Cover of: Spiritualität und Geheimnis
Martin Honecker

Spiritualität und Geheimnis

Section: Essays
Volume 118 (2021) / Issue 2, pp. 184-215 (32)
Published 21.06.2021
DOI 10.1628/zthk-2021-0010
Published in German.
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Summary
The word spirituality is relatively new in Protestant language usage, but is well-established in Catholic terminology. The word certainly has a long tradition. Among other things, it means piety, practice of faith, as well as religiosity and mysticism. Today, spirituality is a project. As a synthetic word, it denotes the different religious ways of seeking the right way to live on the one hand, and on the other specific denominational forms, such as evangelical spirituality, which has been an indication of religious upheaval since the sixteenth century. Right now, spirituality is setting the new theological focal points of ecological sensitivity, awareness of human emotional dimensions, experience that acts as a reference for values, and mysticism. How significant is spirituality in understanding God? Spirituality points to God as being the secret of reality.