As the idea, or the illusion, of a Christian culture passes, an approach to God centred on spiritual experience seems ever more important. In this situation, what of Ignatian spirituality, linked as it is to the official Church and the Gospel word? Is Ignatius' teaching somehow outmoded? Or is it Ignatius' genius to show us a liberative, mystical potential precisely within the constraints of social living and ecclesial practice? These questions about spirituality, secularity and pluralism converge with an older debate in what was called 'spiritual theology'. Prayer tends to simplify after a while. It becomes painful, passive. Words recede, even vanish. When this happens, what do we do with the complex apparatus of Ignatian spirituality? Can we still give and receive the Exercises once this change has begun to occur? Or should we now forget the points, the colloquies, the reflections, the repetitions and all the rest? The same question is being asked: is Ignatian prayer merely a resource for beginners in the spiritual life, or can it carry us to a contemplative, inclusive maturity?
£3.00
0