Spirituality and Religion

Running head: SPIRITUALITY AND RELIGION
Spirituality and Religion
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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.