In the contemporary study of religion there seems to be an exaggeration of the distinction between religion and spirituality, not only to the point of separation, but worse still, in terms of a superiority-inferiority hierarchy that gives rise to a value judgement between spirituality and religion. Could this be a sign of the persisting Western hegemony in the study of religion? This article suggests that the consideration of religion and spirituality as disparate entities may be necessary in some societies but (...) not sufficient for a global perspective. Could there be an integrative model that would lend itself for an inclusive exchange in the study of religion and spirituality? Basing itself particularly within the literature of the psychological study of religion, this essay develops a multidimensional matrix of religion and/or spirituality that attempts to be, at the same time, parsimonious and comprehensive, which includes constructs like ‘religious-spirituality’. Religious-spirituality is suggested to be similar to Allport’s concept of ‘intrinsic religiosity’, having a three dimensional movement marked by an upwardly-directed vertical spirituality, inwardly-directed interior spirituality, and outwardly-directed horizontal spirituality. (shrink)

Social critical consciousness, understood in terms of one's awareness of his/her social identity and positionality, is a crucial component of social transformative action, particularly in multicultural contexts. While there is a vast literature examining the significance of social critical consciousness among practitioners in social fields, there is not much evidence of such a reflection in Church environments. The present study explored the relationship between social critical consciousness and pastoral action for social transformation in two international missionary religious orders ministering within (...) the Catholic Church in Kenya. The qualitative data was gathered using interviews and focus group discussions involving 34 participants (26 male and 8 female), who were purposefully sampled from the religious orders. A sample of archival documents were also analysed. The findings indicate that generally pastoral practitioners avoid the challenge of owning their social identity and positionality, and rather take refuge in the charismatic identity of their religious orders. They exalt their mission without due focus on their own identities. The outcome of this lack of social critical consciousness is a fragmented pastoral and charity work rather than systematic social transformation. The study proposes a positive engagement with complexity by integrating positionality and allyship in missionary methodology and focusing on building a social critical community prior to any pastoral action for social transformation. (shrink)

The official documents on formation to priesthood in the Catholic Church encourage the use of personality psychology. Generally, the documents understand human personality to be dynamic. What does this mean in the light of the contemporary debate on the psychology of personality change? This article attempts to summarize the salient features of this debate, pointing out its relevance to priestly formation. Supporting a “whole-person model” of personality as proposed by Dan McAdams, the article considers the possibility of personality change at (...) some levels in the context of religious experience facilitated by seminary formation. This article is also aimed at enlightening formation guides to make an informed decision in the choice of appropriate models of personality in the accompaniment of their candidates. (shrink)