritual experience into God-words like ‘faith, Jesus, God, etc’ but the meaning of these words is secondary, and in extreme cases altogether vacated of traditional meaning; what matters is the sublime feelings these words generate.
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About John
Hi there - I am a member of Greenview and have been for over 20 years. For a number of these years I functioned as an elder, however, indifferent health forced me to take more of a back seat. I see this as an opportunity to do a little writing, often focussing on issues that are a matter of evangelical debate today. Naturally the views expressed are my own and may not reflect the views of the elders or church at large, though differences are likely to be in the detail and not the substance.
These articles and sermons were written partly to clarify my own thoughts and partly with the intention of provoking thought in others who may read them. If you read one I hope you find it stimulating. Please feel free to give me feedback or discuss my articles in the forums.
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