Spirituality and Religion

This paper analyzes the concept of religion and spirituality, with a focus on Christianity. It explores the teachings of Christianity and its relationship with spirituality. The paper discusses the influence of Hebrew and Greek traditions on the Christian spiritual tradition and the inspiration drawn from these traditions. It also examines the relationship between spirituality and religion in the context of Christianity.

Running head: SPIRITUALITY AND RELIGION
Spirituality and Religion
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
Religion is one of the defining characteristics of human beings, much like their physical
characteristics. Religion refers to the beliefs and opinions held by the people due to the teachings
written in their Holy Book (Mursell, 2001). In this respect, it can be said that the religious beliefs
held by the people and their ascription to religion is extrinsic to their personality. Since the
inception of the human civilization and even before that, human beings were largely superstitious
in nature. This was due to the fact that there were many occurrences in nature which could not be
explained by such individuals (Heelas et al., 2005). They therefore, found it convenient to
believe that the various events that occurred on the surface of the earth, were as a result of the
actions and wishes of a Higher form of Power. This Higher form of Power was seen to be a
Godly figure. The ancient people believed that the formation of the Earth was as a result of the
wishes and desires of God and that everything that persisted on the surface of the earth, was His
will. This belief held by the human beings gave rise to the aspect of religion (Krahnke &
Hoffman, 2016). The importance of religion among the human civilization can be observed from
the fact that since the formation of the human society, more adherence has been given to the
Supernatural Power than to the factor of logic. It was not until the time of Renaissance in the
eighteenth and nineteenth century that people started to utilize the instrument of logic and
reasoning in order to determine the causes behind the natural occurrences in the environment.
Before that, they put blind faith on the Higher Power and believed more in their faith rather than
on logic (Weathers, McCarthy & Coffey, 2016). However, it can be observed in the
contemporary world that the religious inclinations of the people gained more ground in spite of
the prevalence of logic and rationality. This unique situation is quite stupendous to most of the
scholars as many believed that religion is in contrast to the application of logic. As a result, this

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field appealed to many researchers all across the world who sought to explore and understand
this sudden rise in the religiosity of the people the reason behind this occurrence (Hodge, 2015).
In this context, a new concept came to the forefront that of spirituality. It is believed that what
the people of the contemporary world is facing is not that of religious inclinations, but rather,
there is a rise in the level of spirituality of the people (Bianchi, 2012). This paper seeks to
analyze the concept of religion and that of spirituality. In this context, the paper tries to
understand a particular spiritual tradition and how it seeks to inspire the people to adhere to its
teachings and Scriptures. The paper discusses in detail the religion of Christianity and looks in to
its various teachings which are elaborated in the Holy Book of the Christian people, known as
the Bible. Furthermore, the paper discusses the relationship between religion and spirituality with
respect to the chosen religion of Christianity.
Christianity as a spirituality tradition
Religion has always occupied an important place within the lives of the human beings.
This is due to the fact that they want to belief that their lives are controlled by something which
is more powerful than them (Rizzuto, 2011). This way it becomes easy for the people to
understand their life events. In this regard, it can be noted that the people who ascribe to the
religious teachings or are religiously inclined, are mainly fatalistic in their life orientation. The
religion of Christianity is one of the oldest faith to be in existence since the inception of the
human civilization. This religious belief follows from the teachings of Jesus Christ and His
followers who were known as the Apostles (Chryssavgis, 2008). The Christian religion is
noteworthy as the religion of Christianity marked the beginning of the human calendar, such is
the importance of the religious belief in the lives of the people. The religious teachings of Jesus
Christ were later endorsed in to a book known as the Bible, which contains all of His preaching

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in the form of parables (Walton, 2012). Parables are small or short stories that teaches an
important moralistic value to human kind. It aims to provide an idea to the people as to what
constitutes right and wrong in the society, especially in reference to their character and
personality.
The religion of Christianity also constitutes an important spiritual tradition for the human
beings. Spirituality is much different from the aspect of religion, even within the field of
Christianity. This has been noted by the author Gordon (2001), in his book titled “The Story of
Christian spirituality: two thousand years, from East to West”. In this book, Gordon (2001)
sought to provide a definition on the issue of spirituality and spiritual tradition. According to the
author, the word ‘spirit’ has its origin within the Latin language ‘spiritus’, which means breath.
As a result, it signifies that the spirit is as important as the air that we inhale for our very
survival. The spirit, as a result, is also important for the survival of the individual (Hoffman,
2003). This relationship which has been drawn between breath and that of spirit is important to
understand because of their significance. Without breathing, an individual would not be able to
survive for more than a few minutes. The element of spirit is similarly important in the sense that
it is intrinsic to the survival of the human race. It occupies one of the most important position
within the human body and gives meaning to the personality of the human being (Pelikan, 2018).
The aspect of divinity in respect to the human spirit is significant in this respect as the spirit if
often equated with the religious divinity of the Godly figure. In other words, people consider the
spirit of an individual to be as pure and powerful as their own God and believes that the image of
their God is seen within the spirit of such human beings.

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Inspiration drawn from the spiritual tradition of Christianity
The Scripture of Christian religion is influenced heavily by the different traditions of the
world such as that of Hebrew tradition and Greek tradition (Liefbroer et al., 2017). According to
the Hebrew tradition of the Scripture, it is believed that the figure of God is continuously seeking
a way to provide understanding to the chaotic element of the human civilization. As a result, the
people who follow this tradition are always in the look out of providing meaning to the various
occurrences of the human society. Such people are desirous of finding their own identity, the
purpose of their being and some order in the society that they live in (Pelikan, 2018).
Another inspiration of the Christian spiritual tradition is that of the developments in the
New Testaments and the letters which have been provided by Paul, one of the most faithful
Apostle of Jesus Christ. Paul gave an important observation with regard to the elements of
‘spirit’ and ‘flesh’ (Pelikan, 2018). If we read it once, we can understand that Paul is talking
about the physical aspect of the flesh and the temporal factor of the spirit. However, a deeper
reading will prove that according to Paul, the aspect of ‘flesh’ meant the materialistic world of
the human society. In other words, the physical world of the human beings consist of the human
flesh and everything which is physical in nature, such as those things which can be purchased
with the value of money (Pelikan, 2018). This view is narrow in nature and is completely in
opposition to the factor of ‘spirit’. The element of ‘spirit’ refers to the temporal character of the
human being. Through ‘spirit’, Paul wanted to define and delineate the special relationship that
people enjoy with the Godly figure of Jesus Christ. According to Paul, the sufferings of the
‘spirit’ is only a longing for Jesus Christ. This then gradually transforms the human race in to the
creations that God inspired us to be. In the words of Paul, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where
the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom”. Paul referred to the entire human race in his

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preaching and not simply those who only ascribed to the Christian faith. In this respect, there is a
distinction between the elements of ‘spirit’ and the ‘physical’ life of the individuals. Paul’s
teachings can be considered to provide the essential bed rock to the aspect of Christian
spirituality (Horujy, 2015).
The religious scripture of the Christian tradition was influenced heavily by the Greek
tradition and their customs and values. The Greek tradition is basically the philosophies which
were advocated by Plato. According to the Hebrew religion, the physical and the spiritual
element of the human beings is seen to be existing in harmony with one another (Holt, 2017).
However, the Greek tradition departs from this and understands the physical world to be
different from that of the spiritual world. According to Plato, all that is good in the eyes of the
people are spiritual in nature. They are invisible to the eyes of the human kid such as that of
kindness, gratitude, happiness among others. On the other hand, the ‘physical’ world consisted of
all the evils of the human race as they are temporary in nature (McLaren, 2017). The
materialistic things of the world only provides temporary happiness to human kind as they are
liable to disappear at any point of time. As a result, the physical body of the human beings are
temporary in nature and it is only the spirit which is immortal in character (Porter, 2019). As a
result, after the death of an individual, the body will decay and disappear but it is the spirit which
shall live on until eternity.
From these three traditions which influenced the development of the Christian spiritual
tradition, it can be observed that the spiritual tradition of Christianity placed too much
importance on the element of the ‘spirit’ of the individual (Cory & Hollerich, 2015). This flows
from the fact that the Christians believe in a simple living whereby the adherence to the aspect of
God is more important than any physical wants. As a result, the materialist world holds less

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significance for the Christians and this serves as a point of motivation for the other people of the
world (Wilhoit, 2018). Plato was of the idea that the soul or ‘spirit’ of the human beings is
immortal in nature. This meant that human beings should strive for attaining good deeds in their
life which would influence the maintenance of a positive ‘spirit’ within themselves (O’Sullivan,
2017). In the event that they indulge in any wrongdoing or inflicts intentional harm on other
living beings, then their soul shall be damned and under the mercy of God, Jesus Christ.
The spiritual tradition of Christianity has served as an inspiration for many individuals all
across the world, especially to me, because of all the teachings that are advocated by the religion
(Nichols, 2016). This religion encourages the people to be true to themselves and not to engage
in any harmful activity which might result in the problem of another human being. The religion
of Christianity requires people to always be courteous towards the other individuals of the
society and treat them with respect and love (Boswell, 2018). Moreover, it is necessary for the
people to be gracious towards the activity of the people who only had positive intentions towards
them. As a result, a good Christian must inspire the generation of a positive environment in the
human society and must try to instill an atmosphere of positivity and harmony within the human
civilization (Nettles, 2017). It is such ideals of the Christian faith and of the Christian spiritual
tradition that inspires me to follow the religion and ascribe to its teachings.
Relationship between spirituality and religion with regard to the Christian
spiritual tradition
Religion is considered to the extrinsic beliefs that is held by the people all across the
globe. Usually people ascribe to a particular religion based on the one their forefathers had
ascribed to. This has in followed since the ancient times (Kadar et al., 2015). Religion first
appeared within the eastern part of the European continent, within the civilizations of Rome and

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Greece. People there were highly influenced by the aspect of fate and destiny and believed that
the natural occurrences in the world were a result of the actions and desires of the Powerful
being who ruled over Earth (Jones, 2018). This soon spread across all the continents and took on
a strong form within the eastern hemisphere of the world, especially in the landmasses of India
and the Far East. In the context of India, it can be seen that the people were highly influenced by
the religious teachings that were imparted by the priests. As a result of this, the priests soon
occupied a place of high significance and influence within the human society (Rinallo, &
Alemany Oliver, 2018). Moreover, the superstitious nature of the people made them fearful of
the natural occurrences of the environment. Instead of trying to understand the reason behind
such occurrences, the people made attempts to try to appease the ‘super natural’ beings in the
hope that the natural disasters would come to an end. This further inspired the other people of the
society to be religious in nature and soon everyone if=n the society ascribed to the teachings of
their Holy Book and adhered to the preaching of the relevant priests of the different religions
(Best, Butow, & Olver, 2016). The people stopped believing in the importance of logic and
reasoning which otherwise would have helped them to understand the reason behind the worldly
events.
In the Middle Ages, situation turned for the worse when the religious priests of different
religions, especially that of Christianity, took undue advantage of their followers in order to
make profits for themselves. Such religious priests instilled the element of fear among the people
so that they would be prevented from asking questions to which the priests did not have an
answer to (LeDoux, 2019). This era of darkness which prevailed on almost the entire human race
for the better half of the human history, soon came to an end with the rise in Renaissance within
the framework of the continent of Europe. Renaissance refers to the time when human

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civilization was ‘reborn’. This period signified an increased importance which was paid to the
different subjects of humanism and science and technology (Klein et al., 2016). The driving
force behind the birth of this movement was the unscrupulous activities that were being under
taken by the group of religious men and clergy men which only adversely affected the human
race. People were widely disgruntled and their frustration increased when they realized that their
own religious priests were providing false information and knowledge to them (MacDonald-
Dennis, 2015). The age of Renaissance sought to bring about a change in this behavior of the
priests and to show to the common people that there is a prevalence of logic and reasoning
within the human world. Such logic would enable an individual to understand the occurrences of
the environment for which, so long, human beings had believed that they were the making of the
Higher Supreme Power.
Renaissance therefore can be defined to be the landmark period which sought to bring a
reform in the religiosity aspect of the human beings (Freund & Gill, 2018). People indulged in
the different fields of education such as that of science and technology, humanism, geography
among others to find logic to the worldly occurrences like that of earthquakes and volcanic
eruption. The main aim such individuals was to understand the concept of heaven and hell that
were so frequently talked about in their religious scriptures (van Elk & Aleman, 2017). The
priests made the common people belief that if they did not perform a particular ritual or sacrifice,
they would incur the wrath of the God and hence, would be condemned to Hell. It was this fear
which was manipulated effectively by the priests and made the common people perform many
tasks which was solely for the materialistic benefit of the priests themselves. However, upon
reading the Scriptures by themselves, the people would a completely different scenario where
they learnt that their God, Jesus Christ, is ever forgiving in nature (Doka & Morgan, 2016).

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Moreover, upon reading the various subjects of humanism such as that of history and geography,
human beings were finally able to understand that the worldly occurrences were not a result of
the wrath or happiness of the God, but rather, is a natural process of the Earth itself.
Furthermore, the subjects of sociology and psychology, made the people more conscious about
the emotional sentiments of the other people and encouraged them to be considerate of their
fellow men (Weathers, McCarthy & Coffey, 2016). It was this period of Renaissance which
brought about a change in the religious aspect of the human race. People started to pay more
importance to the ideas of logic and reasoning in order to better understand their world, rather
than simply follow their faith in a blind manner. Renaissance did not bring about a total change
in the religious nature of human kind (Van Cappellen et al., 2016). Rather, it made the people
more aware about the existence of various reasons which would help to explain the natural
occurrences of the world.
After the nineteenth century, a distinction can be noticed in the religious nature of the
people. They no longer blindly ascribed to the religious teachings but rather chose to follow their
own presence of mind while determining the solution to a problem. This was not noticed before
and as a consequence, can be treated as a significant departure from the ancient times (Lepherd,
2015). This change in the religious character was observed from the fact that people became less
superstitious in nature. They stopped worshipping the different elements of nature and the
worshipping of the different idols also reduced to a significant extent. The period of Renaissance
was immediately followed by the Age of Reformation which further sought to bring about
changes in the religious nature of the people (Oman & Lukoff, 2018). From this point onwards, it
is evident that people started to belief in the strength of science and logic rather than their
religious teachings, especially within the Christian religious framework.

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The expansion in the logical belief of the people was thought to be in contrast to the
religious inclination of the individuals. It was opined by many scholars that those who are
religious in nature, cannot be logical in their thinking capacity (King, 2017). This flowed from
the fact that religious teachings put a lot of emphasis on the image of God and His powers. The
Christian Scripture, specifically, stated Jesus Christ was the Son of God who was sent to Earth in
order to absolve the human kind of their mistakes. He was thought to walk across water wand
turn water to wine. The period of Renaissance served as an important time frame when people
were made to ask questions regarding any event which they found to be dubious in nature
(Gardner, 2017). The prevalence of logic grew to such an extent that many people stopped
believing in the religious Scriptures and did not follow the doctrines of their teachings in their
personal life. The importance of the subjects of science and humanism grew which imbibed the
people with the factor of critical thinking. The development on their cognition could be noticed
whereby people preferred to rationalize a given situation in the societal setting rather than
believing that it was the action of a Higher form of Power (Barry & Connolly, 2009). As a result,
a clear contrast could be noticed between the aspect of religion and that of logic. Both the
spheres were considered to be mutually exclusive in nature.
This situation continued well in to the contemporary world where the concept of
secularism gained quite significance. Secularism was defined to be the idea where a particular
individual would have the freedom to practice or profess any religion of his or her choice with
inviting any wrath from the agency of the state (King, 2017). Secularism also meant that the
concerned government of the nation state of the world would not interfere in the religious life of
the people. This meant that the religious character of an individual would be treated as a personal
matter rather than as a factor of public importance. Religion was largely relegated in to the

11SPIRITUALITY AND RELIGION
deeper confines of the society and people practiced their faith in their own personal sphere
(Gardner, 2017). This was the general set up of the world till the end of the twentieth century.
In the beginning of the twenty first century, a strange feature could be noticed all across
the globe, which is the increase in the religious aspect of the people. This is quite unique in
nature because it was believed that with the advent of industrialization and the period of
Renaissance, people became more rationalized (Gardner, 2017). Moreover, the introduction of
the concept of secularism indicated the fact that people were fast losing interest in the religious
teachings of their scriptures. As a consequence, the introduction of the period of desecularization
instigated many scholars to conduct research with regards to the new phenomena.
Desecularization refers to the situation where people become religious after an initial period of
being secular in their orientation. This characterized the religious aspect of the people that was
evident in the twenty first century. However, many scholars have provided evidences which
suggests that desecularization does not imply the absence of religion, but rather the presence of
spirituality (McLaren, 2017). Spirituality is distinctive of the factor of religion in the sense that
spirituality in intrinsic to the character of a particular individual while religion is extrinsic to
their nature. As a result, in the recent times, what is observed is the rise in the spiritual aspect of
the human kind rather than their religious inclination.
People are not religious like they were in the earlier times (Cory & Hollerich, 2015).
They do not ascribe to the religious teachings which are mentioned in the various sources of their
doctrines and Scriptures. Rather, such individuals imbibe their religious teachings and combine
them with the aspect of critical thinking. This gives rise to their spiritual nature. People are more
inclined to believe in their own happiness and contentment. As in the earlier days where the
religious identity of a person was quite explicit in nature, this is not the case in the contemporary

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world. Religion is still seen to be within the purview of the personal sphere of the people (King,
2017). Nowadays, they are not overtly religious in nature. Instead, individuals are in the search
of the satisfaction of their own soul. A lot of emphasis is paid on the happiness of the spirit of the
people in the sense that there is a need on the part of the human beings to engage in activities
which makes them feel good about themselves (O’Sullivan, 2017). This largely flows from
several dictates of the religious teachings, all combined together. For instance, there teachings of
the Christian doctrines, those of Judaism, Buddhism and other various religions of the Earth are
taken together in order to provide a framework to the people which aids in their search for
internal peace. As a consequence, spirituality refers to the internal happiness of the people and
this is done in a covert manner, unlike the religious nature of the people in the past where the
activities of the people were highly explicit in nature (O’Sullivan, 2017). Spirituality does not
include wide scale performance of rituals and sacrifices like that of religion which were done in
order to appease and satisfy the Gods. Rather, it is intrinsic to the nature of an individual and is
noticeable in almost all the people across the globe.
The rise in spirituality of the people is noticeable in certain incidents of the world. The
first occurrence is that if the rise in the number of the people who attend the churches especially
in the region of Europe and the United States of America (Nettles, 2017). In the region of the
United States of America, it was noticed that there was a significant rise in the number of church
attendees from the year of 1776 to that of 2000. There was an approximate rise from seventeen
percent of the population to almost sixty two percent of the population. This is attributed to the
rise in the spiritual element of the people from that of the religious ascription which was present
in the earlier times. Religious identity of the people required them to be explicit in their ideology.
However, the factor of spirituality requires the people to be implicit in their working and not

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interfere in the beliefs held by the other people of the society (Nettles, 2017). In this context, it is
noticed that people attend churches because this is the place where they feel a connection with
God and His teachings of wisdom. This does not imply that such people would blindly follow
His faith. Human beings have the power to critically analyze a given situation and understand its
requirements and therefore, they can make a well judged verdict of their own (Nettles, 2017).
Another phenomena of the contemporary world which indicates towards the rise in the
spiritual aspect of the people is within the context of East Asia. In this region, it is noticed that
people belief in providing certain worships and prayers to the religious deities in return for better
grades and results in their entrance exams. The various ethnographic surveys which were
conducted in this respect, revealed that when individuals within this region go to give exams for
civil service or wants to climb higher in the social hierarchy, offer prays and worships to the
various Gods and Goddess during this time (Jones, 2018). In this scenario, the eagerness of the
people to incline towards religion can be seen to be arising out of hopes of personal gain. In this
context, it can be noticed that there is a rise in the religious aspect of the people for their own
selfish interest. As a result, this is considered to be spiritual in nature rather than religious as
there is no attempt on the part of the people to appease the Gods apart from the time in which
their desires need to be served (Rinallo & Alemany Oliver, 2018).
In this context, it can be noticed that in the contemporary period, there is a significant rise
in the spiritual nature of the human beings as compared to their religious nature which were quite
evident in the earlier times of human history (Best, Butow & Olver, 2016). Nowadays, people
are more inclined to find happiness for their own souls, especially within the context of the
Christian tradition. People who adhere to the Christian faith, do not blindly follow the religious
doctrines. They make proper judgments with regard to their behavior and try to improve on the

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attitudes not because it is the requirement of their religion, but because it the basic requirement
of the human society (Best, Butow & Olver, 2016). In the modern time period, there is an
amalgamation between the religious doctrines and rational thinking. This forms the basis of the
element of spirituality and is the dividing line between the factor of religion and that of spiritual
tradition.
Conclusion
In conclusion it can be observed that religion is one of the defining characteristics of
human beings, much like their physical characteristics. Religion refers to the beliefs and opinions
held by the people due to the teachings written in their Holy Book. In this respect, it can be said
that the religious beliefs held by the people and their ascription to religion is extrinsic to their
personality. Since the inception of the human civilization and even before that, human beings
were largely superstitious in nature. This was due to the fact that there were many occurrences in
nature which could not be explained by such individuals. They therefore, found it convenient to
believe that the various events that occurred on the surface of the earth, were as a result of the
actions and wishes of a Higher form of Power. This Higher form of Power was seen to be a
Godly figure. The ancient people believed that the formation of the Earth was as a result of the
wishes and desires of God and that everything that persisted on the surface of the earth, was His
will. This belief held by the human beings gave rise to the aspect of religion. The importance of
religion among the human civilization can be observed from the fact that since the formation of
the human society, more adherence has been given to the Supernatural Power than to the factor
of logic. Religion has always occupied an important place within the lives of the human beings.
This is due to the fact that they want to belief that their lives are controlled by something which
is more powerful than them. This way it becomes easy for the people to understand their life

15SPIRITUALITY AND RELIGION
events. In this regard, it can be noted that the people who ascribe to the religious teachings or are
religiously inclined, are mainly fatalistic in their life orientation. The religion of Christianity is
one of the oldest faith to be in existence since the inception of the human civilization. This
religious belief follows from the teachings of Jesus Christ and His followers who were known as
the Apostles. The Christian religion is noteworthy as the religion of Christianity marked the
beginning of the human calendar, such is the importance of the religious belief in the lives of the
people.
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