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REVISIONING SPIRITUALITY - Human Transformation and the Communal Imagination by John Markey, OP. and Michael Ceragioli; New York/Paulist Press, 2025. 228pp. A review by R. B. Williams, OP. John J. Markey, OP. and Michael Ceragioli, both of whom are associated with the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, have co-authored a fascinating book on the ever elusive subject of “spirituality.” The book rewards the effort (in some parts) to read it. But since this website is devoted to the enablement and betterment of preaching, I hope to reveal some of the insights in the book that could be of particular use to a preacher in his or her role in the evangelizing mission of the Church. At the risk of over-simplifying the authors’ approach, the vision of spirituality they offer rejects a “dualistic” relationship strictly between an individual person and God in favor of a “triadic” model of the Spirit of God, the human spirit and the community of faith (as a mediator of the experience.)
In support of their “revisioning,” the authors draw on a number of authorities, some of whom would be familiar to many - Sandra Schneiders IHM and Bernard McGinn - and others less familiar unless a reader has studied the history of philosophy in the USA - William James, Josiah Royce and Charles Sanders Pierce. These three American philosophers were prominent in the early years of the 1900’s and represented a school of philosophy known as “pragmatism.” The authors borrow from the insights of all of those authorities in formulating their own “model” of spirituality. In addition they offer three prominent spiritual leaders as examples of how the triadic model was at work: Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King, Jr., and, especially, Thomas Merton OCSO.
As a preacher, I found the section of the book devoted to the treatment of spirituality and moral conversion very interesting and relevant because it speaks to the process that can occur as the result of preaching. Drawing from an additional author, Donald Gelpi SJ, the authors describe different forms of conversion (they list five - affective, moral, socio-political, intellectual and Christian!). The first four may very well occur outside a religious context, but Christian conversion is the goal of all evangelization whether individual or collective.
Lest the material seem a bit too “thick” for potential readers, I hasten to call attention to the very useful summaries of each element in the text as the reader moves on. The book is a “rich read” but a rewarding one. —by R. B. Williams, OP Book Review ArchiveJust click on a book
title below to read the review.
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