Turning Points of the Spirit: A journey from institutional religion to authentic spirituality

With experience in social work, ordained ministry and multi-faith community living, Glennis Johnston reflects upon the inadequacies of the traditional Christian paradigm. In Johnston explores the disconnect between religion and spirituality. She examines the relationship between religious institutions and institutional religion and between culture and traditional Christianity. Informed by progressive biblical scholarship and process theology, she describes her journey towards an alternative spiritual paradigm. Is reinventing the Church possible? What might a post-Church, post-Christian spirituality look like? Johnston raises questions that deserve serious consideration by all people of faith. “Values of respecting difference, love of neighbour and social justice are not central to institutional faith in the same way as is the doctrine of the divinity of Jesus. The former leads to experiences of personal transformation. The latter asks for intellectual assent to ‘the Faith’. There is no automatic link between the two.”