Questioning Believer
I just took a quiz on Beliefnet - "What's Your Spirituality Type?" I thought I'd check it out since I'm interested in liturgical spirituality, and currently doing some readings on the tension between contemplation and action. The idea that there might be different "spiritual types" is not new. Assuming one's spirituality is a mode of integrating one's relationship with God or the transcendent with the with the world and one's own life, it would make sense that some do it differently. It's even possible there might be spiritual archetypes, just as a Jungian approach to personality could posit types and archetypes. There are even inventories on spiritual gifts that suggest correspondance to a person's personality typology. So what is my spirituality type?
Actually this Beliefnet survey does not address these issues at all. It merely assumes a single hierarchy, not multiple archetypes, of "spiritual"assent to given religious dogma. The questions (four in each set) assume a range of assent to a particular belief stance, vis a vis, a religious dogma and its antithesis. It is regrettable caricature of authentic spirituality, where some approaches, particularly cataphatic prayer, hold loosely all categories about God in contrast to the deep wordless encounter.
Out of 100 points I scored 77, meaning that I'm a "Questioning believer". Actually I'm trying to be an authentic believer. A score of 100 is a "Candidate for Clergy", which evidently means God is neatly wrapped up under the Christmas tree. Sorry, but I've had far more questions in my 20 years as a clergy than in my 36 years before. Even more could be said of great mystics and saints. What I most question is not my relationship with God, nor the very being of God, which is beyond question, nor the mandate to serve and share the gospel. What I often question are some of the crusty dogmas of institutional religion which, when pressed to their extreme, transform God's creation into bullets and battlefields and bloodied soldiers.
Actually this Beliefnet survey does not address these issues at all. It merely assumes a single hierarchy, not multiple archetypes, of "spiritual"assent to given religious dogma. The questions (four in each set) assume a range of assent to a particular belief stance, vis a vis, a religious dogma and its antithesis. It is regrettable caricature of authentic spirituality, where some approaches, particularly cataphatic prayer, hold loosely all categories about God in contrast to the deep wordless encounter.
Out of 100 points I scored 77, meaning that I'm a "Questioning believer". Actually I'm trying to be an authentic believer. A score of 100 is a "Candidate for Clergy", which evidently means God is neatly wrapped up under the Christmas tree. Sorry, but I've had far more questions in my 20 years as a clergy than in my 36 years before. Even more could be said of great mystics and saints. What I most question is not my relationship with God, nor the very being of God, which is beyond question, nor the mandate to serve and share the gospel. What I often question are some of the crusty dogmas of institutional religion which, when pressed to their extreme, transform God's creation into bullets and battlefields and bloodied soldiers.
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