The Spirituality Revolution: The Emergence of Contemporary Spirituality [Paperback]

David Tacey (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1583918744 | ISBN-13: 978-1583918746 | Publication Date: August 15, 2004 | Edition: 1

The spiritual life is no longer a specialist concern, restricted to those who belong to religious traditions. The spirituality revolution is a spontaneous movement in society, a significant new interest in the reality of spirituality and its healing effects on life, health, community and well being.

The Spirituality Revolution: The Emergence of Contemporary Spirituality recognises that we have outgrown the ideals and values of previous times and reveals an image of the spiritual situation of our era. Recent discoveries in physics, biology, psychology and ecology have begun to restore status to previously discredited spiritual visions of reality and this book illustrates the ways in which we might uncover a universal spiritual wisdom that could transform our splintered world. Topics explored include the current state of the Western experience of spirit, our need for spiritual guidance when we cannot turn to organised religion in their traditional forms, and the creative potentials of spirit in education, personal experience, contemporary philosophy and popular feeling for the environment.

The Spirituality Revolution addresses a major social issue which requires immediate attention if we are to creatively respond to spiralling outbreaks of depression, suicide, addiction and psychological suffering. It is a much-needed contribution to the field, of great interest to analytical psychologists, counsellors, educators and social workers, and to all those interested in spirituality and the future of religion.

David Tacey is Associate Professor in Psychoanalytic Studies and Reader in Arts and Critical Enquiry at La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia. He is the author of six books on spirituality, psychology and culture, including Jung and the New Age and Remaking Men.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'It is sometimes possible to recommend a book without hesitation. This is such a book. It is exceptionally intelligent, readable, timely and full of hope. Tacey's mature comments, for example on fundamentalism, on the link between wholeness and perfection, on the distinction between spirituality and spiritualism, and his entire critique of comtemporary religion (focused mainly on Christianity), so succinctly and reasonably put, are worth the price of the book alone'. - Dr Larry Culliford, Network Review: Journal of the Scientific and Medical Network, Winter 2004

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (August 15, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1583918744
• ISBN-13: 978-1583918746
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #846,894 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dr. David Tacey is Reader in literature and depth psychology at La Trobe University, Melbourne.
He is the author of eight books, including Jung and the New Age (2001), The Spirituality Revolution (2003) and How to Read Jung (2006).
He was born in Melbourne and raised in Alice Springs, central Australia. It was here that he was influenced by Aboriginal cultures and their religion and cosmology.
After completing a PhD degree at the University of Adelaide, David Tacey was a Harkness Fellow in the United States, where his studies were supervised by James Hillman.
He regularly gives lecture courses at the summer school of the C.G. Jung Institute in Zurich.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the inescapable, unbeatable spirit, October 24, 2004

By 

peter d pipinis "mysticskeptic" (berri, s.a. australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Spirituality Revolution: The Emergence of Contemporary Spirituality (Paperback)

This beautifully written book is a penetrating look at the evolving spiritual scene in the Western world today. It accurately guages the way modern people are seeking direct inner experience of the 'spirit' in order to give deeper meaning and purpose to their lives. It shows how organised religion on the one hand, and secular, rationalist society on the other, not only fails to assist people in their search, but actually hinders them, causing more and more to leave traditional places of worship, and feeling increasingly alienated from a community they see obsessed with financial and material advantage.

The book examines the myriad paths that the individual search for personal experience of the 'divine' can take, from ecology to the New Age, from psychotherapy to the occult, and how we evaluate each according to the degree they have brought about 'spiritual change or moral transformation in the ways demanded by true spirituality' (p. 207).

Tacey tells us he comes from the point of view of his 'mystical, anti-fundamentalist, humanist' personality. Later, he adds he is a 'mystical Christian'. He speaks for all genuine seekers, I think, when he says 'I am only interested in a faith that has "passed through" the fires of atheism, the blaze of modernity, and the critical scrutiny of psychoanalysis and science. What survives after all else has been burnt away...after conventional forms have been melted down...is the only kind of faith that resonates with the spiritual needs of our extraordinary time' (p. 157).

Religious institutions, Tacey argues, must recognise they are failing to communicate the deepest mystery they are truly about, the message we all need to hear in our de-stabilised world. He asserts the majority of them are either feeling threatened in the face of new demands for more 'spirituality', or denying there is anything wrong. In warm and reassuring tones, he explains that they and the individualist seekers have much to learn from each other. Indeed, in the end, they will both see they are essential to each other's well-being, the traditions to give form, fellowship and stability to the overwhelming power of the radicalising spirit, the mystic to pinpoint and rebel against the forms when they become an obstacle to realising the ineffable experience underlying them.

I only wish Tacey had focused more critically on the most serious problem of organised religions - intolerant fundamentalism. In my view, the real war will always be between those who embrace difference and those who would eradicate it. The fundamentalists, with their fight-to-the-death opposition to the spirit of truth will certainly not take change lying down. I am sure the religious institutions would have welcomed advice on how best to deal with this problem!

Ironically, given the title, 'The Spirituality Revolution' will give much comfort and hope to people in the churches, mosques, and synagogues, who initially will need encouragement to begin the difficult task of soul-searching and institutional change. Tacey puts forward criticisms calmly and constructively, always accentuating the positive.

David Tacey has written a brilliant, illuminating book. His love for the mysteries and life is - like the spirit he writes about - inescapable and unbeatable.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best analysis of spirituality trends I have read, March 31, 2010

By 

Darren Cronshaw (Melbourne, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Spirituality Revolution: The Emergence of Contemporary Spirituality (Paperback)

David Tacey, The Spirituality Revolution: The Emergence of Contemporary Spirituality (Sydney: HarperCollins, 2003)

David Tacey, Associate Professor at La Trobe University, researches the decline of organised religion and the increasing popularity of diverse expressions of spirituality. He urges churches to observe how God is communicating with people outside church circles and (echoing Rahner) to seek to draw it out of people's lives rather than striving to pump it in. He draws on literature, philosophy of religion, his own inner life, and the experience of his students - many of whom are hungry for an experience of transformation and not just education's information or religion's moralism. He started a very popular subject that aims to develop the contours of a postmodern spirituality, through which he hears a common critique `There is plenty of God talk, but no God presence in religion.' As a mystical Christian himself, he pleads for holding together the new spirituality and its experiential focus along with tradition and its shared meaning and community.

Originally reviewed in Darren Cronshaw `The Emerging Church: Spirituality and Worship Reading Guide.' Zadok Papers S159 (Autumn 2008).

1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Articulate and on point a couple years befor its time, May 13, 2007

By 

J. Shek (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Spirituality Revolution: The Emergence of Contemporary Spirituality (Paperback)

Lays the groundwork for his excellent essay in "Idea of the Numinous", his more recent (Ed.) title - Tacey has the insight of Karen Armstrong and others who like prophets are showing what is truly before us in this eciting new era.