Christian spirituality

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Under Christian spirituality refers to specific forms of spirituality in the context of practicing Christian. The focus is on an experienced or desired personal relationship of the Christian believer to God or to Jesus Christ . Christian spirituality is therefore usually also biblical spirituality (and tied back to early Christian experiences.) Therefore, it also points beyond the later confessional boundaries and peculiarities.

In Christian spirituality, individual perfection is seen as not attainable by technique, but experienced as grace . Christian spirituality not only includes a special preoccupation with spiritual things, but also expresses itself in everyday life. Experience of God and action that grows or is inspired by it ( ethics ) belong together.

history

Christian spirituality is first and foremost the spirituality of the New Testament in dealing with Jewish spirituality , especially the Old Testament . The main theme of this spirituality is the relationship between the old covenant and the new covenant sealed by Jesus Christ . While the Jews are still awaiting the first Messiah , the Christians are already expecting his return at the end of time. The kingdom of God has already dawned through his incarnation , his vicarious love death and his resurrection . Without knowing the day and the hour, Christians prepare for their own death and the general apocalypse . The New Testament spirituality itself is characterized by a greater expectation .

The "spirituality of the catacombs " is an example of the spirituality of the early church - between world conquest and martyrdom . In the image of the “Good Shepherd” it is clearly Christocentric based on the Pauline motto: “What can separate us from the love of Christ? Perhaps confusion and fear, persecution and hunger? ”(Rom. 8:35). Nevertheless, the message had to be veiled during this period of persecution, the symbol of the cross integrated into the anchor symbol , the confession "Jesus Christ, Son of God, our Savior" to be expressed in the fish symbol ( Ichthys ). Baptism and the Eucharist are omnipresent in the catacombs, while the focus is on the social dimension, which includes the living and the deceased in a large community of prayer and life. The eschatological awareness that Christians have no permanent place and home here, but rather seek the future in heaven (Hebr. 13:14; Phil. 3:20), becomes particularly clear in the time of persecution. Last but not least, the spirituality of the catacombs is a “spirituality of silence”.

The spirituality of the desert fathers (for example Anthony the Great ), the first church fathers (for example Augustine of Hippo ) and the first founders of the order (for example Benedict of Nursia ) tries to differentiate itself from the dualistic Gnostic spirituality . This spirituality is particularly impressive in the Augustine Confessions , but also in the traditional texts of Eucherius of Lyon , St. Patrick and Gregory the Great .

In the Middle Ages it is primarily women's mysticism that further developed Christian spirituality. Elisabeth von Schönau , Hildegard von Bingen , Mechthild von Magdeburg and Birgitta von Sweden revolve around the topics of “strangers to God” and “healing knowledge”. Meister Eckhart , Thomas von Kempen , Jacob Böhme , Niklaus von Flüe , Heinrich Seuse , Johannes Tauler , Thomas von Aquin , Nikolaus von Kues and Bernhard von Clairvaux strive for the right " following of Christ ".

During the Reformation, it was mainly Martin Luther , Philipp Melanchthon and Jean Calvin on the part of the Reformation and Ignatius of Loyola , Teresa of Ávila and John of the Cross on the part of the Counter-Reformation that set the tone. Through Ignatius von Loyola, the form of the spiritual retreat was significantly deepened. Above all, Francis of Sales tried to integrate the legitimate concerns of Reformation spirituality into his Christian-humanist spirituality, which formed the starting point for numerous new apostolic religious orders .

In the first half of the 19th century, Vincent Pallotti developed a spirituality of the apostolic vocation of every person. Responsibility for the apostolic mission should be shared together in the presence of different vocations and ways of life.

At the beginning of the 20th century there was an “awakening of the Church in the soul” ( Romano Guardini ) in Catholicism and Protestantism ; H. to search for a common form of mysticism that respects the dignity of the person in the face of the cultural struggle between individualism and collectivism . For example, for Edith Stein , Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Alfred Delp , the vehement representation of Christian spirituality as their form of resistance ended with the murder by the National Socialists.

After 1945, however, this gave the impetus to a “spirituality after Auschwitz” and a “spirituality of liberation” - analogous to the respective theological and pastoral currents. It was on the background of these experiences that the first New Spiritual Communities and Movements emerged (for example the Focolare Movement by Chiara Lubich ), which aimed at charismatic- evangelical renewal and ecumenical impulses. Depending on the orientation, the Pentecostal or the evangelical element was emphasized more strongly.

The specific spirituality of Orthodox Christianity , on the other hand, has shown basic constants over the centuries, within which only a few general variations exist, because it feels bound to the teaching of the Church Fathers.

At the end of the second millennium, in view of the confrontation with postmodernism , a change in Christian spirituality was partly demanded and partly already stated. Connections between Christian spirituality and other spiritual attitudes are increasingly being sought ( yoga , Zen , Enneagram ). It is not uncommon for the demarcation between mysticism and esotericism to be difficult and controversial.

to form

Important representatives

Magazines

  • Inspiration. Journal for Christian Spirituality and Lifestyle (renamed in 2016, previously "Meditation")
  • Spirit and life . Journal for Christian Spirituality (formerly: Journal for Ascese and Mysticism)

Institutes and chairs with a focus on Christian spirituality

Centers

See also

literature

Web links

Individual references and sources

  1. ↑ What is Christian Spirituality . Retrieved February 16, 2015.
  2. ↑ Spirituality of the catacombs using the example of the Callixtus catacombs ( Memento from August 3, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ Cf. on this fundamentally Metropolitan Hierotheos (Vlachos) of Nafpaktos: Orthodox Spirituality. A brief introduction .
  4. ↑ Archive link ( Memento from October 19, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Franciscan Institute for Spirituality (IFS)