RT Article
T1 Bonhoeffer and Bowen Theory: A Theological Anthropology of the Collective-Person and its Implications for Spiritual Formation
JF Journal of spiritual formation & soul care
VO 13
IS 2
SP 176
OP 192
A1 Rios, Jeremy M.
LA English
YR 2020
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1742024157
AB Accounts of spiritual formation which depend overmuch on individualism are likely distorted by that individualism, and this article argues that an account of collective-personhood can provide a necessary corrective to this anthropological distortion. The article begins by diagnosing the problem of individualism in formation, utilizing Charles Taylor’s Sources of the Self, and critiquing several common practices of spiritual formation. Following this, we consider Bonhoeffer’s theological vision for the collective-person from his first book, Sanctorum Communio. Next, we examine Murray Bowen’s Family Systems Theory to help us envision, from a social scientific perspective, how such a collective-personhood might look. The article concludes with a provisional model for spiritual formation of collective-persons.
K1 Charles Taylor
K1 Dietrich Bonhoeffer
K1 Individualism
K1 Theological Anthropology
K1 Bowen family systems theory
K1 collective-personhood
DO 10.1177/1939790920915700