Book Review: Soulful Spirituality

Soulful Spirituality (2011)  is a significant book. In part it is significant because it offers practical help for those seeking to be more “fully alive and deeply human.” But it is more significant in that it demonstrates the difference between “soulful” spirituality and “Christian” spirituality. The “scandal of the particularity of Christ” seems to be missing from Benner’s latest work.

As a Christian spiritual director, coach, and retreat leader, the ultimate difference between “soulful” and “Christian” spirituality is more than significant (“I would not still be a Christian if I did not think that Christian spirituality had truly significant contributions to make to the human developmental journey” [p 14]). If we take Jesus and Paul seriously, the difference between soulful and Christian spirituality can only be described as ultimate. It is the difference between alienation from God and fellowship with God, between more egoic False Self living (as functional and “healthy” as it may be) and True Self living (since our True Self is found only in Christ), between death and life.

Confessions of a Group Leader

A recent experience I had in leading an experimental Spiritual Formation group provides a window into some soul dynamics that I thought may be helpful to other leaders. The group consists of two primary elements: emotional health, involving therapeutic elements such as safety and self-awareness, and spiritual formation through union with God in Christ. The unified purpose is to bring all of ourselves before God and live interactively with him in our day to day lives, as Jesus did.