Western spirituality: A historical epistemology

Despite the vast amount of literature on ‘spirituality’, the concept remains nebulous and unwieldy. This is only partially explained by the quality of the publications. A more convincing explanation must be sought in the history of the concept of spirituality itself. Until the eighteenth century, this history was just a subplot of the history of religion but, late during this period and encouraged by the rationalism of the Enlightenment, spirituality started to claim its independence from religion. Achieving such autonomy has not been easy and to this day there are publications still claiming that ‘real’ spirituality cannot be conceived of outside the space of religion. A method of analysis is offered in this chapter that may contribute to the shaping of a form of authentic lay or secular spirituality.