SciELO - Scientific Electronic Library Online

 
vol.28 suppl.11 author indexsubject indexarticles search
Home Pagealphabetic serial listing  

Services on Demand

Article

Indicators

Related links

  • On index processCited by Google
  • On index processSimilars in Google

Share


Acta Theologica

On-line version ISSN 2309-9089
Print version ISSN 1015-8758

Acta theol. vol.28  suppl.11 Bloemfontein  2008

 

Understanding spiritual experience in Christian spirituality

 

 

S.P. Pretorius

Registration Administration, University of South Africa, P.O. Box 392, Pretoria 0001, South Africa

 

 


ABSTRACT

A spiritual experience for some means a mere fabrication of the mind. For others it is pathological and the consequence of psychiatric disturbances and psychological disorders. Others acknowledge that certain role-players are present when spiritual experiences occur. However, the identification of the involvement of these role-players by no means minimises the spiritual experience to a level of being non-significant. A spiritual experience in Christian spirituality assumes as its foundation that a personal relationship with Christ exists. It further signifies spiritual interaction as a result of the relationship. Taking different possibilities into account, this article contends that whatever scientists make of spiritual experience, it can never be reduced to mere fabrications of the mind, or psychological disorders. A spiritual experience in a Christian context signifies the interaction of God. Furthermore, spiritual experience is an important aspect of Christian spirituality that in essence indicates a relationship and interaction between the believer and God.

Keywords: Spirituality, Spiritual experience, Religious experience, Religious spiritual experience, Christian spiritual experience


Trefwoorde: Spiritualiteit, Geestelike ervaring, Godsdienstige ervaring, Godsdienstige geestelike ervaring, Christelike geestelike ervaring


 

 

“Full text available only in PDF format”

 

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Argyle, M. & Beit-Hallahmi, B. 1975. The psychology of religion. London: Routledge.         [ Links ]

Beck, C. 1986. Education for spirituality. Interchange 17:148-156.         [ Links ]

Bidstrup, S. 2002. Experiencing God: The neurology of the spiritual experience.         [ Links ] [Online]. Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion [2007, 26 February].

Blackney, R.B. 1941. Meister Eckhart: A modern translation. New York: Harper.         [ Links ]

Boisen, A.T. 1936. Exploration of the inner world. Chicago: Willett, Clark.         [ Links ]

Claridge, G. (Ed.) 1997. Schizotypy: Implications for illness and health. New York: Oxford University Press.         [ Links ]

D'Aquili, E.G. & Newberg, A.B. 1993. Liminality, trance, and unitary states in ritual and meditation. Studia Liturgia 23:2-34.         [ Links ]

Dowd, S.E. 1994. Spirituality and the Bible. Lexington Theological Quarterly 29:37-44.         [ Links ]

Durkheim, E. 1965. The elementary forms of the religious life. New York: Free Press.         [ Links ]

Edwards, A.C. & Lowis, M.J. 2001. The Batson-Schoenrade-Ventis model of religious experience: Critique and reformulation. The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion 11:215-234.         [ Links ]

Freud, S. 1950. Totem and taboo. New York: Norton.         [ Links ]

Freud, S. 1961. The future of an illusion. New York: Norton.         [ Links ]

Grant, D., O'Neil, K. & Stephens, L. 2004. Spirituality in the workplace: New empirical directions in the study of the sacred. Sociology of Religion 65(3):265-283.         [ Links ]

Hinterkopf, E. 1998. Integrating spirituality in counselling: A manual for using the experiential focusing method. Baltimore: American Counselling Association.         [ Links ]

James, W. 1994. The varieties of religious experience. New York: Modern Library.         [ Links ]

La Barre, W. 1972. Hallucinogens and the shamanic origins of religion. In: P.T. Fürst (ed.), Flesh of the gods: The ritual use of hallucinogen (London: Allen & Unwin).         [ Links ]

Legere, T.E. 1984. A spirituality for today. Studies in Formative Spirituality 5:375-383.         [ Links ]

Leron Shults, F. & Sandage, S.J. 2006. Transforming spirituality. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic.         [ Links ]

McBrien, R.P. 1994. Catholicism. San Francisco: Harper Collins.         [ Links ]

McGrath, A.E. 1999. Christian spirituality. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.         [ Links ]

Newberg, A., D'Aquili, E. & Rause, V. 2001. Why God won't go away: Brain science and the biology of belief. New York: Ballantine.         [ Links ]

Pargament, K.I. 1997. The psychology of religion and coping: Theory, research, practice. New York: Guilford.         [ Links ]

Pargament, K.I. 1999. The psychology of religion and spirituality? Yes and no. The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion 9:3-16.         [ Links ]

Pargament, K.I., Sullivan, M.S., Balzer, w.K., Haitsma, K.S. & Raymark, P.H. 1995. The many meanings of religiousness: A policy capturing approach. Journal of Personality 63:953-983.         [ Links ]

Persinger, M.A. 1993. Vectoral cerebral hemisphericity as differential sources for the sensed presence, mystical experiences and religious conversions. Perceptual and Motor Skills 79(9):15-30.         [ Links ]

Persinger, M.A. 1999. Near-death experiences and ecstasy: A product of the organization of the human brain. In: S.D. Salla (ed.), Mind myths: Exploring popular assumptions about the mind and the brain (New York: Wiley), pp. 85-99.         [ Links ]

Philipchalk, R. & Mueller, D. 2000. Glossolalia and the temperature change in the right and left cerebral hemispheres. International Journal for the Psychology of Religion 10:181-185.         [ Links ]

Plante, T.G. & Sherman, A.C. 2001. Research on faith and health. New approaches to old questions. In: T.G. Plante & A.C. Sherman (eds.), Faith and health: Psychological perspectives (New York: Guilford), p. 13.         [ Links ]

Prince, R. 1982. Shamans and endorphins: Hypothesis for a synthesis. Ethos 10:409-423.         [ Links ]

Pye, M. 1995. Religion and identity: Clues and threads. In: J.W. de Gruchy and S. Martin (ed.), Religion and the reconstruction of civil society: Papers from the founding congress of the South African Academy of Religion (Pretoria: Unisa), pp. 3-17.         [ Links ]

Rahner, K. & Vorgrimler, H. 1965. Concise theological dictionary. London: Burns & Oats.         [ Links ]

Rayburn, C.A. 2004. Religion, spirituality, and health. American Psychologist 59:52-53.         [ Links ]

Rouget, G. 1985. Music and trance: A theory of the relation between music and possession. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.         [ Links ]

Rowe, A. 1993. Spirituality and spiritual development in the New Testament. Spectrum 25: 105-118.         [ Links ]

Schneiders, S.M. 1989. Spirituality in the academy. Theological Studies 50:676-697.         [ Links ]

Shafranske, E.P. & Gorsuch, R.L 1984. Factors associated with the perception of spirituality in psychotherapy. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology 16:231-241.         [ Links ]

Shafranske, E.P. & Malony, H.N. 1990. Clinical psychologists' religious and spiritual orientations and their practice of psychotherapy. Psychotherapy 27:72-78.         [ Links ]

Smart, N. 1965. Interpretation and mystical experience. Religious Studies 1:75-87.         [ Links ]

Smart, N. 1991. The religious experience. New York: MacMillan.         [ Links ]

Spilka, B., Hood, R.P. & Gorsuch, R.L 1985. The psychology of religion: An empirical approach. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.         [ Links ]

Spilka, B., Hood, R.W., Hunsberger, B. & Gorsuch, R. 2003. The psychology of religion. New York: Guilford.         [ Links ]

Thiselton, A.C. 2002. A concise encyclopaedia of the philosophy of religion. Oxford: One Word.         [ Links ]

Tyson, J.R. 1999. Invitation to Christian spirituality. New York: Oxford University Press.         [ Links ]

Watts, F. 2000. Brain science and religious experience. In: R. Stannard (ed.), God for the 21st century (Philadelphia: Templeton Foundation), pp. 121-123.         [ Links ]

Winkelman, M. 1986. Trance states: A theoretical model and cross-cultural analysis. Ethos 14:174-203.         [ Links ]

Wolman, B.B. (Ed.) 1989. Dictionary of behavioural science. California: Academic.         [ Links ]

Wuthrow, R. 1999. After heaven: Spirituality in America since the 1950's. Berkeley: University of California Press.         [ Links ]

Zahavy, T. 1988. Altered states of consciousness: A new look at prayer in the Mishnah. Spirit in Practice 53(6):23-27.         [ Links ]

Zinnbauer, B.J., Pargament, K.I., Cole, B., Rye, M.S., Butter, E.M., Elavich, T.G., Hipp, K.M., Scott, A.B. & Kadsar, J.L. 1997. Religion and spirituality: Unfuzzying the fuzzy. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 36:549-564.         [ Links ]

Zinnbauer, B.J., Pargament, K.I. & Scott, A.b. 1999. The emerging meanings of religiousness and spirituality: Problems and prospects. Journal of Personality 67:889-919.         [ Links ]

Zuesse, E.M. 1991. Perseverance and transmutation in African traditional religions. In: J.K. Olupona (ed.), African traditional religions in contemporary society (New York: Paragon House), pp. 167-184.         [ Links ]

Creative Commons License All the contents of this journal, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License