The Church in an Age of Secular Mysticisms: Why Spiritualities without God Fail to Transform Us (Ministry in a Secular Age)

by Andrew Root

Publisher:

Baker Academic

, 2023

Overview

Post-Christian life and society do not eliminate a desire for the transcendent; rather, they create an environment for new and divergent spiritual communities and practices to flourish. We are flooded with spiritualities that appeal to human desires for nonreligious personal transformation. But many fail to deliver because they fall into the trap of the self.

In the last book of the Ministry in a Secular Age series, leading practical theologian Andrew Root shows the differences between these spiritualities and authentic Christian transformation. He explores the dangers of following or adapting these reigning mysticisms and explains why the self has become so important yet is burdened with guilt—and how we should think about both. To help us understand our confusing cultural landscape, he maps spiritualities using 20 of the best memoirs from 2015 to 2020 in which “secular mystics” promote their mystical and transformational pathways. Root concludes with a more excellent way—even a mysticism—centered on the theology of the cross that pastors and leaders can use to form their own imaginations and practices.

Key Features

• Shows why the church must grapple with the current fascination with mysticism and spiritualities
• Maps contemporary spiritualities through recent memoirs
• Offers a vision of transformation that is centered on a theology of the cross

Product Details

• Title: The Church in an Age of Secular Mysticisms: Why Spiritualities without God Fail to Transform Us
• Author: Andrew Root
• Series: Ministry in a Secular Age
• Publisher: Baker Academic
• Print Publication Date: 2023
• Logos Release Date: 2023
• Pages: 269
• Era: era:contemporary
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
• Subjects: Mysticism; Spirituality; God (Christianity)
• ISBNs: 9781540966735, 9781540966919, 1540966739, 1540966917
• Resource ID: LLS:CHRCHNGMNSSCLRG
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2023-10-10T17:58:46Z

About Andrew Root

Andrew Root (PhD, Princeton Theological Seminary) is Carrie Olson Baalson Professor of Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota, and has written extensively about youth ministry. He is the author of numerous books, including Faith Formation in a Secular Age, The Pastor in a Secular Age, Bonhoeffer as Youth Worker, The Children of Divorce, Revisiting Relational Youth Ministry, and Relationships Unfiltered, and the coauthor (with Kenda Creasy Dean) of The Theological Turn in Youth Ministry.