Eugene Peterson on Spirituality
“Many people assume that spirituality is about becoming emotionally intimate with God. That’s a naïve view of spirituality. What we’re talking about is the Christian life. It’s following Jesus. Spirituality is no different from what we’ve been doing for two thousand years just by going to church and receiving the sacraments, being baptized, learning to pray, and reading Scriptures rightly. It’s just ordinary stuff.
“This promise of intimacy is both right and wrong. There is an intimacy with God, but it’s like any other intimacy; it’s part of the fabric of your life. In marriage you don’t feel intimate most of the time. Nor with a friend. Intimacy isn’t primarily a mystical emotion. It’s a way of life, a life of openness, honesty, a certain transparency.”
–Eugene Peterson
While I basically agree with what you say concerning Christianity, I think it’s problematic to identify spirituality with our particular tradition. There are too many examples of spiritual people from other traditions; also, of Christians, even clergy, who are more deeply spiritually flawed than the average human being.
I was going to say the same thing, Paul. It is naive to think that spirituality is reserved for Christians or is the Christian life. At the same time, its difficult to say that someone who constantly engages in the Christian life wouldn’t also be spiritual. It is possible though, depending on how Christian life is defined. He talks about going to church and doing the ordinary things… well… I think that’s too simple of a view. I’ve certainly been the type in the past to do everyday ordinary things and never feel spiritual throughout those times. I do think there is an intimacy involved and you have to be in the mood for it and open to it. You really have to purposefully engage in it. It’s only a “way of life” if you regularly engage in it. Mr. Peterson’s life probably revolves around this kind of stuff so I can see how he might see it as a way of life. But I don’t think it would be correct to define christianity as “going to church, praying, and reading scripture” because those things alone require no spirituality whatsoever.
Oops. I meant to say I don’t think it would be correct to define spirituality as “going to church, praying, and reading scripture” because those things alone require no spirituality whatsoever. Although the thing I actually said is true too.
I suspect that the spirituality/religion distinction has been overdrawn, particularly in the modern context where the two blur. I have just posted on it. In case you are interested, here is the link. http://deligentia.wordpress.com/2009/10/30/spirituality-and-religion-a-false-dichotomy/