{"id":2353,"date":"2016-05-04T13:05:19","date_gmt":"2016-05-04T17:05:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/practicalmattersjournal.ecdsdev.org\/?p=2353"},"modified":"2016-05-05T15:17:56","modified_gmt":"2016-05-05T19:17:56","slug":"just-spirituality-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pmcleanup.ecdsdev.org\/2016\/05\/04\/just-spirituality-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Just Spirituality: How Faith Practices Fuel Social Action"},"content":{"rendered":"
RV MacDonald, Just Spirituality<\/a><\/h5>\n
\n

By Mae Elise Cannon
\nDowners Grove, IL, InterVarsity Press, 2013. 208 pages. $16.00<\/span><\/h3>\n
\n

<\/h3>\n

In Just Spirituality<\/em>, Mae Elise Cannon examines the connection between reflective spiritual disciplines and activist movements for social change.\u00a0 These two ways of engaging Christian life and faith might seem inherently in tension\u2014and indeed, Cannon acknowledges her own struggle to remain \u201cspiritually centered\u201d in the midst of her \u201cfast-paced life\u201d as a Christian leader and activist (10).\u00a0 Citing Richard Foster, Cannon notes that the social justice tradition in Christianity, though strong in its call to care for social need, may overlook the importance of cultivating the soul or attending to one’s heart condition.<\/p>\n

To counter this imbalance, Just Spirituality <\/em>offers brief biographies of Christian leaders whose lives are marked both by the practice of spiritual disciplines and by inspiring achievement in movements of compassion and justice. \u00a0Undergirding the book is a vision of \u201cjustice-oriented spirituality,\u201d a cyclical process of reflection and action in which spiritual practices and social engagement are mutually reinforcing and equally vital components in Christian faith (15).\u00a0 Still, Cannon’s main concern here is to assert the necessity of spiritual disciplines to a life of sustainable activism and, more broadly, to fruitful movements for social change.\u00a0 The book\u2019s subtitle effectively summarizes her thesis: that \u201cdisciplines\u2014such as silence, prayer, study, community, worship, sabbath and submission\u2014provide the fuel by which people are inspired to make a difference in the world\u201d (11).\u00a0 She concludes with an even stronger insistence on the empowering effect of these contemplative disciplines, presenting them as \u201cthe framework by which true and lasting change can occur\u201d (175).<\/p>\n

Cannon builds her argument through narrative example.\u00a0 Seven chapters comprise the heart of the book.\u00a0 Each draws a biographical sketch of a (usually well-known) historic Christian leader and highlights a particular spiritual discipline that shaped this leader’s ministry and advocacy.\u00a0 To supplement these focal portraits, Cannon interviewed seven contemporary Christian ministers and activists\u2014in her words, \u201cordinary people doing amazing things\u201d (12)\u2014who also practice these disciplines.\u00a0 So each chapter includes both a historic and a modern-day example of an individual integrating a faith practice with social engagement.\u00a0 Finally, each chapter concludes with \u201ccontemporary praxis,\u201d concrete suggestions for how readers might apply that chapter’s highlighted discipline.<\/p>\n

Just Spirituality<\/em> displays a welcome sensitivity to the global nature of the Christian church and to the diverse ways spiritual disciplines and social engagement may be practiced.\u00a0 The seven featured biographical profiles span the twentieth-century and come from around the world: Mother Teresa (India), Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Germany), Watchman Nee (China), Martin Luther King, Jr. (United States), Fairuz (Lebanon), Desmond Tutu (South Africa) and Oscar Romero (El Salvador).\u00a0 Likewise, the book’s depiction of \u201csocial action\u201d includes a range of activities, from charitable service to nonviolent activism, from public witness to political leadership, from evangelistic sharing of the gospel to prophetic protest of unjust regimes.<\/p>\n

While this breadth of attention helps Cannon create a more multi-faceted examination of the relationship between spirituality and activism\u2014and offers readers a wider possibility of models to follow and disciplines to try\u2014it also gives rise to the book’s limitations.\u00a0 There is too much material here to allow for substantial discussion of any one figure or discipline.\u00a0 Further, the connections Cannon wants to draw in each chapter from a spiritual discipline to leadership in social action (as expressed in the chapter titles) often appear dispersed and vague, loosely associative rather than clearly or persuasively demonstrated.<\/p>\n

For example, chapter 4 is entitled \u201cMartin Luther King Jr.: From Community to Proclamation.\u201d Yet beyond gesturing toward King’s emphasis on \u201cbeloved community,\u201d Cannon does not clarify what form the practice of community actually took in King’s life, nor how it fueled his activism for civil rights.\u00a0 Similarly, the next chapter intends to portray Lebanese singer Fairuz’s movement \u201cfrom worship to freedom\u201d but remains vague about what kind of social action \u201cfreedom\u201d constitutes.\u00a0 Cannon depicts Fairuz as a popular, perhaps influential, performer and artist\u2014yet readers may be left wondering how Fairuz’s \u201cheart for justice\u201d (112) gets enacted in social engagement or empowered through practices of worship.<\/p>\n

Some of the book’s chapters highlight more sharply defined practices and actions.\u00a0 The first two chapters, \u201cMother Teresa: From Silence to Service\u201d and \u201cDietrich Bonhoeffer: From Prayer to Discipleship,\u201d seem more effective in showing how consistent spiritual practice can shape a person’s spirit in ways that fortify social and political leadership.\u00a0 However, by trying to pattern all her chapters \u201cfrom\u201d practice \u201cto\u201d action, Cannon has given herself a structure that ends up feeling more constraining than illuminating.\u00a0 It does not always fit her material, and the wealth of included examples results in an argument that seems scattered and limited in depth.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, in Just Spirituality<\/em> Cannon calls attention to an important and timely claim: that the practice of spiritual disciplines is an essential, empowering part of Christian social activism.\u00a0 Her book offers a good entry point to readers who want to begin reflecting upon\u2014and more, living out\u2014this relationship between spirituality and activism.\u00a0 The brief, readable chapters and the helpfully concrete \u201ccontemporary praxis\u201d suggestions make Just Spirituality <\/em>an accessible and practical introduction.\u00a0 The book also includes a study guide with discussion questions to accompany each chapter, making it particularly well suited for small group or devotional contexts.\u00a0 One can easily imagine Just Spirituality <\/em>getting effectively used in settings such as campus ministry, church mission committees or Christian social agencies, to inspire fruitful discussion and deeper commitment to \u201cjustice-oriented spirituality.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RV MacDonald, Just Spirituality By Mae Elise Cannon Downers Grove, IL, InterVarsity Press, 2013. 208 pages. $16.00 In Just Spirituality, Mae Elise Cannon examines the connection between reflective spiritual disciplines and activist movements for social change.\u00a0 These two ways of<\/p>\n

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