Supervision of Spiritual Directors: Engaging in Holy Mystery

by Rebecca Bradburn Langer, Mary Rose Bumpus RSM

With the increased interest in the practice of spiritual direction, both from people feeling called to be spiritual directors, and from those seeking direction, this books addresses the need to train the supervisors of spiritual directors.

This collection of essays is one of the first books in the field that help with the training of supervisors. Written by spiritual directors who have years of experience in supervision between them, this book engages some of the leading voices in the field in an exploration of a wide variety of issues, gender and sexuality; ethical dilemmas; working with diverse racial ethnic constituents; working with the differently abled; the parameters of supervision; the supervision of beginning directors, and more.

An excellent textbook for those who feel called to the role of supervisor, as well as an important book for those who are already practicing in the field.

Genres: Spirituality

199 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2005

Reviews

[Adam Carnehl]

Published under the auspices of SDI (Spiritual Directors International) by a distinguished group of spiritual practitioners, "Supervision of Spiritual Directors: Engaging in Holy Mystery" is among the more helpful books I've read on the practice of supervision in spiritual direction. I found the first half of the book to be remarkably profound and useful, particularly the essay by Mary Rose Bumpus and Rebecca Brandburn Langer called "Supporting Beginning Directors: Participating in the Dance." In this essay the two authors note that beginning directors usually have to unlearn some of the things they have picked up in training programs as they will encounter many holy scenarios worthy of rule-breaking as they begin to enter into real conversations with real people. The final essay in the book called "Regarding the Spiritual Direction of Disabled Persons" (by Susan S. Phillips) is also quite helpful as it deals with an overlooked topic and is written with both careful nuance and love. Otherwise, this collection is a bit of a mixed bag (with the weakest essay being "Using the Concept of 'Co-Cultures' in Supervision," from which I gained basically no insights), but overall I found most of the writings in the book to be challenging and enlightening.

[Shannon]

Of all the books I’ve read thus far for my training program, this one is the most practical in orientation. Because each chapter has a different author, I enjoyed some writing styles more than others. However, I think I learned something from every single chapter.

[Lindsay O]

This book was assigned reading for my spiritual direction program. This has about 10 different authors/contributors, so my opinions of the different chapters varied greatly. Some were really good and helpful, and others were less so.

[Michelle]

A collection of essays pertaining to supervision is spiritual direction ranging from what it is and is not to specific issues that arise in supervision

[Summer Green]

Great technical read on the supervision relationship of spiritual directors.