Towards a Theory of Spirituality

In March 2009, at the invitation of the chair of spirituality of the Radboud University Nijmegen, theologians and religious scientists met for the first time in Dutch academia to reflect together about theories of spirituality. What is spirituality? Can we define the phenomenon? Which forms of spirituality can we discern? How can we understand Christian spirituality? Where do we see possibilities for comparison between the diverse forms of spirituality? Which new forms of spirituality do we need to study? What theoretical approaches are familiar? How do we coordinate all the results of our research? The goal of our congress was, in all candor, to inventory the perspectives of the invited researchers and make an initial attempt to formulate a conspectus of the diverse positions which we now occupy.