The Audacity of Spirit

Description

What is spirituality? We all know the answer , or do we?
In recent decades we have become more aware of the chameleon nature of this word. It has a huge range of meanings from a variety of perspectives: it is used in theology both ancient and modern, in psychology, in world religions and in disciplines as diverse as business, agriculture, medicine, art, astronomy, mathematics, not to mention the Christian journey and its exercises of virtue and striving, of reconciliation and compassion, of prayer, mysticism and liturgy. For all of Aristotles dictum that we are rational animals, we now know that we are all spiritual beings, even if we might not be able to express the spirituality which gives meaning to our existence.

Jack Finnegan, a Salesian priest, who teaches both spirituality and psychology at the Milltown Institute, Dublin gives us a fascinating book that explores the whole area. Every paragraph has its own gems of insight and felicitous language. He steers us through traditional and post-modern writings so that we are challenged to new visions, but in such a way that we will not be afraid to let go of the narrower vision we will initially bring to reading this book. At the heart of the book Dr Finnegan sees spirituality in terms of a poetics.