Introduction to the Supplement Issue: Building Global and Intercultural Studies in Christian Spirituality

The study of Christian spirituality is, necessarily, a global and intercultural endeavor, reflecting the diversity of contexts in which lived faith takes root, is embodied, and passed along. This supplemental issue of Spiritus has been initiated and assembled by the editor and the editorial staff of the journal. The issue reflects the growth of spirituality studies as an international field of research as it also seeks to advance such vibrant intercultural and global scholarly exchange.

To put the contribution of this issue in a broader context, I note first that the Society for the Study of Christian Spirituality (SSCS) has made the development of global and intercultural scholarship a key priority. For years, the Society has had a largely American membership, though it included members from the United Kingdom, Ireland, South Africa and other regions. With the creation of an International Relations ad hoc Committee (IRC) and sponsoring of two international conferences in spirituality, SSCS seeks further global and intercultural scholarship. Specifically, we identified the following goals for the IRC: to expand the international connections of SSCS so as to engage diverse contexts of spirituality scholarship; to build constructive exchanges between SSCS and international scholars; to welcome more international members; and to develop a more fully international presence/impact. The IRC committee members have included: Noel Burke (Barbados); Gilberto Cavazos-González (Rome); Rebecca A. Giselbrecht (Switzerland); Pan Yi Jung (Hong Kong); Michael O’Sullivan (Ireland); Kurian Perumpallikunnel (Bangalore); Diana Villegas (Columbia); Claire Wolfteich (United States); and Rossano Zas Friz (Rome).

One of the challenges of expanding the international scope of SSCS and the readership of Spiritus has been economic; membership, which includes subscription to Spiritus, can be prohibitive for scholars in many low-income nations. To mitigate those economic impediments, this year the Society worked with Johns Hopkins University Press to arrange for a reduced membership rate that includes online access to Spiritus; scholars from non-OECD nations are eligible (see https://faq.press.jhu.edu/sscs). We also are working to expand access to leadership within SSCS by using technology creatively to enable members who live at a distance to participate remotely in Board and committee meetings. We hope that such practical arrangements facilitate international readership for Spiritus and enable persons from regions underrepresented in the academy to participate fully in the scholarly inquiry and exchange prized by this journal and by the Society.

Bi-annual meetings of SSCS also disseminate global and intercultural scholarship in Christian spirituality. The 2015 conference in Johannesburg, South Africa, took up “holiness” as its central theme, and featured papers by scholars from South Africa, Ireland, the Netherlands, and the United States. Leading scholars Bernard McGinn and Kees Waaijman gave keynote addresses. The third bi-annual meeting of the Society will be held in Kappel, Switzerland in June 2017. Focusing on the theme of prayer, it is organized in partnership with the Center for the Study of Christian Spirituality of the University of Zurich (CSCS) and encourages papers from a range of interdisciplinary perspectives that also reflect the diversity—for example, racial/ethnic, gender, denominational, and generational—of scholars and practitioners in the field.

This special issue of Spiritus presents a sampling of the global and intercultural scholarship in spirituality that is, in many ways, a leading edge of our discipline. Our understanding of spirituality is grossly truncated when we look only to European or American contexts and texts, and expanded through coming to understand the rich diversity and commonalities of lived faith across cultures and regions. Articles within this issue advance understanding of the diverse contours of Christian spirituality in, for example, Hong Kong, Haiti, Ireland, Switzerland, and South Africa. Indeed, we can underscore the importance of historical, cultural, political, and economic contexts in understanding spirituality. Nelson Sadrack, for example, explores the meaning of holiness amidst the dire situation of poverty in Haiti; he critiques an individualistic understanding of holiness that ignores such socio-economic realities. Pieter de Villiers picks up a significant topic of spirituality studies—mysticism—but looks specifically at what he calls the “fusion of traditions in the melting...