First things are spiritually and theologically important. Before Belief explores the precognitive human experience of transcendence, illuminating how such foundational experiences are formative of attachment relationships with people and ultimately with God. The book proposes an implicit learning model rather than rely on Freud's or Jung's understanding of the unconscious, with a goal of recovering unconscious spiritual learning. Once discovered and put into language, early learning needs to be tested and integrated into life experience and expressed in committed living. The theories examined and advanced in the work are also carried through in practical case studies that demonstrate the pastoral and clinical salience of understanding and connecting people to those grounding experiences.
Autorentext
Bruce A. Stevens is the Wicking Professor of aging and practical theology at Charles Sturt University. His latest book is The Storied Self .
Inhalt
Introduction
Chapter 1: Some Maps
Chapter 2: First Things First
Chapter 3: From One Generation to the Next
Chapter 4: The Senses
Chapter 5: Sight
Chapter 6: Touch (including the Sense of Body)
Chapter 7: Hearing
Chapter 8: Smell
Chapter 9: Taste
Chapter 10: Revisiting Infantile Experience
Chapter 11: Into Language
Chapter 12: Evaluation
Chapter 13: Now for Integration
Chapter 14: Committed Living
Chapter 15: Early Spirituality in Ministry
Conclusion
Appendix: The Early Spirituality Profile
Bibliography
About the Author