The Way has always reflected a variety of what Ignatius called ‘pathways to God’. This double issue is unusual, then, in concentrating on the specifically Ignatian pathway. It invites the reader to consider the question of what marks out one spirituality from another, and in particular how this one is to be differentiated from its neighbours. Historically, spiritualities often grew up in relative isolation, each having as its guarantor a particular religious order (Benedictine, Franciscan), Christian denomination (Quaker, Baptist), or social concern (feminism, liberation). But a side-effect of the explosion of interest in questions of ‘Mind, Body, Spirit’ in the last decade or so has been to bring these different amalgams of understanding and practice into much closer association. Quaker silence meets Ignatian imagination, Benedictine lectio divina provides an impetus to the struggle for political liberation, feminists ask themselves what Francis (and Clare) might have to say to them. And those who are seeking to know God better feel no need at all to confine themselves to any single outlook. Does it make any sense, then, to try to preserve a sense of a particular and distinctive spirituality? Indeed, after all the cross-fertilisation that has recently taken place, is it even possible to do so? The articles in this issue make a cumulative case for answering both questions affirmatively.
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