Literature and Christian Spirituality

Through the light of theology and the breath of spirituality... the fruits of literature helps us to grow. A Jesuit professor in the English department at the Korean Jesuit University provides background on the topic in his Catholic Times article.

There is a well-known quip by Cardinal John Henry Newman regarding the English term for mysticism. This word is composed of 'mist,' meaning fog, and 'schism,' meaning division, suggesting that mysticism begins in a fog and ends in division.

Although it sounds like a joke, it hints at the possibility that vague personal spiritual experiences could deviate from Church teachings. If theology is the universal teaching that transcends time and place, spirituality is a reflection on the concrete experiences of each individual. In this sense, theologians sometimes cast a wary eye on spirituality.
 

Just because the personal experiences depicted in literature do not directly use the language of Christian faith does not mean they are fundamentally different. This is because the human nature of believers and that of non-believers is fundamentally the same. The Samaritan, who was a pagan, was actually a figure walking the path of light.
 

 However, theology and spirituality do not proceed independently; rather, they form a close, fundamental relationship. While theology deals with a systematic and universal understanding of God and Christian truths, spirituality is the realm in which individuals practice and live out such understanding and truths in daily life. Spirituality is the space where the teachings of theology are put into everyday practice.

Additionally, theology tends to perceive history as a unified and universal phenomenon, whereas spirituality is the living experience of God's presence revealed within specific historical contexts. Spirituality gives life to the universal historicity of theology.
 

The primary concern of literature and Christian spirituality is precisely the experience of individual life. Not an embellished experience, but an experience as it is. Because God seeks the authentic self, just as He sought Adam and Eve, not a flawless, artificially crafted image.

The primary concern of literature and Christian spirituality is precisely the experience of individual life. Not a colored or decorated experience, but an experience as it is, raw. Because God seeks the real self, just as He sought Adam and Eve, not a flawless, artificially crafted image. 

William James argued that the essence of religion lies not in doctrine or institutions, but in the practical and concrete experiences of an individual’s feelings and actions. The Second Vatican Council also reveals a perspective on revelation not as a traditional proposition that concluded with the death of the last apostle, but as a dynamic, continually acting influence. The reason revelation must remain dynamic is that every human being is a pilgrim on the road until death.

Christian spirituality is distinguished from literature in that it understands individual experiences within the truth of Christianity. However, the fact that personal experiences depicted in literature do not employ the language of Christian faith directly does not make them markedly different from those revealed in Christian spirituality. This is because the human nature of believers and non-believers is fundamentally the same. The Samaritan, who was a pagan, was in fact walking the path of light. 

Karl Rahner, who emphasized the ‘anonymous Christian,’ proposed transcendence within ‘foundational human experiences.’ That is, even those who have not directly heard the gospel of Christ or who are outside the Church can, through their own experiences, unconsciously have transcendent experiences of the Absolute.

Research on various literary works from ancient Western times through the medieval period, the Renaissance, the modern era, and contemporary times, which explore fundamental human experiences, can be the subject of Christian spirituality. The universality of theology and the individuality of spirituality do not exist in isolation but interact with each other.