Is a Sense of Self Essential to Spirituality?
Within the Baptist faith tradition to which the author belongs, spirituality is about human beings encountering the presence, activity, and reality of God, and then each person living out the practical consequences of that encounter. However, a sense of God as Other presupposes ability to recognize...
| Published in: | Journal of religion, disability & health |
|---|---|
| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Routledge
2009
|
| In: |
Journal of religion, disability & health
Year: 2009, Volume: 13, Issue: 1, Pages: 51-63 |
| Further subjects: | B
Autism
B Hospitality B Spirituality B Self B Kenosis B Community |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Within the Baptist faith tradition to which the author belongs, spirituality is about human beings encountering the presence, activity, and reality of God, and then each person living out the practical consequences of that encounter. However, a sense of God as Other presupposes ability to recognize the reality and significance of ‘the other’ over and against ‘the self.’ This in turn seems to require a process of self-differentiation, self-awareness, and other awareness, and thus suggests that a sense of personal identity is integral to such spirituality. The question asked in this article is significant because generic views of contemporary spirituality and a considerable range of contemporary Christian theology tend to emphasize, self-fulfillment at the individual level, but also emphasize the significance of community and social relationality as integral to self-definition and a self-conscious search for personal identity. If there are assumed connections between a sense of self, capacity for differentiation between self and the other, and some social facility in interpersonal relations, and if these capacities are integral to definitions of the human person and spirituality, the presence or absence of such connections carry such significant implications for the person with autism, that both ‘spirituality’ and ‘humanity’ require broader definition. If the connections between spirituality and interpersonal connectedness are assumed in definitions of spirituality, whether generic or arising out of a specific faith tradition; if they are believed to arise from the nature of human experience; even more, if they are assumed to be essential in the shared beliefs, communal practices, and moral expectations of religious traditions, then such redefinition is required to avoid defining the autistic person out of significant dimensions of human experience. The article will attempt to broaden these definitions with regard to the Christian tradition, seeking theological ideas and communal practices that enable the Christian tradition to accommodate those who may have an impaired or different sense of self. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 1522-9122 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of religion, disability & health
|
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/15228960802581438 |