Anglican Spiritual Patrimony VI

Spiritual direction is itself central to English spirituality, not only as pastoral practice but also as the source and inspiration of ascetical theology. The English system has developed through the centuries, not out of monastic order but from empirical guidance of individual people. The Celtic penitential discipline was intensely personal and strictly private; St Anselm was a renowned spiritual guide; all the fourteenth-century writings were addressed to, or compiled by, anchorites or anchoresses; they are personal instructions, not monastic rules. Caroline ascetical and moral theology largely arose through the guidance of individuals, or through the private discussion of sermons by small groups.

If the phrase "spiritual direction" has come to acquire an authoritarian, Counter-Reformation taint, it is due to the confusion between their dogmatic and juridical, and our empirical, methods.

These six characteristics, and their numerous corollaries, combine to form an English school of spirituality of incalculable worth to Christendom.

Martin Thornton, 1915-1986