Spirituality in the Academy

Spirituality, despite the fluidity of the term's usage and the general confusion about its meaning, is a subject which can no longer be politely ignored either in a church which would prefer a less "emotional" approach to faith or in an academy which would guard its intellectual precincts from "subjectivism." Since Vatican II, both the Catholic and the Protestant Churches have had to contend with an increasing interest in spirituality on the part of their membership; programs designed to foster the lived experience of the spiritual life have multiplied; and the academy is witnessing (not without apprehension) the birth of a new discipline in its midst.