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In my area of study I have discovered some valuable texts indirectly describing the spirituality of the past and what Christianity looks like in many areas. Some reading between the lines is necessary, but any christian who is able to discern the works of the spirit could see that there was major changes in the heart of early American society when approaching spirituality in the 19th century-unlike18th century Puritan dogma. I am currently an English major and in my studies of the American literary history, there is much to be noted in regards to spirituality as this country has changed. Specifically, the Transcendentalist movement was a major shift from 18th century puritan theology ( stemming from calvanism) and texts by Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau have opened my eyes to how much the spirit was active in moving large groups of people towards the importance of the self and the inward glance that directs us upward. Although that movement was good in increasing awareness of an ultimate truth in nature and humans, ( seen in Emerson's Nature and Self-Reliance), there was still a poor representation of Christ in this period. They were seeking virtue, but it was left completely to their own devices....but the point is that many people were seeking to become virtuous purely by the study of nature, indirectly seeking that home in Christ that is translated to humans through the beauty of the American landscape.
Did that make sense? There is just so much I am learning about what spirituality looks like specifically in the west. It comes from a lot of movements and shifts in the way people thought about life in general and there is so much to be learned about the nature of spirituality and emmanuel through the study of American Literary history. Not to mention, the writing is beautiful. The romantics were beginning to tap the surface of the human heart and wanting to restore others to an undefined part of humanity that was lacking a source. They wanted to be a part of that universal soul in the " in him we live and move and have our being" sense, but were still living amogst others who werent even able to handle that kind of spiritual truth.
Melrod, thanks for your thoughts. There is a lot throughout history that we can find fruitful in spiritual conversation, but I would like to take the line of thinking a bit differently if I can. My questions have to do with theology. Throughout history it seems that civilizations continually look beyond theological inquiries in order to seek out answers that are fulfilling. But as Christians, as those who pray to the God who came as Immanuel, how do we take non-theologically oriented spirituality? I am using theological here to talk about Christian spirituality, but I guess we could ask another broader question, namely, what do we as Christians who desire to think theologically have to say to other theologically oriented people who are from other religions? This is a key question particularly in the realm of spirituality.
To show my cards a bit, my worry about spirituality in general, and American Christianity in particular, is that we tend to avoid thinking theologically at all cost. We have been handed down a Christian tradition that "had eveything figured out," and so we tend to want to go out and find "truths" outside of our traditions. And yet, if we really begin to dig inside of our own traditions and backgrounds, we can find storehouses of untapped material for Christian living and spirituality. For instance, have we really even begun to talk about a spirituality that is essentially Christological? Have we even begun to talk about a triune-spirituality? We even have someone who sought this task in American history in Jonathan Edwards, and yet we tend to focus on his hell-fire and brimstone more than his spirituality.
In any case, I think there are a lot of questions of those writers who we feel have something to say in general, or who we feel speak to us in particular, the first of which should probably be, what do their words to do with The Word?