Why is a Good Evangelical "Messing Around" With Catholic Stuff?

Believe me, it wasn't something I had planned on doing!

But today, I hardly give it a second thought. And . . . sometimes I just forget where a lot of evangelicals and other conservative Christians are on the issue of Roman Catholics.

I want to give a qualifier right up front.

When it comes to theology, I am strongly in the mainstream evangelical world, nuanced by both Reformed theology, the charismatic movement and some postmodern musings. When it comes to Roman Catholic theology, I agree with them where they affirm the historic creeds that all Christians have affirmed... and I part with them when it comes to specific Catholic doctrines, like the infallibility of the Pope, praying to the saints, praying to Mary, the Immaculate Conception of Mary, or Mary as co-Redemptrix with Christ. On these and many other doctrines particular to Roman Catholicism, I part ways.

I am also a pastor on staff of a church that has large numbers of "former" Roman Catholics in attendance. (I had the same situation when I was a senior pastor in upstate New York.) I have heard endless stories from these individuals that they found their faith experience severely lacking in their Roman Catholic upbringing, and they found a real and personal relationship with Christ at our church. So I definitely understand that how evangelicals have understood the process of conversion is quite different from the way many people do (or do not) experience it in Roman Catholicism.

I am a Protestant. I am an evangelical. I am a Reformed, postmodern evangelical. I resonate with the Generous Orthodoxy described by Brian McLaren. I am shaped by Calvin, Luther and Wesley. I have learned from Jonathan Edwards and Helmet Thielicke, Millard Erickson and Thomas Oden, Bruce Demarest and Peer Kreeft, charismatics and neo-Calvinists . . . LIke I said, it is a generously wide Orthodoxy in which I live.

And it has room for learning from Roman Catholicism as well as Eastern Orthodoxy (of which I am much less informed).

Here is what I found in the contemplative, Catholic stream of spirituality.

• I found they were further ahead than my Protestant, evangelical tradition.
• I found traditions that had worked very hard at developing methodologies of formation and encounter.
• I found a warm, relational, usually Christ centered spirituality.
• I found ways and approaches that I had not found in my evangelical or Reformed upbringings.
• We evangelicals were better at discussing theology than in practicing spirituality. We were more interested in guidelines, principles and rules for practical Christian living than in spiritual formation of our inner world out of which a new kind of living could flow.

So what I did was borrow the methodologies of spirituality and join them with my evangelical theology. And in doing so, I found a way to encounter God in deeply relational, transformative ways.

I have been influenced by theBenedictines and the Rule of St. Benedict. I appreciate and constantly use a version of Lectio Divina that Benedict (while he did not invent) developed and used in the monasteries he founded. I use his idea of a "regula" to shape my spiritual practices.

I have been influenced by theFranciscans and the simplicity of the "gospel witness" of St. Francisand his friars. (Francis is pictured above on the right, in the brown robe).

But I have been MOST influenced by the Jesuits and the Ignatian tradition of spirituality developed by St. Ignatius and set forth in his Spiritual Exercises.

In addition to the spiritual formation methodology of Ignatius, I am also impressed with the leadership development that was woven into the formation of Jesuit lives.

And, I am similarly impressed with the incredible missional energy of the Company of Friends (or) Society of Jesus, as they are known.

Leadership --- Spirituality --- Mission

In the Jesuits, they come together in a synergistic combination that intrigues me and which is my calling, namely, to equip missional followers of Christ for leadership and spirituality that bears much fruit that lasts.

So, this is why I am an Evangelical on the Ignatian Way and walking the Ignatian Road (see note at the bottom).

Next week, I will take some time to describe the nature and the purpose of the Spiritual Exercises. After you read that, I think you'll understand, even more, why I am drawn to them.

Brian Rice
Leadership ConneXtions International
www.lci.typepad.com

The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola

At some point you will want to have and read the text of the Spiritual Exercises. There are a number of versions available for you to choose. I want to mention a few of them here. Then I'll make an observation about the difficulty of actually using the text by itself and without a spiritual director. Third, I'll offer a few resources that explain the ideas and tools of the Exercises. Finally, I'll tell you about my aim and goal.

First, the editions of the Spiritual Exercises.
I have used several editions of the Spiritual Exercises over the years. I am not qualified to speak on the integrity of the various translations, so I am only going to mention two editions that I recommend, due to readability and layout.

The edition I am using for the second time is the one by Louis J. Puhl published by Loyola Press (to the right). It is readable. nicely laid out and a major bonus is that every page has wide margins and an intentionally large bottom margin for note taking.

The other version I like is the Vintage Spiritual Classics edition that has a preface by Avery Dulles. This is the most readable translation (for me) and was done so for modern audiences. It also has 40 pages of preface materials about the Spiritual Exercises and Ignatius of Loyola which is a very nice bonus (see below to the left).

Second, the observation on the difficulty of doing the Exercises.
This may seem a bit strange, but the Spiritual Exercises text itself has been described as a manual for "directors" and not "retreatants." In other words, the Spiritual Exercises are not a self-explanatory manual that can be easily followed and practiced by an individual on their own.

When I was first introduced to these exercises more than ten years ago in a doctoral course on spiritual formation, I asked the three different spiritual directors teaching the course - was there a nice, accessible manual/workbook that one could use to go through the exercises on their own. They answered - not to their knowledge.

A few years later I was undergoing my training in spiritual direction and also going through the Spiritual Exercises under the direction of the Spiritual Renewal Center of Syracuse, I asked the same question of the directors. Their answer was basically the same. They had produced their own "manual" which was pretty good, but really designed to supplement their teaching and provide some guidance for exercises.

I am going to do some major internet research to see if that situation has changed.

Third, a few resources to help you understand the main ideas and tools.
There are several books that are written on the ideas and methodologies contained in the Exercises. These books are useful to understand the ideas, theology, spirituality and methodology, even though they don't really capture or reproduce the process of the Exercises itself. But if you want to understand the "spiritual theory" behind the Exercises and have some guidance for formation out of that theory, any of the books below will be useful.

The Inner Compass: An Invitation to Ignatian Spirituality by Margaret Silf. A very nice book, well done.

Spiritual Freedom: From an Experience of the Ignatian Exercises to the Art of Spiritual Guidance by John J. English, S.J. Hmmm, very nice also a notch or two better than the Inner Compass for exploring the "theory" of the Exercises.

The Ignatian Workout: Daily Spiritual Exercises for a Healthy Faith by Tim Muldoon. And again, another nice book with some practical guidance woven throughout the book.

You could pick any one of these books and use it while reading through (working through) the Exercises and you would come away understanding the essentials of Ignatius' approach to spiritual formation and have some practical suggestions, even if you are not really getting

Finally, my aim and goal.
I have been designing and writing workbook curriculum for several years now. I have a pretty good understanding of developmental processes and develop curriculum that unfolds and implements the process.

I am not going to give the full format on this blogsite (because it will be material that I hope to publish) but I will give some guidance and help for those who are interested in working on the Exercises.

Brian Rice
Leadership ConneXtions International
www.lci.typepad.com

Welcome to Evangelicals on the Ignatian Road Blogsite

This is a new site I decided to start up to do posts specific to a very important part of my journey. I have been deeply influenced by Ignatian spirituality. It's methodologies are pretty core to who I am, how I connect with God and follow Christ.

I am influenced by more than just Ignatius. I am also greatly in debt to Benedictine spirituality and Franciscan spirituality as well.

Theologically I am a child of the Reformation and the Evangelical movement. But many years ago (it was in 1999) I realized that as much as I valued the theology of my heritage, its approaches to spiritual formation were lacking for me.

Thus began my pilgrimage as an Evangelical on the Ignatian Road.

That journey continues today in some new and interesting ways. For the last two or three years, I have been interested in creating a workbook approach to help evangelicals access the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius. For the last several months I have been working more intentionally on this. As time goes on, I plan to start posting on this blogsite, some of the tools, articles and exercises I am writing.

I am only going to post on this blogsite occasionally and not daily.

I have another blogsite where I post daily on issues of leadership, spirituality, culture, theology and mission. That can be found at Leadership ConneXtions International.

I will be glad for dialogue and feedback on the things I post, so don't hesitate.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International