Spiritual Formation

A Personal Journey of Embodiment by Stacia Guzzo

by Feminism and Religion

originally published on the Feminism and Religion Project.

My struggle and fascination with the subject of embodiment began at a young age. Perhaps my first sense of the nuances... more My struggle and fascination with the subject of embodiment began at a young age. Perhaps my first sense of the nuances of being an embodied being began with the realization that my younger brother was considered “different” as a result of being born microcephalic (having an abnormally small head and brain) and therefore having lifelong developmental delay. I remember wondering: How is it that the body can work so perfectly sometimes and yet have so many complications other times? What had happened to make his development so starkly contrast my own? And why can’t it fix itself?

As a high school student, my struggle manifested in the forms of anorexia and bulimia. The anorexia came first, and began almost as if a switch had been thrown. I dieted severely and dropped 60 pounds in a little under 3 months, in the end making it a goal to lose a pound a day. My cheeks sunk in. I slept through lunch. I found little occasion to laugh. And still I could not see an ounce of beauty or satisfaction when I looked at my body. I poked at the jutting bones of my pelvis and wished my bones were smaller. I saw my body as a devious enemy. During my junior year, I became bulimic as a means of coping with increasing pressures by family and friends to eat.

Finally during my senior year in high school, everything came to a head. After beginning to consistently throw up blood, I secretly arranged a meeting with my pediatrician. She made me give her my word that I would put an end to my bulimia…and just as abruptly as I began, I stopped, true to my word.

In my freshman year of college I was sexually assaulted by a member of our social group. I told few people and silently cursed my femininity. College was a time when I neither loved nor hated my body; rather, I simply disconnected from it.

Continue reading: http://feminismandreligion.com/2012/01/10/a-personal-journey-of-embodiment-by-stacia-guzzo/#more-2112

Theological education on the web: A case study in formation for ministry

by Susan Lochrie Graham

Teaching Theology and Religion, 2002, 5(4): 228-236. A short version of this article is available as a Research Brief for the Research Centre for the Learning Society, School of Education, University of Exeter. Available as a pdf file on this site.

Fisler, J., Agati, H. A., Chance, S. M., Donahue, A. E., Donahue, G. A., Eickhoff, E. J., Gastler, S. E., Lowder, J. C. & Foubert, J.D. (2009). Keeping (or losing) the faith: Reflections on spiritual struggles and resolution by college seniors, College Student Affairs Journal 27(2), 257-274.

by John Foubert

In this qualitative study, researchers examined how college seniors experienced and resolved spiritual struggles in... more In this qualitative study, researchers examined how college seniors experienced and resolved spiritual struggles in college. Results indicated that academic activities provided opportunities to question, learn, and grow spiritually. Although a variety of external factors influenced students' explorations of their spirituality, participants looked inward to resolve their struggles in deeply personal ways. Spiritual struggle was often manifested as a reexamination of students' pre-college values, an ongoing process for many students. Researchers identified four ways of describing students' state of resolution: (1) recommitting to an existing faith, (2) slightly readjusting their spiritual or religious values, (3) blending spiritual traditions, or (4) losing their faith.