Foundations of Spirituality

Carla Mae Streeter, OP, is professor emerita at the Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis, Missouri, where she continues to teach in the areas of systematic theology and spirituality.

• ContentsAcknowledgments   xiIntroduction: What Is Spirituality?   xiiiA Simple Definition   xivTaking the Human Seriously   xviWhen God Comes Courting   xviiiTransformation of the Human   xixChapter One: The Context for a Study of Spirituality   1Spirituality and the Sciences   1A Second Axial Shift?   3What Kind of Interiority?   6What Anthropology Is Needed?   9A New Look at Humanness   14Rethinking Human Anthropology   14A Revised Anthropology   15A Functional Perspective   17The Soul as Measure of the Culture   18The Relational Links   20A Blessed Accountability   21Measuring the Culture   22Summary   23Chapter Two: Spirituality as a Universal Phenomenon   25An Experience and a Study   25Clarifying Development Terms   26Religion   26Holiness   27Historical Sketch   28Then and Now   28In Between   29New Wine   30Spirituality and Theology   30A Troubled Marriage   30Divorce   30Reconciliation and Renewal   31Spirituality as a Discipline   34The Method Used in This Study   35Summary   36Chapter Three: The Distinctness of Christian Spirituality   38A Communal/Relational Presence   39An Incarnational/Integrative Presence   42A Sacramental/Liturgical Presence   44Summary   47Chapter Four: The Anthropological Foundation   48The Human Organism   48Energy   50Tension   51Sexuality   53The Human Psyche   56Psychic Functions   56Emotion   57Psychic Scarring   58The Human Spirit   59The Apex   61Experiencing   62Understanding   63Judging   64Deciding   65Vectors, Biases, and Imperatives   66Summary   70Chapter Five: The Divine Foundation   72Total Reality   72Energy and Grace-Life   75Theological Virtue   78Conversion and Further Transformation   81Cardinal Moral Virtue   84Love’s Discretion: Prudence   86Love’s Fairness: Justice   87Love’s Courage: Fortitude   87Love’s Moderation: Temperance   88Gifts of the Holy Spirit   90In Cognitive Operation: Wisdom, Understanding, and Knowledge   91In Evaluative/Decisional Operation: Counsel and Piety   91In Spontaneous and Considered Emotion: Fear of the Lord and Fortitude   92Summary   92Chapter Six: The Beautiful Human Being   95Naming the Beauty: In the Huma  n 95Knowing the Beauty: Fruits and Beatitudes   98Nourishing the Beauty: Forgiveness and Prayer   106Summary   109Conclusion   111Diagrams   113General Bibliography   116Index   128

A lucid, hospitable, comprehensive book, seeded in Bernard Lonergan and Robert Doran’s work on conversion. The author, nurtured in her own rich Dominican tradition, asserts that the human is spiritual from the outset. It is this human that the Holy ‘woos into holiness.’ It is a wondrous story, narrated in many religious traditions. Streeter’s scholarly, systematic, theological text explains how we are forged in truth, goodness and beauty.Cora Twohig-Moengangongo, Theologian, Independent Scholar, Toronto, Ontario