SCM Core Text: Christian Spirituality

The SCM Core Text on Christian Spirituality brings together biblical, historical and pastoral reflections on the nature of Christian spirituality within community. It is written for second and third year university students who are studying Christian spirituality as an academic discipline, and would be useful for practical theologians who are reflecting on theology and practice within the Christian church, as well as for pastors and persons in a local church who want to explore the contours of Christian spirituality within their community of faith. Rather than list a series of specific activities such as praying, fasting, meditating etc, this book seeks to examine spirituality within the context of relationship and community. It also seeks to avoid separating spirituality from doctrine, and works towards presenting Christian spirituality as an ongoing dialogue between doctrine and experience. The book also asserts that Christian spirituality must reflect the idea of search and throughout the textbook we are introduced to a variety of Christian writers in order to examine the multifarious nature of search within the Christian tradition. These three themes, belief, search and relationship are woven together and addressed throughout.

Karen Smith teaches at the University of Wales, Cardiff and the South Wales Baptist College.