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Spiritual Direction: Beyond the Beginnings
Explores issues that arise in the advanced stages of spiritual direction from both a practical and theoretical perspective. †
- GenresSpirituality
192 pages, Paperback
First published May 30, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
June 1, 2022
Janet Ruffing (a member of the Sisters of Mercy who now teaches at Yale Divinity School) has somehow managed to give us a book that purports to be "beyond the beginnings" of introductory spiritual direction which never really takes the reader to that place. The book reads as a disjointed set of chapters on various topics related to spiritual direction. In the introduction Ruffing notes that all six chapters were originally "workshops" at various spiritual direction conferences. Unfortunately they read as somewhat dry, outdated workshops. They include: "Praying for What We Want" (which has such a humble, God-centered title, doesn't it?), "Endlessly Inventive Evasion" (perhaps the most powerful and useful chapter in the book), "Panning for Gold" (which began with a beautiful metaphor and ended with some meandering, obtuse musings on one of Rahner's essays on experience), "Searching for the Beloved" (which is on erotic love mysticism in the Christian tradition but really only covers some isolated quotes by Hadewijch that Ruffing applies to a number of directees' experiences), "Mutuality with God" (which makes an argument I can't accept, specifically, that until Ruffing's essay, hardly anyone pointed out that a mature relationship with God has a reciprocal nature of exchange, of give and take), and "The 'As If' Relationship (which is a dry treatment of the dangers of transference and countertransference in spiritual direction and counseling).
Compared to the several other books I've read on spiritual direction, this one is perhaps the most detached and unfeeling, despite the fact that Ruffing is attempting to discuss deeply affective and personal, spiritual matters. She does so in a sort of dry, lecturer's way. What's odd is that this way also somehow manages to be non-academic at the same time, so it's neither personal and warm nor scholarly and rigorous. It's cold, detached, and general.
Compared to a book like Margaret Guenther's, anyone will immediately notice the differences: Guenther's book "The Art of Spiritual Direction" is inviting while still being crisp, clear, and well-organized. Guenther has a point to make and she makes it quite well. Ruffing, on the other hand, seems to have various "bugaboos" (e.g. a fear of love-mysticism in her circles, the damage the Reformation caused for women's spiritualities - I'll come back to this one, the ignorance that Christians have on mutuality with God, and, I suppose, the many wrong views Ruffing sees directors having with transference and counter-transference). Ruffing has no explanation of these bugaboos, as I call them, and I suspect that around 1999 these were the hot topics in SDI circles, but I don't know that for sure. In any case, Ruffing hardly explains why she goes off on these long tangents against these invisible, ignorant opponents who don't have the PhD in spirituality that she has.
Lest I forget, Ruffing also includes several of her opinions in the book which I and my colleagues flat-out reject. For example, on page 48 she makes a categorical statement to the effect that it is never appropriate for a director to "burden" a directee with his or her own spiritual problems. However, as I've seen, there may be instances when the directee evokes a response from the director, God opens up an opportunity for serious growth, the roles flip for a moment, and the Spirit leads the conversation to gently guide the director to a sacred moment through the directee. Also, she writes with such superiority on page 60 when she basically says, Who knows? It may even happen once in a while that the directee could expand the director's experience of God! I have found that the spiritual direction relationship is SO mutual, that the directee's experience of God is ALWAYS expanding the director's. There is always mutual growth; and that is what makes spiritual direction and supervision so exciting. It's clearly Spirit-driven, if we give Him the space and the worship. Also, Ruffing on page 170 completely discounts the importance of 'imitation' in spiritual direction. Again, my colleagues and I agree that the imitation of a directee for a director can be an incredibly powerful and vital experience of Christ in that person. It's not harmful transference if it's Christ-directed and leads to sanctification. One only need think of the Apostle and his urges that his readers imitate him as he imitates Christ.
As I flip through the book, I realize just how little I gleaned during my reading. It's a strange feat to make a book that is neither practical/applicable nor theoretical/academic. I don't know what the target audience is. Spiritual directors and students would do well to read something else. One book I found helpful that really was "beyond the beginnings" was Liz Hoare's book on the importance of the Bible in spiritual direction. That was both personal and scholarly, and I found it helpful in numerous ways.
Finally, I want to address Ruffing's strange attack on the Reformation's effect on women on page 134. She argues for the strength of the "Pre-Reformation" mystical traditions which give to God a kind of gender fluidity and allowed women mystics to experience greater mutuality with God. Ruffing claims that men also experienced greater freedom before the Reformation to explore the feminine dimensions of divinity, an example being Francis and "Lady Poverty" and the many forms that Mariolatry took in the Middle Ages. Ruffing seems to forget that it was Luther and the reformers who praised the institution of marriage, the blessings of healthy sexuality (including the aspects of mutual pleasuring), advocated for a vocational theology that raised the servant girl's religion to the level of the pope's (!), and actually got married. The Reformation's theology of marriage led to a rich and revitalized experience of love and sexuality in the Christian tradition. It made the mystical experiences of a very few (such as Teresa or Hadewijch) available to all through the accessibility of God's Word and the reality of vocation (now the beggar woman could read for herself that she is the "Bride of Christ").
Compared to the several other books I've read on spiritual direction, this one is perhaps the most detached and unfeeling, despite the fact that Ruffing is attempting to discuss deeply affective and personal, spiritual matters. She does so in a sort of dry, lecturer's way. What's odd is that this way also somehow manages to be non-academic at the same time, so it's neither personal and warm nor scholarly and rigorous. It's cold, detached, and general.
Compared to a book like Margaret Guenther's, anyone will immediately notice the differences: Guenther's book "The Art of Spiritual Direction" is inviting while still being crisp, clear, and well-organized. Guenther has a point to make and she makes it quite well. Ruffing, on the other hand, seems to have various "bugaboos" (e.g. a fear of love-mysticism in her circles, the damage the Reformation caused for women's spiritualities - I'll come back to this one, the ignorance that Christians have on mutuality with God, and, I suppose, the many wrong views Ruffing sees directors having with transference and counter-transference). Ruffing has no explanation of these bugaboos, as I call them, and I suspect that around 1999 these were the hot topics in SDI circles, but I don't know that for sure. In any case, Ruffing hardly explains why she goes off on these long tangents against these invisible, ignorant opponents who don't have the PhD in spirituality that she has.
Lest I forget, Ruffing also includes several of her opinions in the book which I and my colleagues flat-out reject. For example, on page 48 she makes a categorical statement to the effect that it is never appropriate for a director to "burden" a directee with his or her own spiritual problems. However, as I've seen, there may be instances when the directee evokes a response from the director, God opens up an opportunity for serious growth, the roles flip for a moment, and the Spirit leads the conversation to gently guide the director to a sacred moment through the directee. Also, she writes with such superiority on page 60 when she basically says, Who knows? It may even happen once in a while that the directee could expand the director's experience of God! I have found that the spiritual direction relationship is SO mutual, that the directee's experience of God is ALWAYS expanding the director's. There is always mutual growth; and that is what makes spiritual direction and supervision so exciting. It's clearly Spirit-driven, if we give Him the space and the worship. Also, Ruffing on page 170 completely discounts the importance of 'imitation' in spiritual direction. Again, my colleagues and I agree that the imitation of a directee for a director can be an incredibly powerful and vital experience of Christ in that person. It's not harmful transference if it's Christ-directed and leads to sanctification. One only need think of the Apostle and his urges that his readers imitate him as he imitates Christ.
As I flip through the book, I realize just how little I gleaned during my reading. It's a strange feat to make a book that is neither practical/applicable nor theoretical/academic. I don't know what the target audience is. Spiritual directors and students would do well to read something else. One book I found helpful that really was "beyond the beginnings" was Liz Hoare's book on the importance of the Bible in spiritual direction. That was both personal and scholarly, and I found it helpful in numerous ways.
Finally, I want to address Ruffing's strange attack on the Reformation's effect on women on page 134. She argues for the strength of the "Pre-Reformation" mystical traditions which give to God a kind of gender fluidity and allowed women mystics to experience greater mutuality with God. Ruffing claims that men also experienced greater freedom before the Reformation to explore the feminine dimensions of divinity, an example being Francis and "Lady Poverty" and the many forms that Mariolatry took in the Middle Ages. Ruffing seems to forget that it was Luther and the reformers who praised the institution of marriage, the blessings of healthy sexuality (including the aspects of mutual pleasuring), advocated for a vocational theology that raised the servant girl's religion to the level of the pope's (!), and actually got married. The Reformation's theology of marriage led to a rich and revitalized experience of love and sexuality in the Christian tradition. It made the mystical experiences of a very few (such as Teresa or Hadewijch) available to all through the accessibility of God's Word and the reality of vocation (now the beggar woman could read for herself that she is the "Bride of Christ").
March 20, 2011
This is the last required reading for the Mercy Center Spiritual Direction Program in Burlingame California. I know that it is full of pithy insight, great theological discussion, super topics and examples of things that come up in direction. That being said, I'm not sure I can absorb one more bit of information. It's not a particularly engaging book. There are other books I would recommend before I recommended this one. Read, "Sacred is the Call," edited by Suzanne Buckley or the excellent "A Sacred Voice is Calling," by Neafsey. Be a director for awhile and then read this book.
October 10, 2018
More outdated than there are gems. Better books out there including older ones that are classic and timeless.
September 23, 2019
Ruffing would have been much better to write a book with the intention of developing a sense of love mysticism, which is what, in essence she has really done.
While most of the book can comfortably fit within mainstream Christian tradition (though not necessarily universally helpful to those in said tradition) her chapters on love mysticism seem to contradict many of the points she already makes. On one hand, we are called to be open to the spiritual tradition and language used by directees while on the other we are called to change our own mindsets to accept love mysticism in fully, regardless of whether this particular tradition is helpful to director or directee alike.
However, the chapter on Transference was one of the most helpful pieces I’ve read on the subject from a Pastoral standpoint.
While most of the book can comfortably fit within mainstream Christian tradition (though not necessarily universally helpful to those in said tradition) her chapters on love mysticism seem to contradict many of the points she already makes. On one hand, we are called to be open to the spiritual tradition and language used by directees while on the other we are called to change our own mindsets to accept love mysticism in fully, regardless of whether this particular tradition is helpful to director or directee alike.
However, the chapter on Transference was one of the most helpful pieces I’ve read on the subject from a Pastoral standpoint.
September 14, 2017
This is helpful reading for any director who has to discern between their own convictions and the need to allow others to see and understand differently. i imagine there could be a hundred topics added to this, but Ruffing did a great job of focusing on the underlying issue of respecting each one's journey.
December 31, 2020
This was not my favorite book for training, mainly because of the dense writing style and the way much of the content did seem beginner rather than “beyond the beginnings.” I did find the last few chapters more informative but wouldn’t recommend this book due to its lack of readability.
February 3, 2023
Useful topics as my direction practice expands - the nature of desire, mutuality with God, the unknowability of God, and issues of transference were the most helpful. I'll probably read this again in a year or so.
February 10, 2025
Good for spiritual directors and directees as they progress in their spiritual journey.
February 2, 2020
Writing style was difficult for me but content is so rich. This is the first book I've read about Spiritual Direction that tackles sexuality and gender issues.
February 26, 2018
Well written basics of both the ungirding principles of spiritual direction as well as well as basic practices
September 12, 2019
Ruffing provides great insight into the ongoing work spiritual direction offers as we seek to help others draw closer to God. I found her insights on the subconscious phenomenon known as resistance that almost everyone naturally experiences at one time or another in response to God’s relentless pursuit of intimacy with His children.
For example:
“...Most of us are engaged in endlessly inventive evasion not only of the implications of spiritual experience, but often, and more confusingly, of the experiences of God that we claim to desire. God gently lures us into intimacy and unexpectedly explodes us into mystery. Such encounters with mystery are simply too much for most of us until our capacity expands and our tolerance increases over the course of our spiritual development. Most of us lose our nerve somewhere between the lure and the explosion. As T. S. Eliot wrote in the Four Quartets, “...human kind / Cannot bear very much reality.” Paul Tillich put it slightly differently and sympathetically: “If you’ve never run away from your God, I wonder who your God is.” Evasion is directly related to both the closeness of God’s approach to us and to our instinctive withdrawal from God’s presence. Experiences of God as mystery evoke awe, even fear, in the face of the numinous and uncontrollable otherness of God.”
For example:
“...Most of us are engaged in endlessly inventive evasion not only of the implications of spiritual experience, but often, and more confusingly, of the experiences of God that we claim to desire. God gently lures us into intimacy and unexpectedly explodes us into mystery. Such encounters with mystery are simply too much for most of us until our capacity expands and our tolerance increases over the course of our spiritual development. Most of us lose our nerve somewhere between the lure and the explosion. As T. S. Eliot wrote in the Four Quartets, “...human kind / Cannot bear very much reality.” Paul Tillich put it slightly differently and sympathetically: “If you’ve never run away from your God, I wonder who your God is.” Evasion is directly related to both the closeness of God’s approach to us and to our instinctive withdrawal from God’s presence. Experiences of God as mystery evoke awe, even fear, in the face of the numinous and uncontrollable otherness of God.”
December 4, 2014
Not altogether an easy read, but well worth the effort for the issues raised. The book is like a collection of articles in that it deals with 4 different topics (desire & resistance, theological themes, mysticism, transference & countertransference) and could be read comfortably in 4 sections, each of which could stand alone. For instance, if you wanted to explore resistance in spiritual direction then chapter two would be a good starting point. It would be better to read ithis book with some experience of accompanying others behind you, otherwise some of the themes might seem quite foreign.
August 31, 2013
I read this one for class. I would say it raised more questions than it answered, but I'm not sure if that's because I'm new to spiritual direction or because I don't have a background in Catholicism or Christian mysticism.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews