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Contemplative – and evangelical?

Walking With Giants Posted on by

You say, ‘Eucharist’; I say, ‘Holy Communion’.  You say, ‘Priest’, I say, ‘Minister’. You say, ‘Spiritual formation’, I say, ‘Discipleship’.  You say, ‘Contemplative prayer’; I say, ‘Communion with God’.

Is it as simple as that?  Are these just different names for the same things?

To focus the question: Is contemplative prayer compatible with (or even essential to) evangelical faith, or inimical to it?  Does the contemplative life represent a departure from, or a deepening of, the evangelical life?

Definitions

I begin at the level of definition.  First, I shall define what I mean by ‘evangelical’, and then explore definitions of ‘contemplative’.

What does ‘evangelical’ mean?

I write as a convinced evangelical.  I fully affirm the historical creeds of the Christian church, and can briefly set out my evangelical convictions in the words of the ‘Basis of Faith’ of the Evangelical Alliance:

WE BELIEVE IN…
1. The one true God who lives eternally in three persons – the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
2. The love, grace and sovereignty of God in creating, sustaining, ruling, redeeming and judging the world.
3. The divine inspiration and supreme authority of the Old and New Testament Scriptures, which are the written Word of God-fully trustworthy for faith and conduct.
4. The dignity of all people, made male and female in God’s image to love, be holy and care for creation, yet corrupted by sin, which incurs divine wrath and judgement.
5. The incarnation of God’s eternal Son, the Lord Jesus Christ – born of the virgin Mary; truly divine and truly human, yet without sin.
6. The atoning sacrifice of Christ on the cross: dying in our place, paying the price of sin and defeating evil, so reconciling us with God.
7. The bodily resurrection of Christ, the first fruits of our resurrection; his ascension to the Father, and his reign and mediation as the only Saviour of the world.
8. The justification of sinners solely by the grace of God through faith in Christ.
9. The ministry of God the Holy Spirit, who leads us to repentance, unites us with Christ through new birth, empowers our discipleship and enables our witness.
10.The Church, the body of Christ both local and universal, the priesthood of all believers – given life by the Spirit and endowed with the Spirit’s gifts to worship God and proclaim the gospel, promoting justice and love.
11.The personal and visible return of Jesus Christ to fulfil the purposes of God, who will raise all people to judgement, bring eternal life to the redeemed and eternal condemnation to the lost, and establish a new heaven and new earth.

Much criticism can be levelled at evangelical spirituality.  But this is my ‘Here I stand’.  This is the benchmark by which I shall test expressions of the contemplative.

What does ‘contemplation’ mean?

I turn now to explore the meaning of ‘contemplative’.

According to the Dictionary of the Christian Church (Cross & Livingstone), ‘contemplation’, in its primary definition, means ‘to look at things, either with the eyes or with the mind’.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary recognises both general and religious meanings.  Of the latter, ‘contemplation’ can mean:

‘(in Christian spirituality) a form of prayer in which a person seeks a direct experiences of the divine.’

James Wilhoit and Evan Howard (Discovering Lectio Divina) agree that communion with God lies at the heart of contemplation:

‘Contemplation [is] a resting in God and an enjoyment of the pleasure of his company.’

Richard Foster (Streams of Living Water) also regards the essence of the contemplative life as:

‘the steady gaze of the soul upon the God who loves us.’

Elsewhere, Foster states:

‘Contemplative prayer is a loving attentiveness to God.’

A similar definition is offered in the Evangelical Dictionary of Christian Education:

‘Contemplation seeks an increased openness, awareness, and love for God. It is the soul at rest with God.’

I conclude that the basic meaning of ‘contemplation’, in its Christian sense, is ‘communion with God’.  With this, no evangelical can have any argument.

Is there a difference between ‘contemplation’ and ‘meditation’?

In some of the literature, ‘meditation’ and ‘contemplation’ are used interchangeably.  Indeed, during the Middle Ages there was a tendency to conflate meditation, prayer and contemplation around the experience of an intense love for God.

However, a distinction is often drawn.  Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross distinguished between contemplative prayer and mental prayer (meditation).  In meditative prayer the natural powers of the mind and will are engaged, whereas in contemplative prayer they are suspended.

Schwanda distinguishes between them thus:

‘I understand meditation to be the active use of the mind to engage God through reading and praying of Scripture or some other devotional practices. The key is the active and intentional reflection, or ruminatio, on whatever we are considering. Contemplation is a loving attentiveness or grateful gazing on God. It is experiential and savoring rather than discursive or mental dissection. It emphasizes the heart more than the head.’

Ward (A Dictionary of Christian Spirituality) notes that in the literature of prayer contemplation is often seen as a progression from meditation.  Moreover, contemplation itself is often viewed as occuring in stages, culminating in a ecstatic union with God.

According to Schwanda:

‘Thomas White, a seventeenth-century English Puritan, drew this distinction using the bridal language of the Song of Songs: “Meditation is like the kindling of fire and contemplation more like the flaming of it when fully kindled. The one is like the spouse seeking Christ, and the other like the spouse’s enjoying of Christ.’

Ward agrees that contemplation differs from meditation.  In the latter,

‘the mind reflects on some Christian truth or passage of Scripture or personal experience, using words and ideas in more or less logical progression, with the aim of reaching fuller understanding and personal appropriation of the truth considered, or working through some experience in the light of Christian faith in order to come to some decision, awareness of God’s will or re-affirmation of faith.’

In contemplation, on the other hand,

‘the mind functions in the opposite way.  Words and thoughts in logical progression, reflections with the aim of coming to fresh insight or decision, are exactly what the mind does not want, and indeed it finds them a hindrance.  What is desired is the opportunity simply to express to God one’s loving, hoping, trusting, thanking, in as few words as possible.  These few words tend to be repeated many times.  The repetition has the effect of steadily reducing their meaning and serviceableness.  A time comes when a deeper desire is revealed to the person praying. What began as fragmentarily verbalised loving or thanking becomes more than anything else an offering, thought without this self-giving being mentally considered or understood.’

Aquinas associated contemplation with the intellectual life, whereas others made a contrast between the two.

For many writers and practitioners, contemplative prayer does not move logically through a set of ideas.  J. Neville Ward writes:

‘In its Christian use this word normally denotes the kind of prayer in which the mind does not function discursively but is arrested in a simple attention and one-pointedness.’

Meditation is more cognitive; contemplation more affective.

‘Meditation requires study, rumination, and explanation, using the mind, while contemplation depends on savoring, enjoying, and experiences of the heart. Richard of St. Victor (1111–1173) observed that “meditation investigates, contemplation wonders.”’ (Dictionary of Christian Spirituality)

When considering the relationship between meditation and contemplation, a key question is whether the first forms the basis for the second, or whether the second supercedes or transcends the first.

What are some contemplative practices?

Jesus Prayer (Eastern Orthodox)

‘The contemplator repeats continually, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner,” until the phrase moves to the background and attention is turned undividedly to God.’ (EDCE)

Lectio divina

Guigo the Second, the 12th-century monk, formulated four elements of ‘spiritual reading’.  These have been taken up by a range of teachers, including renowned evangelical J.I. Packer, who advocates a from of lectio divina (in his book, with C. Nystrom, Praying).

  1. Reading (lectio) – this involves close attention to the text through careful exegesis.  A sentence or paragraph of Scripture is read slowly and repeatedly, perhaps with a different emphasis each time.
  2. Meditation (meditatio) – we enter into the text with the expectant curiosity of a child.  Packer calls this ‘brooding’ over the text.  We ask: what is God saying or doing?  What is he asking me to do?  How might my life be different in the light of this?
  3. Prayer (oratio) – as God speaks to us through the scriptures we speak in response to God.  This might take the form of praying the passage itself or turning it into praise, petition or intercession.
  4. Contemplation (contemplatio) – involving a resting in God, waiting with hopeful expectancy, living out in our everyday lives what we have read.

The whole process is unhurried, and might take up to an hour.

Seen as an antidote to a sterile reading of Scripture in which no encounter with God is sought or experienced, this method has distinct merits.  However, David Helm (Expositional Preaching) warns that it can rely too much on a subjective, intuitive, reading of the text (what it means to me), at the expense of a more objective exegesis of the text (what it meant to its author and original readers).

Centering prayer

According to Todd E. Johnson (DCS),

‘Centering prayer takes its name from the practice of quieting oneself and focusing on a word, repeated most often silently to oneself, as a way of focusing on God and “centering” one’s life around this encounter with God. For example, one might repeat the word “Savior” slowly and quietly, often in rhythm with your breathing. As your breathing slows and you enter into a quieter and more contemplative state, you would stop repeating the word and simply rest with your mind centered on God.’

Other practices

The Center for Action and Contemplation recognises a range of contemplative practices:

  • Drumming: Practicing surrendering the mind and attuning the body through rhythm
  • Walking Meditation: Taking slow, mindful steps
  • Ecstatic Dance: Moving freely to music
  • Chanting: Singing with intention
  • Centering Prayer: Observing and letting go of all thoughts without judgment during a period of silence
  • Lectio Divina: Reading short passages of text in a contemplative way
  • Welcoming Prayer: Welcoming any feeling, sensation, or emotion that arises in the midst of your day
  • YHWH Prayer: Consciously saying God’s name through each breath
  • Pranayama: Breathing mindfully
  • Loving Kindness Meditation: Recognizing your inner source of loving kindness and sending love to others

I conclude from this brief survey of contemplative practices that some are more compatible with evangelical faith than others.

Are there Christian and sub-Christian forms of contemplation?

In chapter 1 of ‘Embracing Contemplation’ (eds Coe and Strobel) John H. Coe seeks to draw a distinction between truly Christian (i.e. biblical) forms of contemplation, and those that are sub-Christian.

Sub-Christian forms of contemplation, Coe argues, have their roots in Platonic, Neoplatonic and Origenic thinking.  They are often based on some form of pantheism or panentheism.  They share a dualism of spirit and matter.  Spirit is ‘real’, matter is illusary.  Our soul’s kinship with the divine makes contemplation possible.  It is in contemplation that the soul is freed from its connection with the body and is able, through various techniques, to fly upwards.

Such metaphysics, which persist in New Age and Eastern philosophies, are alien to the biblical worldview.  To be specific:

(Emphasis added)

Truly Christian contemplation, on the other hand (writes Coe) is rooted in Nicene orthodoxy.  This theology recognises a divide between God and humanity .  Athanasius and Gregory of Nyssa reject spirit/matter dualism and affirm an absolute distinction between the Creator and his creation.  We cannot know God as he is in himself, but only as he has revealed himself to us.  It is not we who rise up to meet God, but he who stoops in revelation, incarnation and the indwelling Spirit to make himself know to us.

Accordingly:

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