The word “spirituality” may mean many different things: a Christian
orientation within the world, a counter-religious mode of self
cultivation, an orientalist imagination of “Eastern” cultures contrasted
with the materialist West, a holistic concern in healthcare to bring a
patient to wellness, and so on. Given this ambiguous word’s deep
Christian and Western roots, is it even possible to think about
“spirituality” on a global scale, in cultures, languages, and traditions
that understand the cosmos and humans’ place in it very differently?
This talk explores some pitfalls for envisioning spirituality globally
and suggests ways that spirituality studies may be respectful of and
even illuminated by cultural diversity.