Paul writes – Yesterday evening I read, Alistair McGrath’s (unconvincing for me) chapter, The Quest for an Evangelical Spirituality in his 1994 published Evangelicalism and the Future of Christianity. While acknowledging (rightfully in my view) the absence of spirituality as “the crisis of evangelicalism”, his is a plea to recover “classic evangelical spiritualities” (which for him, as an evangelical, does not include Anglo-Catholic spirituality, theology and practices – though they, he says, nurture the important “human side of the religious life” in a way that Evangelicalism never has). “Evangelicalism” for McGrath is the “slumbering giant of the world of spirituality”. I'm not so confident!
His is a plea for a recovery of post-Reformation spirituality and practices. Not in itself a bad thing, if you believe evangelicalism is the future of Christianity, which McGrath (and I’d suggest many others did (and perhaps still do) did in the early nineties. This recover is not in itself a bad thing if you’re faith-journey is a new one, or it lacks due attention to the heart (over and against the mind). I’m just not convinced that a narrowly defined “evangelical spirituality” honors the richness of the incarnation and Christian tradition comprising “one body” and “many parts” (I guess to some degree that’s the point; evangelicalism has for so long defined itself as over and against so much of the breadth and depth of the Christian tradition).
I remain unconvinced with regards to the ability of a so-called “evangelical spirituality” to nurture an ongoing and growing (deepening) Christian spirituality which engages with and is worked out in the ordinary and everyday (thinking of Fowler’s understanding of “faith stages” and the more explicit reflection by Alan Jamieson). There just seems an absence of humility and a kind of triumphalism that implies “evangelicals” are the only true and faithful followers of Jesus. Perhaps it’s just McGrath’s language…? Perhaps it was just that it was 1994…?
I describe McGrath’s plea is unconvincing from the perspective and experience of one who has himself been gratefully been nurtured in the early days of my Jesus-following journey by the English Puritan’s (whom McGrath highlights as providing a good example (though a neglected one) of the evangelical “heritage of the past”), and as a good friend once said, “dead authors.” Evangelicalism isn't the full story and often lacks the kind of breadth and depth needed to nourish a growing Christian spirituality. It will only ever be one part of the much larger mix.
It was therefore with interest that I read the following:
“…Yet some evangelicals are starting to wonder if Luther's judgment was too hasty. There is now a growing movement to revive evangelicalism by reclaiming parts of Roman Catholic tradition - including monasticism. Some 100 groups that describe themselves as both evangelical and monastic have sprung up in North America, according to Rutba House's Wilson-Hartgrove. Many have appeared within the past five years. Increasing numbers of evangelical congregations have struck up friendships with Catholic monasteries, sending church members to join the monks for spiritual retreats. St. John's Abbey, a Benedictine monastery in Minnesota, now makes a point of including interested evangelicals in its summer Monastic Institute…”
This is excerpted from an interesting article in the Boston Globe (Feb 3rd, 2008). Its title is: The unexpected monks and it mentions Rutba House, and St. John’s Benedictine Abbey. You can read the whole article here. Thanks to Bosco Peters for bringing it to my attention.
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