Spirituality is a celebration of the personal and the transcendental
In the Christian version of personalized spirit and spirituality, the spiritual life takes on the character of a personal relationship between individuals, with the attendant features of reciprocal attention, care, provision, assistance or service, emotional interaction, expectations, comfort, joy, and development or growth. In Western civilization as it has actually developed, the great record or testimony of spiritual life is the biblical book of Psalms. Just as an illustration, consider the twenty-third Psalm, with which most people are familiar, whether or not they self-identify as Christians. But the entire book of Psalms is a record, an enactment, a celebration of spirituality, of spiritual life, understood as an interactive relationship between persons in a personal as well as "natural" order. On one side there is a transcendental spiritual being—God, the Lord, the Shepherd—with his retinue and his realm or governance, and on the other side human beings, individually and in groups, all together constituting what is called "the kingdom of God."
From Renewing the Christian Mind: Essays, Interviews, and Talks. Copyright © 2016 by Willard Family Trust. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers.
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