Mystical Perspectives in Interreligious Dialogue

This article discusses the distinction that is being made between the unknowability of God, the source of all that is, and Jesus of Nazareth, the body language of God, from the viewpoint of spirituality with Paul’s address at the Areopagus in Athens (Acts 17:16-32) as point of departure. This speech virtually represents the oldest Christian interfaith meeting in which there is a dialogue between religious Athenians and Paul. The article reflects, first of all, on Paul’s reaction to the questions and challenges of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers in his audience that relates to this distinction. A second part will investigate the mystical unity of the unknowable God and his body language in Christ. In a third part some mystical perspectives on this distinction in Islam will be analysed

Awe and Respect in the Psalms

This essay discusses the motif of awe in the Psalms in terms of Buber’s outline of mystical awe. In a first section, awe as the beginning of wisdom is analysed, followed by a discussion of the experience of Be-er’s1 (Yahweh’s) goodness. In a third section, attention is given to awe as the quiet waiting on Be-er, followed, in a final part, by an analysis of love as the result of awe

Een herdersknaap: een gedicht van Jan van het Kruis – kritisch bekeken

A shepherd-boy: A poem by Saint John of the Cross – critical meaning. A shepherd-boy, written by Saint John of the Cross around 1584, is a pastoral poem, a common and widespread genre at the time. Although the poet could have drawn from various sources, direct borrowing does not appear to have been the case. The poem has five stanzas, each consisting of four lines, with eleven syllables per line (a cuartet, with enclosing rhyme: abba). In the superscription the poem is described as a song a lo divino, a poetic transposition that transforms a profane text ‘towards the divine’, within a Christian-religious framework. A shepherd-boy places itself within this poetic tradition, but in a unique way, because his transposition is not prompted by catechetical interests, but opts for a mystical perspective

Conformity in Christ

This essay investigates the notion of conformity in Christ as it is part of a comprehensive, multilayered process of transformation. In the first part it focuses on the process of transformation in creation, re-creation, conformity, love and glory. In the second part it discusses transformation in Christ by looking at conformation and unformation. From the viewpoint of spirituality, conformity in Christ is part of a comprehensive, multilayered process of transformation. After a short overview of this process, conformity in Christ will be discussed

Spirituality and contextuality

This article discusses various historiographies of spirituality as an indication of the influence of context on spirituality. It gives an overview of the most important historiographies of spirituality. Secondly, it describes the extremes of contextuality and noncontextuality, before finally reflecting on the dialectic tension between spirituality and contextuality. The contextuality or historicity of spirituality is not self-evident. Not until modern times, in Europe, did it become more or less normal to look at spirituality from a historical perspective. It is thus not strange that the historiography of spirituality arose from the nineteenth century. In that time, the historical perspective was flowering in all sciences. This historical approach is so compulsive that almost everything that “happens” has to be “historicised”. But we can ask ourselves whether this contextualisation, in its predominant and absolute sense, corresponds with the deeper spiritual reality. This article first gives an overview of the most important historiographies of spirituality. Secondly, it describes the extremes of contextuality, and noncontextuality. Finally, it reflects on the dialectic tension between spirituality and contextuality

Discernment - the compass on the high see of spirituality

This article analyses and evaluates the need and nature of discernment in contemporary spirituality. It first describes the complexity of spirituality as a phenomenon that has, on a cultural, anthropological and mystical level, lost its boundaries and expanded beyond all existing horizons. It motivates how, like a ship sailing on the high seas, needs a compass, discernment is needed in the face of this complexity. The article then focuses on two paradigms for reflection on discernment. First, it examines discernment as it is practised in the house of study in the Jewish tradition, and describes how this practice reveals two seminal dimensions of discernment. It then analyses and evaluates discernment in the community of desert monks in the Christian tradition which illustrates the significance of discernment for spirituality. It describes the conversation within a spiritual community as an essential element of discernment as the highest form of spiritual practices. Discernment as seeing and appreciating differences of opinion is a sign of God’s way. The article concludes that discernment permeates all spiritual practices and represents the exercise of all exercises without which one is without a compass on the high sea of spirituality

What is spirituality?

This essay provides, first of all, a historical perspective on the nature of spirituality by investigating its early forms, followed by a discussion of two approaches in the last century. It then investigates three basic forms of spirituality, concluding with an overview of elements of spirituality

Predictors of barefoot plantar pressure during walking in patients with diabetes, peripheral neuropathy and a history of ulceration

OBJECTIVE:Elevated dynamic plantar foot pressures significantly increase the risk of foot ulceration in diabetes mellitus. The aim was to determine which factors predict plantar pressures in a population of diabetic patients who are at high-risk of foot ulceration. METHODS:Patients with diabetes, peripheral neuropathy and a history of ulceration were eligible for inclusion in this cross sectional study. Demographic data, foot structure and function, and disease-related factors were recorded and used as potential predictor variables in the analyses. Barefoot peak pressures during walking were calculated for the heel, midfoot, forefoot, lesser toes, and hallux regions. Potential predictors were investigated using multivariate linear regression analyses. 167 participants with mean age of 63 years contributed 329 feet to the analyses. RESULTS:The regression models were able to predict between 6% (heel) and 41% (midfoot) of the variation in peak plantar pressures. The largest contributing factor in the heel model was glycosylated haemoglobin concentration, in the midfoot Charcot deformity, in the forefoot prominent metatarsal heads, in the lesser toes hammer toe deformity and in the hallux previous ulceration. Variables with local effects (e.g. foot deformity) were stronger predictors of plantar pressure than global features (e.g. body mass, age, gender, or diabetes duration). CONCLUSION:The presence of local deformity was the largest contributing factor to barefoot dynamic plantar pressure in high-risk diabetic patients and should therefore be adequately managed to reduce plantar pressure and ulcer risk. However, a significant amount of variance is unexplained by the models, which advocates the quantitative measurement of plantar pressures in the clinical risk assessment of the patient

Intertextuality : on the use of the Bible in mystical texts

This article discussed the use of the Bible in mystical texts by focusing on intertextuality as a literary approach which analyses the intersection of texts. It investigated how mystical texts, as phenotexts, relate to the Bible as archetext: firstly, the intertextual relations affect the surface of the text in a mono-causal way and secondly, they govern the production of meaning reciprocally. The article also discussed forms of intersection (quotations, collage, allusions and reproduction) before it analysed the three intertextual strategies producing meaning: participation, detachment and change or rearrangement. Finally, six functions and dimensions of meaning were delineated in the intertextual dynamic between the Bible and the mystical texts. In these the Bible serves as an authoritative framework for argumentation, as a guide and blueprint of the mystical way, as a vocabulary of mystical experience, as an initiation into the divine infinity, as the place of mystical transformation in love and as the articulation of transformation in glory.http://www.hts.org.zahb201

Primordial spirituality

This article explores the primordial spirituality of the Bible, as expressed in names, narratives and prayers. It looks at the nomadic families of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob, Lea and Rachel, moving around from Mesopotamia via Canaan into Egypt and vice versa (see Gn 11:31–32; 12:4–5; 27:43; 28:10; 29:4; Gn 24 and 29–31). It analyses their experiences, covering the span between birth and death and listens to their parental concerns about education as survival. It also follows their journeys along the margins of the deserts. It shares their community life as it takes shape in mutual solidarity, mercy and compassion.http://www.hts.org.zahb201