**1. Which tradition do you come from? How does that tradition inform your spiritual practices?**
**2. How can the theology from other traditions (namely Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, or Mainline Protestant) inform your own spirituality?**
I grew up in a mainline protestant church, started attending a pentecostal church in college, and have spent most of my adult life in either evangelical or pentecostal churches of some type with a number of years in a mainline protestant church as well. I have also extensively read Christian classics from authors from a wide range of traditions.
Using Gary Thomas' 9 spiritual pathways as a description, I tend to be highest on intellectual, followed by ascetic, naturalist, and contemplative as my preferred ways of expressing spirituality. This has changed over time. Earlier in life, I was much more influenced by those around me and tended to express my spirituality in ways more common to various groups I was part of. Later in life, I started marching to the beat of my own drummer more than that of others.
I'd say that various tradition largely hindered my spirituality by forcing me into a mold that fit the group. My degree of reverence, exuberance, activism, and other such things was "peer pressured" toward the group norm rather than my norm. The problem was that I did not realize this was happening. It was decades before I realized the best way to walk with God was how He created me to walk with Him; not what worked for other people I was hanging around with. The reality is that I could now comfortably fit in with most traditions unless they force me to aggressively defend their distinctive doctrines and practices against outsiders.
Theology wise, the biggest change for me happened when I learned enough Greek to do my devotional reading in the GNT and LXX. The differences between manuscripts in museums around the world forced me to reevaluate my views on how I used proof texts. Also, when I realized that each "side" on various debate had armies of Greek scholars arguing why they were right about particular verses, I simply realized that God isn't hiding what He wants. If it's not something plain and clear and honest Christians disagree, there's not much use worrying about it. When I adopted the view that I wasn't going to worry about anything that didn't have at least a half dozen passages strongly supporting it, I found that I was left with the core doctrines common to most Christian traditions. I tend toward a sola scriptura view of things BUT recognize that all traditions acknowledge some level of divine guidance in the leadership of their group that either expands upon scripture or "explains" it "properly".
Ultimately, my spiritual walk has become much stronger and healthier because I learned to walk with God in the unique way He made me to be and stopped trying to find a group where I fit in.
**3. How does developments in science (specifically neuroscience) and anthropology inform, if at all, how the human mind and body is composed?**
I have a Ph.D. in physics and decades of applied work as an engineer, scientist, and analyst. I'd note that anthropology and other soft sciences do NOT have the predictive and analytic capability of the hard sciences and to some extent tacitly incorporate researcher biases. To be blunt, running social science data into statistical packages and returning an impressive table of numbers and a few graphs often puts the face of a hard science conclusion onto meaningless numbers. I'm not familiar enough with neuroscience research to comment on it. My general impression is that it is reasonably well done and gives insight into the function of the brain.
I'd make one point about science today. In most areas of research, there will be some degree of disagreement among scientists about what something means. The viewpoint that often emerges as the dominant one is the one which attracts funding. If something is researched by two groups, and one group says, "no big deal" while other says, "it might be a big deal", if some entity (be it corporate or governmental or activist group) decides one view or the other fits their narrative, they'll fund the group that will give better results for them. There is also the effect of the media myth that is created when a preliminary or even worthless piece of research is trumpeted loudly and continuously. For example, I for years had believed the myth of a generation of "crack babies" whose mothers had used crack cocaine and the effect it caused on them. For awhile, this became a focal point for the war against drugs. A few decades of research later, and there is a case to be made that what was being seen was the effect of poverty.
'Crack baby' development issues not side-effect of drug, but poverty Instead of using this as a call to arms to fight poverty, it was politically used as a call to arms against drugs. I've seen similar things over the years. Sadly, most of the people who try to point these things out at the time end up being badly disparaged.
To me, the bottom line is that explaining "how" something happens is not the same as understanding "for what purpose" or "why" something happens. Science can study the reproducible under limited conditions and draw conclusions or can study the not reproducible and draw conclusions. One must then choose to believe that either physical cause and effect is the only thing that exists, or if there is something more that is outside the realm of cause and effect. Cause and effect clearly explains the reproducible in the lab. The question is whether or not cause and effect clearly explains everything. Science is a tool for studying cause and effect. If cause and effect is all that exists, science can pretty much eventually explain everything. If something more than cause and effect exists, science will have gaping holes that it cannot explain.
**4. One of the topics we have studied is the body/soul debate; namely, whether the body and soul are separate entities (dualism) or a single entity (monism). What are your opinions on this debate?**
The real question is there anything beyond the physical universe? If not, then monism is the only possible explanation. If there is something, then dualism is possible.
Ultimately, I see dualism as the only possibility whereby any meaning of life can exist. If the physical universe is all that exists, everything we do, every decision, every human venture, every song and painting, every good act, all of it, will at some point vanish into a sea of impersonal subatomic particles with all of the pain and joy of our lives vanished and with no trace remaining. If we're famous or have a lot of kids, then our influence might extend a few centuries or millennia longer, but it will ultimately be vanity of vanity trying to catch the wind. Perhaps we could take some fleeting solace in something like Carl Sagan's "Star Stuff" monologue. But ultimately, we're nothing more than some very complex physical patterns of subatomic particles that are to some extent self-aware.
In contrast, if we are dualistic whereby our being made in the image of God and being brought to life through the breath of God means that there is an aspect of our volition and will that makes decisions that touch and shape an eternal and spiritual world, our lives have an eternal meaning and effect.
**5. How should a theology of spirituality inform humanity's role in social justice issues?**
Here's a post I made about how NOT to do it.
Loving others by forsaking the use of litmus tests
I see most issues of social justice being a matter of group on group force and violence. I'm not convinced that counter group on group violence will solve it. And by violence, I mean any type of coercion be it threats of physical force, legal force, or political force that forces someone to do what we want. The reality is that I see as much hate and vitriol coming from one "side" as the other. The Kingdom of God cannot advance under those conditions.
It is our actions toward other individual human beings that ultimately make positive changes. We need to convince others of our "correctness" by our words and actions toward everyone. The ugly reality is that the face of the SJ movement I've seen is about as hateful toward non-SJ people as the very thing they are supposed to be fighting.
Spiritual people should not be resorting to non-spiritual methods. Too many Christians (on both sides!) are being manipulated emotionally by "leaders" of movements who are in it for their own gain. Perhaps some are sincere, but there are politicians, bankers, and the ultra-rich who stand to gain a lot from getting large groups of people so emotionally wound up that they cannot think straight. To the extent Christians fall for this, they lose their ability to push for real permanent change.
**6. What is Christian spirituality? How do we know how to practice it?**
Spirituality is simply living life as God intended for each us. We are each unique creations, works of art, treasures, made by the Creator to reflect His glory in a way unique to each of us. Spirituality is partly that process of walking with Him and slowly becoming that ever-developing work of art that He is creating to show the world something of Himself.
I think the person who we are at this moment is a combination of 3 things: 1. the part of us that is what God means for us to be, 2. parts of us shaped by others (via expectations, pressure, wounds, and scars), and 3. those stupid things we've done that are unhealthy and not good and other things that God didn't want there. I think spirituality is learning more about who God means us to be and being healed of those things that cripple us. This is a process of spending time with God and letting Him show us what is what.
Too often, I believe people latch onto particular things inside themselves (be it that which is from God or things not from God), proclaim that is who they are, and then run with it. To me, it's sad when I see someone latching onto something and make it their life's mission when it's based on things not from God. It's like our life is a garden. We need to prayerfully meditate on what it is that we are meant to grow or we could end up spending all of our effort growing weeds.
For me, spirituality looks something like this. I usually spend an hour or so a day reading the LXX and GNT and a half hour reading the NVI (I'm learning spanish) for my devotional reading. I find this is peaceful and relaxing. It takes my mind off the frustrations and troubles of the world. I often find particular verses or passage just leap out at me depending on what is happening in my life. I spend time alone just thinking and talking with God. I read other books. I'm on a vacation from it now, but I've usually been involved in various ministries. Lately, I've been spending time here on CF hopping into threads where I think can maybe make a positive difference. I've also been doing a lot of lurking and seeing what insights I can pick up from various people. I've been starting to write a few books. I've been learning how to do digital art to express myself better beyond words. I enjoy spending time with my family.
