Spiritual Capital Spirituality in Practice in Christian Perspective Edited by Michael O’Sullivan and Bernadette Flanagan Spiritual Capital With gratitude to all the graduates of the MA in Applied Christian Spirituality programme at Milltown Institute and All Hallows College, Dublin, Ireland: 2002–2012 Spiritual Capital Spirituality in Practice in Christian Perspective Edited by Michael O’Sullivan and Bernadette Flanagan All Hallows College, Dublin, Ireland © Michael O’Sullivan and Bernadette Flanagan 2012 All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher Michael O’Sullivan and Bernadette Flanagan have asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the editors of this work Published by Ashgate Publishing Limited Ashgate Publishing Company Wey Court East Suite 420 Union Road 101 Cherry Street Farnham Burlington Surrey, GU9 7PT VT 05401-4405 England USA www.ashgate.com British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Spiritual capital : spirituality in practice in Christian perspective Social values Religion and sociology Spirituality I O’Sullivan, Michael II Flanagan, Bernadette 303.3'72-dc23 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Spiritual capital : spirituality in practice in Christian perspective / edited by Michael O’Sullivan and Bernadette Flanagan p cm ISBN 978-1-4094-2772-8 (hardcover) – ISBN 978-1-4094-2774-2 (ebook) Conduct of life Spirituality Values Christian ethics Christian sociology I O’Sullivan, Michael (Michael Francis) II Flanagan, Bernadette BJ1589.S65 2012 248.4–dc23 ISBN 9781409427728 (hbk) ISBN 9781409427742 (ebk) Printed and bound in Great Britain by the MPG Books Group, UK 2012005196 Contents List of Figures List of Contributors Acknowledgements vii ix xiii Introduction Bernadette Flanagan 1 Exploring Spiritual Capital: Resource for an Uncertain Future? Chris Baker A Secular Response to Social Solidarity?: Social Capital, Religion and the Implications for Social Policy Rana Jawad Spiritual Capital and the Turn to Spirituality Michael O’Sullivan 43 The Ecological Crisis and Spiritual Capital June Kennedy 61 Frederick Ozanam’s Spiritual Capital and Today’s Consumer Society Thomas McKenna Spiritual Capital in a Competitive Workplace William O’Brien Faith-Based Organisations and the Work of International Development John K Guiney The Spiritual Dimension to Bereavement through Suicide Ruth Harris 119 Spiritual Capital at Work in the Shadows Gráinne Putney 135 23 79 97 111 Spiritual Capital vi 10 Pilgrimage and Spiritual Capital Niamh Kelly 147 11 Gardening as a Source of Spiritual Capital Senan D’Souza 159 12 Poem-Making, Creativity and Meditative Practice Mary O’Brien 171 13 Leonard Cohen, Spiritual Capital and Postmodern Seekers Ann O’Farrell 189 Index 207 List of Figures 1.1 The Virtuous Cycle of Spiritual and Religious Capital © Baker and Miles-Watson, 2008 14 2.1 Religion (R), Social Capital (SC) and the Means/Goals of Social Policy 37 4.1 The Path from Nature to Eco-spirituality 71 This page has been left blank intentionally List of Contributors Chris Baker is Director of Research at the William Temple Foundation and Senior Lecturer in Public and Urban Theology at the University of Chester Between 2007 and 2010 he directed a major Leverhulme Research project for the William Temple Foundation entitled ‘Faith and Traditional Capitals: Redefining the Public Scope of Religious Capital’ This project mapped the phenomenological experience of religious and spiritual belief in the UK, and the dense set of experiences, values and visions for change that link faith-based motivation to faith-based participation Elsewhere he has written and published extensively on the nature of postmodern cities, emerging patterns of civil society and the response of faithbased communities to these changes Senan D’Souza is Director of the Novitiate Programme for Christian Brothers in Zambia In his previous role as a member of the International Spirituality Team of the Christian Brothers and Edmund Rice Network 2009–2011, he facilitated growth and learning around the new spirituality which emerged from the Christian Brothers Congregational Chapter in 2008 He is a graduate of the National University of Ireland MA in Applied Christian Spirituality at Milltown Institute, Dublin Bernadette Flanagan is Director of Research at All Hallows College, Dublin City University and Co-Director of the inter-institutional Spiritual Capital Ireland Centre between All Hallows College and Waterford Institute of Technology She has served as a member of the Governing Board of the international Society for the Study of Christian Spirituality and as Acting President of Milltown Institute, a Recognised College of the National University of Ireland Her publications include The Spirit of the City (Dublin: Veritas, 1999) and, with Una Agnew and Greg Heylin, With Wisdom Seeking God: The Academic Study of Spirituality (Leuven: Peeters Press, 2008) John K Guiney is the Director of the Irish Jesuit Mission Office and the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice He is also President of the Irish Missionary Union He worked for many years in Tanzania and Kenya Ruth Harris is a lecturer in humanities at Blanchardstown Institute of Technology, Dublin Her research interests include language and education, which were the areas of her PhD studies, and more recently spirituality studies, having carried out a postgraduate research project in the area of bereavement following suicide 198 Spiritual Capital and our need for salvation In a study carried out by this author,50 it was found that these images of brokenness and fragmentation were the ones that resonated most with the research interviewees; there appeared to be in those interviewed an internalisation of societal fragmentation Cohen reminds us that even a sovereign king of Israel, David,51 was brought to his knees, in this case by beauty, desire and the failings integral to human loving: You saw her bathing on the roof; her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you!52 In the subsequent verse he reminds us of the risks of trusting love by evoking the story of Samson and Delilah:53 She tied you to a kitchen chair She broke your throne and she cut your hair And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah.54 For whatever reason in our individual lives, we fall, we fail, we lose our grip, we lose control; this moment of brokenness can become the means to our growth Modernity’s Icarus-like fall from grace could become the grace-filled opportunity of postmodernity Cohen speaks of a moment in the individual life story when: You lose your grip and then you slip Into the masterpiece.55 In the individual spiritual journey: You win a while and then it’s done – Your little winning streak, And summoned now to deal With your invincible defeat, You live your life as if it’s real, A Thousand Kisses Deep.56 50 Ann O’Farrell, ‘The Journey from Desire to Mystical Longing in Leonard Cohen: An Articulation of Postmodern Spirituality’ (unpublished MA dissertation, Dublin: Milltown Institute, 2008, available in the Jesuit library, Milltown Park, Dublin) 51 Samuel 11:1–5 52 Cohen, ‘Hallelujah’, taken from Various Positions 53 Judges 16 54 Cohen, ‘Hallelujah’ 55 Cohen, ‘A Thousand Kisses Deep’, taken from Ten New Songs 56 Ibid Leonard Cohen, Spiritual Capital and Postmodern Seekers 199 Johnston57 has pointed to the view that mystics are at the forefront of the evolution of consciousnesses, their individual journeys having the ability to speak to other individuals who search for wholeness The individual journey also speaks to the collective one Above, Cohen’s lyrics spoke of and to the individual; below, he uses another’s verse set to his own music to call for humanity as a whole to ‘play the better part’: From bitter searching of the heart, Quickened with passion and with pain We rise to play a better part … The lesser loyalties depart, And neither race nor creed remain From bitter searching of the heart Not steering by the venal chart That tricked the mass for private gain, We rise to play a greater part.58 Postmodernity seems to be at a time of possibility, perhaps a time of spiritual awakening, or what Derrida might term ‘the possibility of the impossible’.59 The choice to ‘play a greater part’ is as open to us as the choice to rebuild our collective ego and return to self-interest and the need to dominate Spiritual capital as a concept seems to me to have developed from the desire of individuals to harness the potential of this newly emerged openness Cohen has expressed this invitation to all as follows: One by one, the guests arrive, The guests are coming through The open- hearted many The broken-hearted few … And those who dance, begin to dance and those who weep begin And ‘Welcome, welcome’ cries a voice ‘Let all my guests come in’.60 Cohen here captures a moment in time which is a moment of invitation We are all guests at the banquet At the end of this song, the third and fourth lines above are reversed to: William Johnston, Silent Music (London: William Collins & Sons, 1974) Cohen (Words: Frank Scott), ‘Villanelle For Our Time’, taken from Dear Heather (New York: Sony, 2004) (CD) 59 Downing, How Postmodernism Serves My Faith, 175 60 Cohen, ‘The Guests’, taken from Recent Songs 57 58 Spiritual Capital 200 The broken-hearted many The open-hearted few.61 The suggestion seems to be that the journey of life moulds us and we are called to respond creatively We can remain broken and fragmented, isolated and indifferent, or we can rise to play a greater, more open-hearted part Cohen as a Voice of Apophatic and Love Mysticism Finally, I wish to propose that Cohen is a voice of bridal/love mysticism in a postmodern world.62 The mystic stages offered by Evelyn Underhill may be used as a template and placed over the later work of Cohen in particular to map his contemplative development His growth into a contemplative place in his life means that his later work is suffused with a sense of humility and longing What exactly it is that Cohen longs for is never named in the best Jewish tradition of respect for transcendence and in the best apophatic tradition of refusing to place language upon the unnameable Paul Levesque has also argued that the ‘darkness and negative knowledge’ from which mystics of the past began their journeys is the same starting point from which the contemporary spiritual seeker must begin: ‘Yet the contemporary journey to recover transcendence must follow the one group of people who have achieved an inward union with the transcendent – the mystics’.63 Cohen’s later work is, I believe, a contemporary example of love mysticism; all of his compositions grope their way in and through desire in longing for the divine presence He ‘mixes worldly and other worldly desire’64 in his lyrics This, I believe, has the effect of capturing the listener ‘wherever they’re at’, so to speak Cohen, carries within, as we all do, both the prodigal and righteous elements of human nature His life story and his lyrics reflect both ends of the moral spectrum Not all Cohen fans are ‘religious’, but all are touched by longing and desire Cohen’s lyrics and the yearning in his voice capture this longing and desire Hederman echoes Cohen’s struggle in his claim that ‘although our desire is geared to happiness that only an eternal object can provide, it can focus itself on a finite object and invest this with all the properties of the God for whom we wait’.65 61 Ibid O’Farrell, ‘The Journey from Desire to Mystical Longing in Leonard Cohen’, 63 Paul Levesque, ‘The Possibility of Encountering God in Postmodernity: A Return to Apophatic Theology’, in The Presence of Transcendence: Thinking Sacrament in a Postmodern Age, edited by Lieven Boeve and John C Ries (Leuven: Peeters, 2001), 118 64 Stephen Hazan Arnoff, ‘What in the World Are We Longing For? Leonard Cohen’s Poetry Heeds the Jewish Call’, http://www.leonardcohencroatia.com/bookoflonging/ reviews12.htm (accessed 13 March 2012) 65 Mark Patrick Hederman, Manikon Eros (Dublin: Veritas, 2000), 21 62 Leonard Cohen, Spiritual Capital and Postmodern Seekers 201 In ‘A Thousand Kisses Deep’, Cohen speaks of having scavenged all oceans before he ‘consented to be wrecked’: Confined to sex we pressed against The limits of the sea: I saw there were no oceans left For scavengers like me I made it to the forward deck I blessed our remnant fleet And then consented to be wrecked, A Thousand Kisses Deep.66 Eros was not designed to be tied to the sexual appetites alone; it was designed to elevate them, which is why Eros is traditionally depicted with wings It can carry us toward the fulfilment of Eros in agape.67 Cohen’s Judaism may be the anchor that places him in a position to speak to the exiled and longing mood of postmodernity The exile and longing, so ever-present in the Jewish psyche, may lend itself to a certain longing, present in spiritualities which have become free-floating Cohen may very well be singing today’s Song of Songs This sense of the mystical journey as being a journey in and through desire is the reason why my study, referred to earlier, was titled ‘The Journey from Desire to Mystical Longing in the Lyrics of Leonard Cohen’ Cohen has embarked on a spiritual journey and knows the distractions along the way more than most This gives him a kind of postmodern ‘kudos’ Like Augustine, he knows ‘our heart is restless until it rests in you’.68 Spiritual Capital and Cohen’s Work The Spirit may already be at work through Cohen as a contemporary spiritual messenger – the article in the Irish Times following Cohen’s Irish concerts in 2009, which was quoted earlier, called Cohen a ‘seer, a spiritual guru, a prophet’69 – but as usual such activity may only be fleetingly glimpsed at the time Nevertheless, I am arguing that Cohen lyrics have the potential to engage people in reflective and open dialogue, creating a space where his journey can speak to others There is a great need for poetry like Cohen’s in a world recovering from the desolation of the imagination that modernity encouraged Mark Patrick Hederman holds that ‘if an Cohen, ‘A Thousand Kisses Deep’, taken from Ten New Songs Pope Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est (Dublin: Veritas, 2006), 11–12 68 St Augustine, Confessions, trans Henry Chadwick (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992, reprinted as Oxford World’s Classics paperback, 1998), 69 Maher, ‘Cohen’s Songs of Suffering Move Us with Power Similar to Prayer’, 14 66 67 Spiritual Capital 202 artist is a person of genius, he or she can find eternity and infinity, God and all his works, within his or herself, and can externalize these for the rest of us’.70 Many postmodern people long for the possibility of transcendent encounter which was marginalised in modernity Our desires, our deep longings are all too easily ‘hijacked into secondaries’.71 Voids wait only to be filled This open moment needs to be grasped by those who wish to combat the stultifying effects on lives grasping for manufactured secondaries If the tragedy of our time is that what we refuse to attend to cannot reach us,72 then perhaps Cohen’s work can serve to refocus attention Poetry can loosen interior landscapes made tight and tame by rationality: ‘a poem is shaped to enter and inhabit forgotten or not yet discovered places in the heart’.73 Cohen’s lyrics are divinely sewn with the precision of a wily tailor His metaphors are loose enough not to create confinement; they lure us with the power of Eros The sexual rhythms of his music entice but also attempt to pull people beyond where they scavenge for divine scraps into a more ‘profound and sacred force’.74 Cohen has made the journey he invites others to make; his lyrics script his own journey, not any person’s journey, and not all journeys What Cohen mostly effects in his listeners is an invitation to reflection His music burrows deep, creating internal spaces where soul can exhale and inspiration is made possible I have little doubt of the value of Cohen’s work to enrich human understanding of the mystical journey towards God, and of the collective and individual benefit for an ‘interior turn’ His work may serve in ‘reopening contact points with human depth’.75 An interior turn suggests that now is the time when people must face themselves more rigourously by looking inwards The mystical dynamic towards beauty, truth, goodness and love means that having faced ourselves in this way, we will then be moved to reposition our gaze outwards ‘Mysticism in itself demands that any inward experience must have a further outward expression’.76 Conclusion: Lotus-Eater Spiritualities In the early part of this chapter, I referred to the tension that can and often does exist between contemplation and action Just as there has been a tendency to over-privatise monetary capital, so there may be a danger of constructing and practising spiritualities that tend to be private; the spiritual (practices/knowledge/ 70 72 73 74 75 76 71 Mark Patrick Hederman, Symbolism (Dublin: Veritas, 2007), 55 Gallagher, Clashing Symbols, 135 John O’Donohue, Divine Beauty (London: Bantam Press, 2003) Ibid., 80 Ibid., 152 Gallagher, Clashing Symbols, 163 Levesque, ‘The Possibility of Encountering God in Postmodernity’, 118 Leonard Cohen, Spiritual Capital and Postmodern Seekers 203 insight) may become a consumer commodity; and the journey may begin with the individual and end with the individual The story of the Odyssey classically explicates this tension In this story, Odysseus’ ship was blown off course and the crew landed on an island A few of them were sent to investigate what kind of people lived on the island and met lotus eaters who shared the fruit of the lotus tree with them This food was so delicious in its properties of inducing relaxation that the men lost interest in reassuming their responsibilities in daily life Their story reflects a kind of apathy to which it is possible to become attached Tennyson captures well the dilemma in this story in his poem ‘Choric Song of the Lotos-Eaters’: Let us alone What pleasure can we have To war with evil? Is there any peace In ever climbing up the climbing wave? Is there confusion in the little isle? Let what is broken so remain The Gods are hard to reconcile… Let us swear an oath, and keep it with an equal mind, In the hollow Lotus – land to live and lie reclined On the hills like Gods together, careless of mankind.77 O‘Sullivan’s definition of spiritual capital, given earlier, with its emphasis on forward-looking transformation, seems to me to include a necessary corrective to privatised notions of spiritual capital Such a corrective leads to the following question: how are resources like Cohen’s compositions to be harnessed for positive societal transformation? Just as liberation theology acted as a corrective to otherworldly theologies, O’Sullivan calls for a corrective challenge to spiritualities which are in danger of being based more on individualistic tendencies than on collective responsibilities.78 Rohlheiser makes a similar call when he says: ‘When we make spirituality essentially a privatized thing, cut off from the poor and the demands for justice that are found there, it soon degenerates into mere private therapy, an art form or worse still an unhealthy clique’.79 Finnegan, too, articulates a similar position when he recognises that the cultural and contextual forces at 77 Alfred Lord Tennyson, ‘Choric Song of the Lotos-Eaters’, in The Works of Alfred Lord Tennyson, with an Introduction by Karen Hodder (Ware: Wordsworth Editions, 1994), 93–7 78 Michael O’Sullivan, ‘The Human Spirit and the Option for the Economically Poor’, in With Wisdom Seeking God: The Academic Study of Spirituality, edited by Una Agnew, Bernadette Flanagan and Greg Heylin (Leuven: Peeters Press, 2008), 223–33 79 Ronald Rolheiser, The Holy Longing: The Search for a Christian Spirituality (New York: Doubleday, 1999), 66 Spiritual Capital 204 play in the rising waters of the Spirit are not neutral There is a cultural sleep that cannot hear the ‘ethical demands of the outside world’.80 As in the story of the Odyssey, lotus-eaters must eventually reboard the ship, with persuasion from Odysseus-like teachers, to return to labour amidst the ethical demands in the deep mid-ocean of life In other words, true mystics are called to reach outwards to the call of the other who may be lost at sea, who may have no boat or who is lolling on an island where apathy reigns Poets and troubadours evoke and promote mystical awakening, thus facilitating a real and necessary step towards ‘a ministry of disposition, an awakening of the hungers to which the truth may eventually be seen as an answer’.81 Bibliography Alighieri, Dante The Divine Comedy New York: Everyman Library, 1995 Appleton, George (ed.) The Oxford Book of Prayer Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985, 86 Augustine, St Confessions Translated and with an Introduction and Notes by Henry Chadwick Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992 Reprinted as Oxford World’s Classics paperback, 1998 Baker, Chris ‘Exploring Spiritual Capital: Resource for an Uncertain Future?’, in Spiritual Capital: Spirituality in Practice in Christian Perspective, edited by Michael O’Sullivan and Bernadette Flanagan Farnham: Ashgate, 2012, 7–22 Benedict XVI, Deus caritas est Dublin: Veritas, 2006 The Cloud of Unknowing and the Book of Privy Counselling Edited and with an Introduction by William Johnston With a Foreword by Huston Smith New York: Image Books, Doubleday, 1996 Cohen, Doron B ‘Speaking Sweetly from “The Window”: Reading Leonard Cohen’s Song’ http://www.leonardcohenfiles.com/doron-window.pdf (accessed 13 March 2012) Cohen, Leonard Book of Longing Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 2006 —— The Future New York: Columbia Records, 1992 CD —— ‘Interview with Brian D Johnson’, in Maclean’s Magazine (15 October 2001) http://www.leonardcohenforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=11630 (accessed 13 March 2012) —— Recent Songs New York: Columbia Records, 1979 CD —— Songs from a Room New York: Columbia Records, 1969 CD —— Ten New Songs New York: Columbia, 2001 CD —— Various Positions New York: Columbia Records, 1984 CD —— (Words: Frank Scott) ‘Villanelle For Our Time’ Dear Heather New York: Sony, 2004 CD Finnegan, The Audacity of Spirit, 78 Gallagher, Clashing Symbols, 133 80 81 Leonard Cohen, Spiritual Capital and Postmodern Seekers 205 Cohen, Leonard and Jennifer Warnes ‘Song of Bernadette’ Famous Blue Raincoat New York: Cypress Records, 1987 CD Cornille, Catherine ‘Introduction’, in Many Mansions?: Multiple Religious Belonging and Christian Identity (Faith Meets Faith), rev exp edn, edited by Catherine Cornille Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2002, 1–6 Downing, Crystal L How Postmodernism Serves My Faith Westmont, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2006 Finnegan, Jack The Audacity of Spirit Dublin: Veritas, 2008 Frost, Robert Collected Poems of Robert Frost New York: Holt, 1939 Gallagher, Michael Paul Clashing Symbols London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1997 Hazan Arnoff, Stephen ‘What in the World Are We Longing For? Leonard Cohen’s Poetry Heeds the Jewish Call’ http://www leonardcohencroatia.com/bookoflonging/reviews12.htm (accessed 13 March 2012) Hederman, Mark Patrick Manikon Eros Dublin; Veritas, 2000 —— Symbolism Dublin: Veritas, 2007 Johnston, William Being in Love New York: Fordham University Press, 1999 —— Silent Music London: William Collins & Sons, 1974 Kearney, Richard Modern Movements in European Philosophy Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1999 Lakeland, Paul Theology and Critical Theory: The Discourse of the Church Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1990 Levesque, Paul ‘The Possibility of Encountering God in Postmodernity: A Return to Apophatic Theology’, in The Presence of Transcendence: Thinking Sacrament in a Postmodern Age, edited by Lieven Boeve and John C Ries Leuven: Peeters, 2001, 107–24 Liu, Alex ‘4Capital and Performance’ http://www.researchmethods.org/ be4capital-intro.htm (accessed 13 March 2012) Maher, Eamon ‘Cohen’s Songs of Suffering Move Us with Power Similar to Prayer’ ‘Rite and Reason’ Irish Times, 22 September 2009, 14 McGreevy, Ronan ‘Leonard Cohen Transcendent in Sligo’ http://1heckofaguy com/2010/08/03/leonard-cohen-yeats-share-top-billing-at-lissadell-housesligo-concerts/ (accessed 13 March 2012) O’Donohue, John Divine Beauty London: Bantam Press, 2003 O’Farrell, Ann ‘The Journey from Desire to Mystical Longing in Leonard Cohen: An Articulation of Postmodern Spirituality’ Unpublished MA dissertation, Dublin: Milltown Institute, 2008, available in the Jesuit library, Milltown Park, Dublin O’Sullivan, Michael ‘The Human Spirit and the Option for the Economically Poor’, in With Wisdom Seeking God: The Academic Study of Spirituality, edited by Una Agnew, Bernadette Flanagan and Greg Heylin Leuven: Peeters Press, 2008, 223–33 206 Spiritual Capital —— ‘Spiritual Capital and the Turn to Spirituality’, in Spiritual Capital: Spirituality in Practice in Christian Perspective, edited by Michael O’Sullivan and Bernadette Flanagan Farnham: Ashgate, 2012, 43–59 Rolheiser, Ronald The Holy Longing: The Search for A Christian Spirituality New York: Doubleday, 1999 Rumi, Jelaluddin ‘The Guest House’, in Rumi: The Book of Love: Poems of Ecstasy and Longing, edited and translated by Coleman Barks New York: HarperOne, 2003, 179–80 Tacey, David The Spirituality Revolution Hove: Brunner-Routledge, 2004 Tennyson, Alfred Lord ‘Choric Song of the Lotos-Eaters’, in The Works of Alfred Lord Tennyson With an Introduction by Karen Hodder Ware: Wordsworth Editions, 1994 Zohar, Danah and Ian Marshall Spiritual Capital: Wealth We Can Live By London: Bloomsbury, 2004 Index 4Capital Theory 43, 50, 159 7/7 events 35 9/11 events 35 AAR, see American Academy of Religion ‘a deficit model of disadvantage’ 25 abstraction concept 89 academic discipline and spirituality conclusions 57 new subject 43 references 50–51 signs (1–6) 51–5 Academie Francaise 84 Adams, Kathleen 177 added value of spiritual capital 14 American Academy of Religion (AAR) 51 Ann (gardener) 167–8 apophatic and love mysticism (Leonard Cohen) 200–201 Applied Christian Spirituality (MA degree) xiii, 4–5, 54, 136 authentic subjectivity 43, 47, 50 Bailly, Emmanuel 81, 94 Baker, Chris 3, 7, 44, 64, 119 Bible 44, 68, 159, 160–61, 167 BASS, see British Association for the Study of Spirituality Belcher, John 136, 143 Bell, Catherine 150 Bellah, Robert 31, 89 Benedict XVI 4, 67 Benefiel, Margaret 101, 104, 105 bereavement through suicide and spirituality aftermath of suicide 122 changed image of god 128–9 conclusions 131 continuity of life 129–30 introduction 119–20 loss of meaning the bereaved 123–4 suicide 120–22 meaningfulness 130–31 opening to others 127–8 reality 127 resolution of grief 125–6 spiritual crisis 124–5 suicide and suicide bereavement 120 transformation 126–7 Berger, Peter 12 Berry, Thomas 71, 163 Blair, Tony 23–4, 31 Boland, Eavan 179 ‘Boogie Street’ (Leonard Cohen song) 192 book summary 2–4 Bouckaert, Luk 2–3 Bourdieu, Pierre 12, 29 Bowling Alone 89, 93 British Association for the Study of Spirituality (BASS) 53, 55 Brueggemann, Walter 184 Buber, Martin 150, 183 Burrows, Mark 171, 178 Burton-Christie, Douglas 52, 178 ‘By the Rivers Dark’ (Leonard Cohen song) 192 ‘Call to holiness’ 3, 49, 50 Cameron, Julia 177 Capra, Fritjof 71 CBOs, see community-based organisations ‘Centering Prayer’ 172 Centre for Global Development 115 Challoner, Richard 165 Chand, Nek 163 Chokoras (street child) 112 Cholvy, Gérard 85 Christianity, politics 31 208 Spiritual Capital Chronicles of the Propagation of the Faith 84 Chucao Tapacolo (small bird) 56 Church of England 32 Clinton, Bill 23–4 Cohen, Leonard, spiritual capital and postmodern seekers democratisation of the spiritual 191–4 introduction 189–91 lotus-eater spiritualities 202–4 pluralism in postmodern spiritualities apophatic and love mysticism 200–21 introduction 194–6 The Postmodern existential: ‘Icarus Falls – Ego Found Shattered’ 196–201 spiritual capital 201–2 Coleman, Earle, J 176–7 Coleman, James 26–7, 29 ‘commoditisation’ 86–91 community-based organisations (CBOs) 111 concept of spiritual capital 1–2, 5, 7, 13–14, 43, 61, 131, 159, 199 Console support group 127–8 constitutive dimension of the human 61 ‘Contemplative’ 56–7, 152, 154–7, 164, 172, 200 Cook-Greater, Susan 177 courtship of faith by New Labour 9–10 Cunningham, Cecilia Davis 174 customization concept 88 Darwin, Charles 55–6, 57 Darwin’s Sacred Cause 55 Das Capital 43 Davos, Switzerland Conference (2010) 61 Day, Dorothy 51 de Hueck Dorothy, Catherine 149 Deane, John F 179 Desmond, Adrian 55 Deus Caritas Est Diamond, Eli 44 Digging 164 Downing, Crystal 195 Durkheim, Karlfried Graf 150, 172 Diboll, Mark 114 Earth Charter 69 eco-spirituality and nature 72–3 ecological crisis and spiritual capital conclusions 72–3 Earth 69–70 greening of religion 67–9 introduction 61–4 planetary concern 65–6 religious convictions 70–72 Eden Project 17–18 emergence of post-secular society 7–9 Enron, US 103–4 Entry to Enterprise Programme 17 Erasmus 106 European Conferences on Spirituality 54 European Society for Spirituality, Religion and Health 55 European Union (EU) and faith-based organisations 113 exploring spiritual capital added value 14 conclusions 20 courtship of faith by New Labour 9–10 definitions 12–13 emergence of post-secular society 7–9 faithful capital and religious social capital 13–14 quantitative coda 19–20 religious capital and social capital 11–12 transformation macro-level 14–17 meso/micro levels 17–19 Faith in the City report 32 Faith, Hope and Participation report 10 Faith as Social Capital: Connecting or Dividing 10 faith-based organisations (FBOs) and the work of international development conclusions 117–18 introduction 111–12 roles development expertise rooted in reality 114–15 Index emergency and post-conflict reconstruction perspective 115–16 ethics and values 116–17 relationship with people 113 solidarity 117 walking with or accompaniment perspective 113 faithful capital and religious social capital 13–14 Faithful Cities: A Call for Celebration, Vision and Justice 12 FBOs, see faith-based organisations Finnegan, Jack 203 Finn, Susan 144 Flanagan, Bernadette 52, 53 Francis of Assisi 175 French Revolution, (1789) 51 Fukuyama, Francis 101 Gallagher, Michael Paul 184 gan (vegetable garden) 160 Garden of Eden 161 Garden of Gethsemane 161 gardening and spiritual capital books 163–5 conclusions 168–9 description 163–8 gardens 160–63 introduction 159–60 New Testament 162 writers 163–5 Glendalough Pilgrimage 151–2, 153–5 Globalisation, Spirituality and Justice 118 Goldberg, Natalie 177 Groody, Daniel 118 Groover, Kristina 173 Guroian, Vigon 165 Habermas, Jürgen 8, 44, 197 habitus concept 12 Hadot, Pierre ‘Hallelujah’ (Leonard Cohen song) 191 Happiness: Lessons from a New Science 19 Haupt, Lyanda Lynn 56 Heaney, Seamus 164, 184 Hederman, Mark Patrick 200, 201 209 Hefner, Robert 12 Herbert, George 175 Hillman, James 121 Himmelfarb, Gertrude 30, 33, 37 HIV/AIDS 112, 114 Holden, Robert 102 Iannacone, Laurence 62 Imago Dei 160 International Journal of Public Theology 15 Ireland, wealth 63–4 Irish Times 193, 201 Islam, politics 31 Jencks, Charles 163 Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) 116 John of the Cross 175 JRS, see Jesuit Refugee Service Jung, Carl 174, 177 Kachappily, Kurian 55 Kant, Immanuel 176 Kavanagh, Patrick 164, 179, 183 Keating, Thomas 172 Kempis, Thomas 149 kenosis (hollowing effect of pain) 127 King, Martin Luther 118 Klass, Dennis 126, 129 Kurth, Krista 99 Lakeland, Paul 197 Layard, Richard 19–20 Len (gardener) 166 Lichtmann, Maria R 178 liminality experience 156 Liu, Alex 43, 159, 190 Lovelock, James 65 Luther, Martin 175 McCarthy, Liam 122 McDonagh, Enda 176, 182 McGeachy, Catherine 100 McKeon, Patrick 121 Maher, Eamon 193 Malloch, Theodore Malone, Jim 56–7 Malone, Kevin 119 Marshall, Ian 97, 171 210 Spiritual Capital Marshall, Katherine 114 Marx, Karl 43 Mary (gardener) 165–6 Matrix Mentoring system 17 Mayr, Ernst 71 Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) 111, 114 Miller, Melvin 177 Miller, Vincent 89 Milton, Carol 130 Mitroff, Ian and Denton, Elizabeth 98, 100, 106, 108 Moore, James 55 Morgan, Lindsay 114 nature and eco-spirituality 72–3 Needleman, Jacob 183 New Catechism 124 New Deal Employment programme, UK 27 New Labour 9–10, 11, 24 Newman, Josephine 172 Ní Dhónaill, Nuala 180 Noirot, Joseph 80 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) 111, 115 Northern Ireland Association for Mental Health (NIAMH) 55 Object Lessons 179 O’Meara, Thomas Franklin 185 On the Origin of Species 55 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) 26 O’Siadhail, Micheál 180 O’Sullivan, Michael 2, 3, 190, 203 Ozanam, Frederick, spiritual capital and consumer society biography 80–82 commodification 86–91 commodity culture 91–4 conclusions 94–5 introduction 79–80 tactics in culture of his day 83–6 Palmer, Parker J 149 paradeisos (paradise) 160 Perrin, David 2, 52, 53, 99, 103 Pilet, Francois 161 Pilgrim on the Great Bird Continent 56 pilgrimage and spiritual capital conclusions 157 history of Glendalough Pilgrimage 151–2 history of pilgrimage 150–51 introduction 147–50 life and pilgrimage 155–7 pilgrim voices 153–5 poem making, creativity and meditative practice conclusions 184–5 creativity and spirituality 176–7 four themes arising 182–4 meditative practice 172–3 poem making 171–2 religion and the arts 173–4 testimony of the poets 179–80 theology and the arts 174–6 voices from the research field 180–82 writers and writing teachers 177–8 Pope Benedict XVI 4, 67–8 Pope John Paul II encyclicals 67–8 Pope Paul VI 117 Populorum progressio Postmodern Existential: ‘Icarus Falls – Ego Found Shattered’ (Leonard Cohen) 196–200 Pseudo-Dionysius 175 Putnam, Robert 11, 26, 29, 89 Rendu, Rosalie 81, 92 Ricoeur, Paul Rilke, Rainer Maria 178, 180 Rolheiser, Ronald 172, 203 Roose-Evans, James 150 Ruffing, Janet K 52, 184 Rumsey, Andrew 178, 182 St Francis 90 St Kevin 151–2 St Vincent de Paul 79, 81–2, 85, 91, 94, 95 Sandercock, Leonie 16 SAP, see Structural Adjustment Programme Sarkozy, President 61 Schneiders, Sandra 52, 57, 121, 153–4 ‘shadows’ and spiritual capital at work Index broken relationships 137–8 concern for others 140–41 conclusions 144–5 distressing experience 135–6 life on the streets 136–7 pride, shame and guilt 139 rejection 138–9 sense of community 139–40 soul-destroying 138 spirituality: the missing link? 143–4 spirituality on the streets 141–3 ‘Sheilaism’ 89 Smidt, Corwin 13 Sobrino, Jon 49 social capital concept definition 36 religion competing discourses 34–8 conclusions 38 definitions and empirical evidence 29–34 introduction 23–6 policy 26–8 United Nations 26 Social Justice Commission, UK 24 Society for the Study of Christian Spirituality (SSCS) 51 SPES, see Spirituality in Economics and Society spiritual capital/religious capital and social capital 11–12 Spiritual Enterprise: Doing Virtual Business Spirituality Association of South Africa (SPIRASA) 51 ‘Spirituality in a Changing World’ conference 55 Spirituality in Economics and Society (SPES) spirituality and spiritual capital academic discipline 50–55 conclusions 55–7 field-encompassing field 55–7 introduction 43–7 liberation theology 48–9 Vatican II 49–50 Spiritus (journal) 178 211 SSCS, see Society for the Study of Christian Spirituality Stevens, Wallace 179 Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) 112 Suger, Abbot 175 Tacey, David 193 Takacs, David 71 Tennyson, Alfred 203 Thatcher, Margaret 32 The Coldest Night 130 The Divine Names 175 The Furrow 180 The Long Garden 164 The New SCM Dictionary of Christian Spirituality The Ritual Process 150 The Secret Way of the Enclosed Garden 161 The Song of Songs 175 The Spirit that Moves (South African conference) 54 Titus Brandsma Institute, Netherlands 51 transformation 1, 2, 3, 7, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 24, 26, 32, 43, 51, 54, 56, 65, 108, 119, 126, 131, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 154, 155, 156, 172, 173, 174, 190, 203 transformation and spiritual capital meso/micro levels 17–19 micro level 14–17 transformative relationship 183 Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) 116 Turner, Edith 149 Turner, Victor 150 Tutu, Desmond 116 United Kingdom (UK) economy 25 New Deal Employment programme 27 post-war housing policy religion local government 35 social welfare 32 Social Justice Commission 24 212 Spiritual Capital United Nations Development Programme 26 United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) 116 United Nations (UN) institutions 111 refugees 116 social capital 26 United States (US) economy 25 Putnam, Robert 29 religious social capital 13 social policy 27 Vatican II 49–50 Via Creativa 177 Via Negativa 178 Watson, Jonathan Miles 15 wealth in Ireland 63–4 Wellbeing, Inter-culturality and Spirituality in Education and Research (WISER) 55 Wesley, Charles 175 William Temple Foundation (WTF) 11–12, 14, 18 Williams, Rowan 15 Wink, Walter 104 Woodberry, Robert 12 Woolcock, Michael 30 workplace and spiritual capital conclusions 106–8 introduction 97–8 leadership 104–6 obstacles 101–4 values 98–101 World Bank 24–5, 27, 63, 65–6, 114 World Values Survey 28 WTF, see William Temple Foundation Wuthnow, Robert 31 Zohar, Danah 97, 171 ... www.ashgate.com British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Spiritual capital : spirituality in practice in Christian perspective Social values Religion and sociology Spirituality I O’Sullivan, Michael... of Ireland MA in Applied Christian Spirituality at Milltown Institute, Dublin She is a visiting lecturer in the MA in Applied Christian Spirituality at All Hallows College, Dublin City University... ‘critical edges’ in the spirituality of work and leadership today in David Perrin’s book Studying Christian Spirituality. 4 The concept of spiritual capital is integral to the Spirituality and Ethics