pat loughery

In the dense, chewy but promising “Exploring Christian Spirituality: An Ecumenical Reader” (Baker Academic), two of the first chapters are essays on the topic, “what is spirituality?”. It’s an interesting discussion, and one I frankly hadn’t considered before – I thought that, like love or mirth, you just recognize it when you see it; it defines itself.

In the essay written by Philip Sheldrake on the topic, the author describes various church movements’ understanding of spirituality. I most connected with what he wrote about spirituality in the Eastern Orthodox tradition.

The Eastern Orthodox tradition, unlike western Christianity in the Middle Ages, did not suffer a separation between theology and spirituality or mysticism.

All theology is mystical in that its aim is to show forth the divine mystery.

Mysticism and theology support and complete each other. On the one hand, mystical experience, while personal, is nevertheless the working out of a common faith. Theology, on the other hand, is an articulation of something which can be experienced by everyone. Theology could not be merely a rational deduction from revealed premises because theologia was inseparable from theoria or contemplation. Rather, theology is a vision experienced by saints whose authenticity was checked against the witness of Scripture and tradition. True theologians were those who saw and experienced the content of their theology.

p. 37

I had to read that section a few times to make sense of it (it’s hard to switch between reading spiritual theology and academic discussions). However, unpacking it, there are a few interesting points, based on my understanding of Orthodoxy.

The Orthodox have an extremely high view of theology. I have for years tried to lower the bar for people to say that they are theologians (I say that anybody who pursues God by trying to understand and/or follow is a God-studier, a theologian). The Orthodox reserve that term for the very learned and the very experienced. Not either-or, but those who have studied deeply and expressed that faith deeply.

In last weekend’s retreat I was asked whether the Orthodox experience charismatic phenomena similar to what western Charismatics and Pentecostals do. From my reading and listening, the answer is definitely ‘yes’ – even some of what I think of as the most unique phenomena that I’ve heard of in the west are also found in the east. Physical healing is found. Bodily manifestations of divine light similar to Moses in the tent or Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration are regularly reported by Orthodox monks. There are reports in Orthodoxy of gold dust falling from the skies, just as has been reported very recently in pentecostal and charismatic American churches. (See this PDF for more careful consideration of the Pentecostal/Orthodox overlap in these experiences.

Theology and mystical experience for the Orthodox are inseparable. In the Western churches, we tend to pursue one over the other, often exclusively one or the other while paying lip service to both.

True theologians, the author writes, are those who saw and experienced the content of their theology. True theologians see and experience God – in academic and mystical ways.