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Verbum et Ecclesia

versão On-line ISSN 2074-7705
versão impressa ISSN 1609-9982

Verbum Eccles. (Online) vol.33 no.1 Pretoria  2012

http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/ve.v33i1.398 

ORIGINAL RESEARCH

 

On the epistemology of postmodern spirituality

 

 

Dudley A. Schreiber

Department of Christian Spirituality, University of South Africa, South Africa

Correspondence

 

 


ABSTRACT

At first glance, the postmodern spiritual 'scene' appears 'sociologically messy, experiential, multifaceted, ecological, provisional and collective' (Petrolle 2007) and ofuncertain epistemic provenance. Here, I ask: can Roland Benedikter's (2005) conception of postmodern dialectic and spiritual turn, help us understand postmodern spirituality and can it assist in a construction of a postmodern epistemology of spirituality? The current argument constitutes a meta-theoretical exploration of:
Deconstruction and neo-essentialism as representing the significant dialectic in philosophical postmodernism. Deconstruction is presented as an apophatic moment in Western thought about 'knowing' and 'being' whilst postmodern neo-essentialism, though contextualised by antirealism and ambiguity, palpably suggests itself.
Postmodern trends which derive from the dialectic.
How these epistemic trends influence methodology in the study of spirituality.
How a trans-traditional (anthropological) spirituality might incorporate insights about transformation from a complex of epistemologies in which, theories of 'self' abound.
In the conclusion an attempt is made to describe how postmodern spirituality expresses itself in society.


 

 

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