Engaged Spirituality: Faith Life in the Heart of the Empire

by Joseph Nangle

Overview

During his fifteen years in Latin America, Joe Nangle observed first hand the awakening of a church and a new reading of the gospel that is "good news to the poor." In Engaged Spirituality he shares the lessons from that experience, showing how the radical challenge to "love God and our neighbors as ourselves" can transform, on every level, our understanding and practice of faith. On an obvious level, this involves a recognition of the social dimension of the gospel. But this leads inevitably to a new understanding of scripture, prayer, religious vows, the church, Eucharist, and spirituality.

About the Author:
Joseph Nangle is a Franciscan priest who serves as co-director of the Franciscan Mission Service in Washington. He is a co-author of St. Francis and the Foolishness of God and Say to This Mountain, and author of Birth of a Church (Catholic Press Association Award winner)

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781570757631
Publisher:	Orbis Books
Publication date:	04/28/2008
Pages:	170
Product dimensions:	5.41(w) x 8.23(h) x 0.42(d)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments     xi
Preface: A Bit of History     xiii
U.S. American Spirituality Today     xv
Spirituality Lived in the Empire     xvii
The Incarnation     1
A Question     1
The Christian "Answer"-The Cornerstone of Spirituality     3
A Completely Incarnate God     5
Politically Incarnate as Well     10
Dimensions of Life-Personal, Interpersonal, Social     12
Conclusions     15
Political Reading of the Scriptures     18
A Full Reading of the Scriptures     20
The New Testament     21
Political Readings from the Hebrew Scriptures     27
Prophets' Word     29
The Jubilee Tradition and the Psalms     30
Catholic Social Teaching and the Scriptures     33
Conclusion     35
Prayer and Contemplation     38
Prayer of Modern People     40
A Different Way of Praying     42
Contemplation     44
A Different Type of Contemplative     46
Right Belief and Right Practice     50
"Social" Contemplation     51
Conclusion     52
Sin and Grace     54
Personal Sin and Interpersonal Considerations     55
Social Sin     56
Personal Guilt in Social Sin     59
Grace     62
Grace as a Social Reality     65
The Sacrament of Reconciliation     68
Penitence     69
Conclusion     71
Obedience     74
Channels for Discerning God's Will     77
A New Grace     81
Social Statements     84
Religious Life and Obedience to This New Grace     85
Conclusion     89
Poverty and Chastity     91
Poverty     93
Poverty Embraced     94
Poverty in the Empire     100
Chastity and Celibacy     101
Conclusion     106
The Church and the New Creation     107
Church and Reign     109
The New Creation     113
A View from Scripture     114
A View from Liturgical Language and Practice     116
God's Work-and Ours     117
Consequences for the People of God     118
The Track Record of the Catholic Church Here     119
Conclusion-A Light at the End of the Tunnel      120
Ecology     122
Toward a Spirituality of Ecology     125
Incarnation     126
A Political (Ecological) Reading of the Scriptures     127
Prayer and Contemplation     128
Sin and Grace     129
Obedience     130
Poverty and Chastity     131
The Church and God's Reign     131
Sacraments as Statements about Creation     133
Ecological Justice     134
Conclusion     136
Eucharist     139
Central Act of a Lived Catholic-Christian Spirituality     140
Eucharist as Subversive     142
St. Paul's Challenge     145
Intentional Eucharistic Communities     149
Presiders     152
Conclusion     155
Postscript     157
Notes     161
Index     165