Spirituality may be studied through human events, human psychology, and various art forms and sacred texts, among other media. As an academic discipline, it is
31
21
analyzed through interdisciplinary methods.32 According to Schneiders, Christian spirituality seeks to understand the experience of faith itself, “as it actually occurs, as it actually transforms its subject toward fullness of life in Christ, that is, toward self- transcending life integration within the Christian community of faith.”33
Spirituality as an academic discipline is essentially interdisciplinary because of the multi-faceted nature of the object it studies—transformative Christian experience.34 In an essay from 2005, Schneiders identifies three approaches to the study of spirituality as an interdisciplinary academic discipline: “the historical, the theological, and the
anthropological or hermeneutical.”
The historical approach uses modern historical methodology for the study of Christian religious experience as it is transmitted through texts and other products of culture.35 Because its primary focus is the lived experience of the faith itself rather than ecclesiastical life or the systematization of theology, it is different from church history or historical theology. This approach easily finds a home in university settings, where historical studies are already clearly defined and established, are related more directly to the predecessors of the field of spirituality, and provide foundational data for all other forms of research in this area.36
32 Perrin, 20. This is the third level of Walter Principe’s three categories of spirituality. See note 2, p. 1-2
of this chapter, where it is noted that Principe distinguishes three levels of spirituality: the real or the existential level; the formulation of a teaching about the lived reality, often articulated by a great spiritual exemplar; and the scholarly study of the first and second levels of spirituality, employing the resources and methods of other fields of knowledge. See Principe, 135-7.
33
Schneiders, “The Study of Christian Spirituality: Contours and Dynamics of a Discipline,” 6.
34
Ibid., 7.
35 Schneiders, “Christian Spirituality; Definition, Methods and Types,” 4. 36
22
The second approach, the theological, is situated within the context of denominational seminaries. This approach conceives spirituality as one area of theological study along with others such as “systematic theology, moral theology or biblical studies.” It uses theological categories to analyze the Christian experience of faith and is understood as a form of practical theology. This approach is more holistic, integrated, and less dogmatic and prescriptive than its predecessor, “spiritual theology,” referenced above. It is much more concerned with contributing to the formation of the churches than in academic research as such.37
Schneiders designates the third approach the “anthropological” or
“hermeneutical,” noting that it is newer than the other approaches. It sees spirituality not as a particular subject matter or dimension of theological studies, but as part of the much broader scope of human spirituality. This approach locates Christian spirituality within the universal human capacity for the “spiritual quest” that belongs to and is realized in some way in all religious traditions. This approach is more open, engaging, praxis- oriented, interdisciplinary, and interreligious. It is particularly appropriate for the graduate theological setting or the field of religious studies.38 While remaining centered in its own Christian commitments, it is primarily concerned with research into the experience of the Christian search for God “in its concrete and experiential reality and in the constructive work of reinterpreting that experience in and for the contemporary context.”39 37 Ibid. 38 Ibid. 39 Ibid.
23
The three methodological approaches are mutually enlightening, and scholars engaging in these approaches recognize their shared disciplinary concerns.
Interdisciplinarity raises the yet unresolved question of how to relate Christian resources from the fields of scripture, theology, or history to the various non-theological disciplines such as “psychology, sociology, aesthetics, and science” in order to analyze religious experience as such in its concrete particularity.40
Ultimately, then, the reason for an interdisciplinary approach to the academic study of spirituality is twofold: on the one hand, as Schneiders notes, it was to counter a reduction of spirituality to the domain of the human sciences, and on the other, to avoid subsuming spirituality into one of the sacred sciences (namely theology or biblical studies). Rather, because of its complex and singular nature, Christian spirituality as an academic discipline strives to be “maximally inclusive” of all these disciplines—both the human and sacred sciences—in order to comprehensively engage its object, which Schneiders describes as “the experience itself of living the paschal mystery of Jesus Christ in all its ramifications, under the formal object of experience.”41
She explains that ultimately,
Christian spirituality as an academic discipline is an attempt to realize, by bringing serious and personally transforming study to bear on the ultimate human value of union with God, what is arguably the most cited text in the Christian canon, Jesus’ promise, “If you remain in my word you will become my disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free” (Jn. 8:31-33).42
40 Ibid. 41
Schneiders, “The Study of Christian Spirituality: Contours and Dynamics of a Discipline,” 22.
42
24
In exploring Thomas Merton’s contemplative-prophetic spirituality, I will utilize Schneiders’ hermeneutical approach, which involves the interpretation of the
“phenomena of the Christian spiritual life as experience.”43
The hermeneutical method consists of three steps: description, critical analysis, and interpretation.
Description takes account of the experience itself, considering the historical facts,
the textual witness to the experience, the theological and ecclesiastical setting, the psychological conflicts faced by the person, and the transformative dimensions of the experience. I will employ this descriptive phase of Schneiders’ model to explore Merton’s life and spiritual journey.
Critical analysis considers the social, economic, political, and religious influences
on the person’s experience and will be used in this case to explore the contemplative and prophetic dimensions of Merton’s spirituality. Constructive interpretation entails the transformative appropriation of the phenomenon for the subject. In this it leads to “enlightenment of the current situation, a contribution to the understanding of the spiritual life today.” 44
In this step, I will consider how the prophetic spirituality of Thomas Merton may enliven the current context of consecrated life in India today.