The articles in this issue of The Way can, each in their own way, be seen as continuing Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s vision of God coming into our bleak, unfinished reality, filling us with strength and power until the life of God-with-us becomes all in all. They explore God’s action in human lives beyond the conventionally religious sphere. Bonhoeffer’s vision is expressed with a prophetic passion and an intellectual power that are unique. But in different ways, each of these articles explores the agenda he indicated so powerfully, an agenda which should be the permanent concern of any journal of Christian spirituality. The path towards God, God who is always God-with-us, is also the path through the unfinished business of our culture. A God graciously present in all things is always leading us beyond religious convention, always drawing us into the unfamiliar grace of our ‘this-worldliness’.
Miguel Elizondo, ‘Jesus and Prayer’, 9–20
A renowned spiritual director in Latin America explores how Jesus prayed. Jesus largely bypassed the religious institutions of his day, and prayed out of an experience of the Father in the whole range of human experience.
Thomas M. King, ‘Scientific Research as Adoration: Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955)’, 21–34
An article markinn the fiftieth anniversary of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin's death on Easter Sunday, 1955. For Teilhard, God was to be found in the sheer matter of the universe, in the costly, creative processes of scientific discovery, and in an evolutionary process converging towards unity in Christ.
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, ‘Retreat Notes, Beijing 1945’, 35–43
A chapter from Teilhard’s retreat notes, newly published in France. After spending the World War II years in China, Teilhard is preparing to return to France and probably to a renewal of the conflicts with authority that had dogged his work.
Bernd Knüfer, ‘God-Talk with the Religiously Tone-Deaf’, 45–55
Forty years of Communism, as well as general secularisation, have radically dechristianised the former East Germany. Bernd Knüfer describes how Christians might undertake a ministry of sensitive dialogue there.
Joseph A. Munitiz, ‘St Ignatius of Loyola and Severe Depression’, 57–69
There is some evidence in St Ignatius' writings that he may have suffered at times from severe depression. Joseph A. Munitiz here presents what the sources say, and reflects on its implications.
Patrick W. Collins, ‘From Illusions Towards Truth: Thomas Merton’s ‘True Self’ and Gay Spirituality’, 71–84
How can gay people grow to spiritual maturity in a society which still marginalises them? How can they avoid internalising a homophobia that often borrows religious language? Thomas Merton’s account, developed in a monastic context, of the True Self provides some helpful leads.
Nancy Hawkins, ‘Dorothee Soelle: Radical Christian, Mystic in Our Midst’, 85–96
An introduction to the work of the Protestant theologian and mystic Dorothee Sölle (1929-2003), who drew on traditions going back to Eckhart in developing a spirituality of Christian resistance.
John J. Smith, ‘Discerning the Spirits Works: A Recent Example in Early Morning’, 97–100
The first article in a new series of spiiritual reflections on everyday life. John Smith, a priest working on a Canadian offshore island, tells us about how he discerned the spirits when his water supply broke down.