What’s Unique About Christian Spirituality?

Is Christian spirituality different from others? Some say that what’s unique about Christian spirituality is Jesus.  Others say that it’s the role of community.  However, I have a different perspective on what makes Christian spirituality unique from other spiritual paths. Join me in this video. Thanks.

The following is a text version of this posting.

Many people don’t realize that there is a deep and rich spiritual tradition within Christianity.  Particularly with the rise of Evangelical Christianity, which is a little more than 100 years old, there’s been a focus on a single experience of personal salvation and dogma rather than growth and spiritual maturity.  In a previous blog, The Problem with Christian Spirituality, I discuss the overall lack of awareness of Christian spiritual traditions.  (And, yes:  there is more than one Christian spiritual tradition.)  Perhaps it’s worth considering something a bit different:  what makes Christian spirituality different from other spiritual paths?

Of course, some would say that what makes Christian spirituality unique is Jesus.  I’d like to suggest that in some ways that’s simplistic.  It’s like saying that what makes Buddhist spirituality unique is the Buddha or Jewish spirituality unique because of Moses.  Others may point out the importance of community in Christian spirituality.  But a community is also found in other forms of spirituality, like Buddhism and taking refuge in the sangha or Judaism requiring a minyan (that’s 10 adult Jews) for certain religious obligations. 

Instead, I think that there’s something unique and significant within Christian spirituality that isn’t expressed in a similar way in other spiritual traditions.  The uniqueness of Christian spirituality is rooted in what Christians call the incarnation.  In this context, the incarnation refers to Divinity becoming embodied in the person of Jesus, so that Jesus is understood as being fully human and fully Divine.  This may seem like a purely theological statement, but it conveys a deeply spiritual reality.

Among the early followers of Jesus, it was understood that the purpose of the incarnation was deeply spiritual.  As Athanasius, the bishop of Alexandria, Egypt, said so eloquently:  Jesus became human so that humanity could become divine.  Throughout the New Testament, it is conveyed that just as Jesus knew God to be a loving Parent, so we, too, are children of the same loving parent.  We’re part of the same family.  Paul wrote about this in terms of being begotten (or conceived) from above by the God the Divine Parent.  In other words, it’s not that Jesus alone incarnated both the Divine and human presence, but so do we.  Writings during the 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th centuries explore our spiritual growth as embodying the Divine presence and sharing in Divine life. 

But it doesn’t end there.  While this has somehow been lost in Western Christianity, Eastern Christians, like the Greek and Russian Orthodox as well as Coptic Christians, understand that everything that is created shares in Divine Life.  Several Eastern Christian theologians have reflected on the story of Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River.  In essence, by submerging himself in the river, he elevated all of creation by infusing it with the Divine presence.

What does all of this mean for Christian spirituality?  What makes Christian spirituality unique is that it is incarnational.  In other words, Christian spirituality invites us to find the essence of Divinity within us, within others, and within every aspect of creation.  This is what Jesus taught when he said, “The realm of God is within you,” and “The realm of God is here.”  Authentic Christian spirituality isn’t about a God somewhere beyond us or beyond our world.  Christian spirituality is rooted in the awareness that where we encounter God is within us, in others, and all around us.  No other spiritual tradition makes this radical claim.