Table of Contents

Section 1: Influential Writers and Thinkers 1. Influential Writers and Thinkers: A Retrospective Reconsideration and a Contemporary Contextualisation Clive Erricker 2. Mysticism and Contemporary Society: Some Teilhardian Reflections Ursula King (University of Bristol) 3. Bede Griffiths and the One Universal Reality Shirley du Boulay (Professional Writer) 4. Thomas Merton: Monk for the Contemporary World Danny Sullivan (Anglican Diocese of Oxford) 5. Jiddu Krishnamurti and the Open Secret Clive Erricker 6. The Dalai Lama: Dimensions of Spirituality Geshe Thupten Jinpa (Institute of Tibetan Classics, Montreal) 7. Carole Christ's Narrative Theology Ruth Mantin (University College Chichester) Section 2: Faith Communities 8. Faith Communities: Spiritual Diversity, Hope and Tension in the Modern World Clive Erricker 9. In the Realm of the Deathless: The Buddhist Forest Retreat Order Clive Erricker 10. A Society in Transition: ISKCON's Spiritual Path Anna King (King Alfred's College, Winchester) 11. The Amish: Case Study of a Religious Community Richard Stevick (Messiah College, Pennsylvania) 12. 'Until the Power of the Lord Comes Down': African American Pentecostal Spirituality and Tarrying David D Daniels III (McCormick Theological Seminary, Chicago) 13. Taize: A Global and Postcolonial Theology of Community Liam Gearon (University of Surrey) 14. The Diaspora of the Khoja Shi'a Ithnasheeries Clive Erricker 15. Street Spirituality: A Narrative Case Study of a Street Community Jane Erricker

About the Author

Clive Erricker is Reader in the Study of Religions, University College Chichester, UK. Jane Erricker is lecturer at King Alfred's University College, Winchester.

Reviews

"The volume [...] demonstrates that the spiritual is essential to understanding human behaviour . . . It also opens a chink in the curtain between the canonically religious and the implicitly spiritual. The Religious Studies of the last two centuries may prove to have been the preparation for the investigation of such secularity." --Journal of Contemporary Religion 17.2 (2002)

"The book is readable and coherent." --Theological Book Review Feed the Minds

"There is a lot of useful material here: readers looking for an introduction to Taize, the Society for Krishna Consciousness, the Amish, or figures such as Merton, Griffiths or the Dalai Lama, will find this book helpful. The second half of the book also stimulates to reflection on how to live a communal faith within post-modern culture. May of the issues it raises are vital ones: feminism, the nature of spiritual experience, how faith communities work, inter-faith relations, and the connection between prayer and social justice." --David Keen, Yeovil ANVIL 19.3, 2002

"Contemporary Spiritualities is a welcome addition to the body of knowledge concerning the diversity of communities that organise both individual and communal life founded around the centrality of the sacred....the volume offers a wide range of religious and spiritual experience encompassing both individuals and communities...There is plenty to ponder in this volume..." -- International Journal of Children's Spirituality, 2002