For those who’ve missed it, the question that haunts me: “Into what is Christianity evolving?” A few years back I came across an article, “Inside the Spiritual Jacuzzi.” It highlighted how spiritual practitioners were incorporating different elements of different religions, making them their own.
This isn’t really new. That’s what ecumenism is all about in Christianity. We used to have hard and fast lines between Methodists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, etc. Now, the traditions share freely. In multi-traditional seminaries, future pastors learn the same curriculum.
The spiritual jacuzzi of “interspirituality” (as I’ve seen it written), is really just an extension of the spirit of ecumenism. In my early-mid 20s, I came to identify as I Christian with a Taoist bent. That meant that my primary identity was that of a Christian, but I strongly resonated with Taoist spirituality. Concepts crossed the boundaries freely. The Tao that could be named wasn’t really the Tao. Humans shared positive and negative energies with each other and the universe. We are all meant to participate in the energy of the universe. Parallels may be found for these in Christianity, but for me they came from Taoism. For postmoderns like myself, the spiritual Jacuzzi is as entrenched in lived experience as television.
I’ve never checked out an intentional blend of spiritual practice, though. When I first saw the phrase “Christian Wicca,” I had to pause. On the one hand, it seemed paradoxical. Yet, on the other hand it made a strange sort of sense. I’ve only recently decided to find out more.
Thus begins my series of reflections upon Nancy Chandler Pittman’s Christian Wicca: The Trinitarian Tradition. I’ve finished the book, and there are several things I’d like to touch on. I’ll try to keep the reflections short…but this is me after all.