ignatians-anglicansandfriends's Space

Here's an intersting link that might start us up on the Anglican side of the discussion:

http://www.stjohnadulted.org/spir_5.htm#Characterizing%20The%20Anglican%20Spirit

Especially this part:

"Anglican Spirituality has frequently been described as incarnational because it has taken this doctrine to heart to emphasize:

• the goodness of material world and sensuality (God’s creation)

• a sacramental view of the material world as doorway to the divine

• a tendency at times towards the Orthodox doctrine of theosis or deification (God became human so that humans might become divine), emphasizing:

  • our participation in the life of God

  • our ultimate goal of communion with God

In his pamphet "A People Called Episcopalians", the Rev. Dr. John H. Westerhoff characterizes Anglican Spirituality as:

• liturgical and biblical, rooted in common, communal, daily prayer (Morning Prayer, Noonday prayer, Evening Prayer, Compline of the Book of Common Prayer)

• communal. Communal prayer comes before personal prayer and shapes personal prayer

• sacramental. Anglicans view the sacraments as "outward and visible signs of inward and spiritual grace." Through Baptism we become participants in a community of faith. Through the Eucharist, we become participants in the life of God.

• pastoral. Devotion to God and pastoral concern and service to our neighbors go together

• incarnational (see above)

• mystical. Here "mystical" is used in contradistinction to "pietism." Pietism refers to a spirituality involving an acute, immediate, life-changing experience of God, and Mystical to a spirituality involving a slow journey to union with God. "Mysticism ... sees the union with God as the end of an ascent, requiring discipline, purgation, study, emptying and patients." (Urban Holmes, in Chapter 9 "Spirituality" in What is Anglicanism, Morehouse Publishing, Harrisburg, 1982) (Note: this definition of "mystical" is not the definition used by all)"

More soon.

Sarah

I just wanted to start off a brainstorming discussion to start generating some ideas of what we'd like to do with this group/site.

Here's my list of topics, in no particular order:

-sharing resources with one another that we have used to incorporate Ignatian spirituality into our own practices or with groups; related - being a venue to help each other develop such resources;

-having discussions about open-ended questions related to the crossover between Anglican spirituality and Ignatian spirituality-

-discussing Jesuit spirituality and the Society of Jesus - is it a model Anglican religious life can draw from? etc.

Well, that's a start- all of these are just ideas to get this discussion started ... please add your own

Sarah

Hello, it's great to see a few of us on here already. I decided to suggest the idea of a separate, continuous space to discuss the links between Ignatian, Anglican and Jesuit traditions and spirituality because the thread continued for quite a while on linkedin. I know I at least had a lot of other questions I wanted to ask others for thoughts about. So I wonder if each of us might say something about what brought us all here? What in your experience draws you to both Ignatian and Anglican traditions? What do you hope will come from discussing these links with a group of people on a more regular basis? These questions are just ideas of ways to introduce ourselves to each other. Please feel free to change them and other thoughts!

I'll be glad to start.

I'm Sarah and I was introduced to Ignatian spirituality by an Episcopal priest. The interesting thing was that I did not really know I was delving into such a rich additional tradition to my own- for me, learning the examen of conscience became a way of knowing my own Anglican tradition more fully. So, since that time, they have always been linked. But I became more explicitly interested in the links as I started to explore Ignatian spirituality more in its own right and, as I did so, I found myself around many Episcopalians/Anglicans who did not have experience with the Ignatian and Jesuit traditions. Most spiritual direction programs I found, for example, were Benedictine in their approach (at least in Colorado where I ran into many spiritual directors in training). I began to wonder why we do not draw as often upon Ignatian spirituality, and since then have been reflecting on this. There is more I can add but I will leave it at that now ...

Sarah

Hello everyone- just a quick note to say I am just learning posterous, so please help make this space be what you'd like it to be. For example, does anyone have an image that you think could capture both Ignatian and Anglican spirituality? Sarah