Spiritual Direction: Beyond the Beginnings (review)

Spiritual Direction: Beyond the Beginnings. By Janet K. Ruffing, R.S.M. New York: Paulist Press, 2000. 192 pp. $12.95.

Contemporary Christian spiritual direction is situated within a theological and historical context of religious pluralism. Current writings about spiritual direction per se are few in number. Instead, contemporary authors tend to focus on a wide range of popular spiritual and psychological topics to inform or inspire seekers. Books or articles written for spiritual directors are more likely to explore the nature of spiritual direction in specific religious or spiritual traditions, such as Christian, Anglican, Jewish and Benedictine, Jesuit, or Carmelite, or to treat issues related to the experience of beginning directors. Janet Ruffing's treatment of the theoretical foundations and contemporary practice of spiritual direction supports spiritual development rooted in the wisdom of the Christian tradition. She recognizes similarities and differences in Buddhism, for example, yet avoids any religious eclecticism that wittingly or unwittingly colonizes other spiritual traditions. Ruffing's clear and concise approach to Spiritual Direction: Beyond the Beginnings breaks new ground in support of beginning and experienced spiritual directors who engage in the sacred trust of assisting directees in mature spiritual development.

Ruffing's book represents a significant contribution to the theory and practice of spiritual direction for directors whose directees have "progressed 'beyond the beginnings' of the initial phases of spiritual direction and the beginnings of an intentional spiritual life"(2). She builds upon her earlier book, Uncovering Stories of Faith (Paulist, 1989), in which she employed Gadamer's constructive approach to explore identity development evident in spiritual direction narratives. Her current work goes "beyond her beginning" to articulate the role of spiritual direction in relationship to spiritual maturity. Ruffing is convinced that all are called to experience mutuality with God and that spiritual direction can support or hinder such attentiveness to the degree that the spiritual director expects to find such evidence in directees' narratives. The themes treated in the book as chapters reveal foundational components of the theory and practice of spiritual direction as she appreciates them, with Christian mystical tradition orienting the director-directee encounter. The six topics include desire, resistance, identifying theological themes, love mysticism, mutuality with God, and transference/countertransference. The book is a premier text demonstrating the importance of the academic study of spirituality in service of the practice of spiritual direction.

As I see it, the text is organized to show the continual interweaving of three threads or key components of long-term spiritual direction: 1) theoretical understanding of the interdisciplinary nature of this spiritual ministry; 2) knowledge of the history and tradition of Christian love mysticism, especially women's mystical experience; and 3) concrete strategies to enhance the actual practice of spiritual direction. The first thread comprises theoretical elements addressed by Ruffing: the significance of desire in the spiritual life (chapter one), a theological and psychological understanding of resistance to that desire (chapter two), the ability to identify theological content as it presents itself (chapter three), and the significance of transference/countertransference in the spiritual direction relationship (chapter six). Ruffing treats desire as the central issue in spiritual development. She thoroughly explains the role of desire in prayer and its place as an expression of deepening intimacy with God for both men and women. Ruffing incorporates examples from the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius and the Spiritual Exercises of Gertrude of Helfta to present differing frameworks a spiritual director could find helpful for discovering what a directee really wants and how to engage those desires.

Ruffing offers a clear theoretical explanation of the element of resistance as it reveals itself in the process of spiritual direction--as resistance to spiritual experience, to the spiritual director or spiritual direction, or, conversely, the director's resistance to the directees or their religious experience. Characteristic of her practical and theoretical approach, she not only stresses the responsibility of directors to be aware of how directees resist or avoid the God...