In search of spiritual capital : the spiritual as a cultural resource.

Abstract

Introduction: The Problem of the 'Spiritual'Definitions of spirituality are notoriously slippery.However, understandings have in recent times achieved some clarity and consensus among scholars.The spiritual is associated with the personal, the intimate, the interior and the experiential, contrasted with 'religion', which is associated with the official, the external and the institutional, often picking up negative connotations of the hierarchical and patriarchal along the way (Heelas, 2002).Acknowledging the word's many connotations, Wade Clark Roof isolates four as being most important, focusing on spirituality as "a source of values and meaning beyond oneself, a way of understanding, inner awareness, and personal integration."(Roof, 1999: 35) 'Spirituality' has been invoked in this way to articulate dissatisfaction with mainstream religious traditions and to signal an attempt to move beyond their limitations.This is the rhetoric used within discussions of the 'New Age' movement, focussed on inner-transformation and the holistic, spiritual healing of the self.However, this language also lends itself to descriptions of mysticism, and of the more experiential dimensions of mainstream religion.While located within various contexts, spirituality is increasingly associated with aspects of religiosity focused on the experiential, the interior, and generally the subjective dimensions of personal identity.Within the contemporary context, it is sometimes argued that the spiritual is replacing the religious, as a more meaningful expression of identity for many people living within advanced post-industrial societies.In support of this, recent research has revealed that a focus on the subjective is not restricted to alternative or New Age enclaves; many mainstream churches in the UK and USA are placing a fresh emphasis upon connecting with the inner lives of members, upon affirming their subjective lives rather than stressing a need for conformity to an externalised body of truth (Heelas and Woodhead, 2005;Miller, 1997).Hence the popularity of charismatic megachurches, inner city Pentecostalism, Christian retreat centres and the kabala branch of Jewish mysticism.All place a premium on personal experience and the spiritual dimensions of the inner life.The argument here is that as contemporary western society places an increasing emphasis upon the cultivation of the subjective self -on catering to the emotional, intuitive, interior dimensions of identity -so religious traditions are evolving so as to meet these needs.On this understanding, late modernity is the age of the spiritual, rather than the religious.Studies that highlight the importance of subjective spirituality draw our attention to some important dimensions of the contemporary religious landscape.They move the analysis beyond church and chapel, shifting our focus to the boundaries of the religious mainstream and beyond.However, they often highlight the individualistic aspects of spirituality at the expense of the social, the subjective at the expense of the inter-subjective.Existing treatments have been driven largely by what Steven Tipton

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