S p i r i t ua l i t y S t u d i e s 3 - 2 Fa l l 2 0 1 7 3 Lubomir Martin Ondrasek 1 Spiritual Autobiography as a Legitimate Form of Religious Discourse At a time when the narrative approach in theology was not as widely accepted as a form of theological discourse and most academic theologians were reluctant to share their spiritual experiences or even use personal references in their work, the renowned Harvard theologian Harvey Cox started his bookThe Seduction of the Spirit (1973) as follows: "All human beings have an innate need to tell and hear stories and to have a story to live by. Religion, whatever else it has done, has provided one of the main ways of meeting this abiding need. (…) Recently neglected, testimony deserves reinstatement as a primary mode of religious discourse" (Cox 1973, 3). Cox then unapologetically devotes the first part of his book, "Testimony," to reflecting on his own life. Ten years later, Cox’s booklength autobiography was published under the title Just as I am (Cox 1983). In recent years, there seems to have been an increasing number of Christian theologians who are willing to share their personal narratives. Derek R. Nelson, Joshua M. Moritz, and Ted Peters edited the bookTheologians in Their Own Words (2013), which is a collection of twenty-three autobiographical essays by Christian theological thinkers – eighteen men and five women – representing diverse theological backgrounds (i.e. Lutheran, Roman Catholic, Anglican, Protestant, Evangelical). Some of these include Marilyn McCord Adams, Harvey Cox, Ernst Käsemann, Martin E. Marty, Alister McGrath, Wolfhart Pannenberg, John Polkinghorne, and Kathryn Tanner. Derek Nelson in the book’s introduction briefly examines "objections to autobiography" and "possibilities for autobiography," concluding that "despite these objections [James Wm. McClendon, Jr., Martha Nussbaum, Johann von Hofmann], we see value in narrating one’s life…" (Nelson 2013, 9). Heather Walton underscores this new trend in her bookWriting Methods in Theological Reflection, in which she writes: "One of the most interesting developments in recent theological thinking has been the extraordinary significance accorded to ‘narrative’ by conservative, radical and liberal theologians alike. This narrative turn, no doubt born of a postmodern skepticism towards abstract, propositional truth claims, is of particular importance for pastoral theologians and practitioners" (Walton 2014, 164). Walton’s excellent volume builds on her earlier important work on theological reflection (Graham, Walton, and Ward 2005; 2007). She focuses on three literary approaches to reflective theological writing: autoethnography, journaling, and life writing. Each is defined, explained, and About the author Lubomir Martin Ondrasek, M.Div., Th.M., A.M.R.S. (1972) is the president and co-founder of Acta Sanctorum, a Chicago-based Christian non-profit that works for positive transformation in post-communist Central and Eastern Europe (presently focusing on Slovakia). He holds graduate degrees from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Harvard University, and the University of Chicago and is presently pursuing his D.Min. in Transformational Leadership at Boston University. He publishes, presents, and provides consultations in the areas of Religion, Ethics and Public Life, Church and State, Public Ministry of the Church, and New Religious Movements (Pentecostalism). He is currently working on his spiritual-theological autobiography tentatively titled Answering the Call: My Surprising Journey of Faith. His email contact is ondrasek@bu.edu.
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