Spirituality in the 21st Century: Conversations

Dialogue is at the center of the nine chapters in this book, the third in a series emanating from the 1st Global Conference on Spirituality: Theory, Praxis and Pedagogy held in Prague, Czech Republic in March 2011. The authors engage in a variety of conversations - between teacher and student, therapist and patient, author and author - central to the emerging field of Spirituality Studies. They describe the spiritual dimensions of work being done in academic and applied fields around the world, such as adult and religious education, leadership, naturalism, health care, and literature. Throughout, the authors explore experiences of spirituality in the human search for meaning, belonging, suffering, healing, and forgiveness. "Life," wrote James W. Carey, "is like an ongoing conversation which started before you were born, in which you get to participate and contribute while you are alive, and which continues on after you die." As such, these essays invite readers to participate in and as the essential, ongoing, universal conversation of humans, being.