FORMATION FOR COMMUNITY LIVING

In this penultimate chapter I will build upon the analysis of Chapters 5 to 8 by addressing a very functional aspect of community life, namely what is bonding community members together? To capture the full picture surrounding my focus I will be approaching it in a very general way, hence I will include political and philosophical ideologies as well as my main focus religion and spirituality. In choosing such a theme I will be following a tradition within the academic study of communes more generally (Abrams & McCulloch, 1976, p. 152; Pepper & Hallam, 1991, p. 100; Rigby, 1974a, p. 8), I will make occasional reference to their findings throughout this Chapter. Also during my endeavour I will weave in some of the observations I have made thus far in the hope of offering up an explanation of what role religious and spiritual traditions are playing in communal life. I will be relying mostly on the interviews as my source material and will be continuing my pattern of dealing with urban and rural contexts separately.

'Worldwide Krishna Movement' Conference at Harvard University, 2016

A brief exploration of a Christian Theology of Community.

Sanyasa Journal of Consecrated Life , 2010

The author discusses the ‘Biblical Foundation for Community Life’, starting with a narration of biblical inspiration in the foundation and life of early monastic communities of Pachomius and Basil. He then goes on to analyse the traits of community life in the Old and New Testaments: in the OT period, prophetic groups and the Qumran community led a community life with their own characteristics; in the NT period, the Apostolic community and the first Christian community may be taken as models for the modern religious communities - their guiding principles are relevant even today.

American Journal of Community Psychology, 2008

Theory and research suggest that there is a basic and irreducible human yearning for a relationship with something that transcends ourselves, something sacred. The sacred can be understood not only in individual terms, but also in terms of relationships, settings, and communities. Empirical studies indicate that the sacred has powerful implications for human behavior; it can be an organizing force and a resource to people in their most difficult times, yet it can also be a source of seemingly intractable problems. This paper reviews several of the promising steps psychologists have taken to learn about the sacred, learn from spiritual communities, and collaborate with these communities in efforts to better the world. Research and practice in this area is enriching our understanding of the meaning of community and the meaning of spirituality.

Logos Questions, 2019

A brief overview of Church-community, discussing the complications of individualism, then the role of identity, ethics, and ritual in the constitution of Church-community.

Spiritual formation takes place in a faith community - spiritual formation communities

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000

The church has played a central role in establishing and maintaining, as well as undermining, communities throughout modern history. In this paper we explore some of the mechanisms through which the church can coordinate individual behavior to achieve improvements in individual and social welfare, and reveal the ways in which the church can fail, causing established communities to founder or dissolve. In our model inherently religious individuals may become trapped in a secular equilibrium that is strictly dominated by a religious equilibrium in which individuals' actions bestow positive external benefits on other community members. The church, via its teachings, clergy and ministries, reveals the benefits of coordinated behavior, both in this world and in the world to come, and the costs of uncoordinated behavior, separation from God and one's fellow man, to induce community members to take actions which are both individually and socially beneficial. External forces, such as the state and secular society, and internal forces, such as doctrinal disputes, inconsistencies, and incoherence, can reduce a church's ability to coordinate, to the detriment of all.

2018

This essay will focus on ways the ELSJ Core Curriculum requirement and TNI enact the Jesuit way of proceeding to promote dialogue and critical engagement with underserved communities in order to contribute to the common good. Particularly important in these community-engagement practices is attention to the distinction Jewish theologian Martin Buber draws between the subject-object knowing, I – It relationships, characteristic of traditional university learning, and I -Thou relationships possible through “genuine meeting,” “genuine dialogue,” leading to wholeness and “real living,” “actual life.”12 Buber’s description of I - Thou encounters is reminiscent of the relational encounters with God outlined in the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. Both Buber and Ignatius value “so-called ‘objective knowledge.’” In Philosophical Interrogations Buber specifies, “I have often indicated how much I prize science, so-called ‘objective knowledge.’ Without it there is no orientation in the wor...

Acta Institutionis Philosophiae et Aestheticae: revue internationale de philosophie moderne, 1996