Chapter 9 - Revelation Shapes Experience

Summary

From a formal theological point of view, it would be common to distinguish the experience I describe in Chapter 8 from revelation: it would be called ‘religious’ or ‘spiritual’ experience rather than revelation as such. However, if revelation is God's self-revelation, that is, if it is always personal, then that act of communication in relationship is always a self-revealing. For a Christian, if this is truly God's self-revealing, then the hermeneutic context of the Christian tradition will bring a degree of intelligibility to the experience. In Chapter 9, I consider this possibility through an examination of the spiritual tradition of Ignatius Loyola. Ignatius sets great store on experience as the place where one might find God. To ‘find God in all things’ is to reflect on where God has passed in experience. Ignatian discernment is about becoming attentive to feeling; I argue that this is not simply learning to be attentive to emotions but to be sensitive to moods as ways of experiencing God’s presence, although this distinction goes beyond the letter of the Ignatian text. Ignatius’ approach can be helpful for contemporary reflection because it is coextensive with everyday life.