Book review: Mulholland’s ‘Road Map for Spiritual Formation’ means growing one’s personal wholeness and living for others
By Dr. Marivir Montebon
The book Invitation to a Journey: A Road Map for Spiritual Formation by M. Robert Mulholland Jr. offers a new twist, or the radical mind shift that our spirituality is not an add-on. “It is the essence of our being. We are spiritual beings whose emotions, psychology, body, and mind are the incarnation of our spiritual life in the world,” as Ruth Haley Barton noted. [2]
In this book, Mulholland (1936-2015) sums up four hallmarks of spiritual formation: that it is a process of being formed in the image of Christ for the sake of others. [1] Individual growth towards wholeness is an integral part of living for the sake of others.
He was emeritus professor of New Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky. He wrote several illuminating books such as ‘Shaped by the Word’ and ‘The Deeper Journey.’
Mulholland’s gentle book of inspiration for spiritual formation.
M. Robert Mulholland, Jr.: Integrated psychology with spirituality in modern-day USA.
This work of his was particularly praised by the Christian Counseling Today as “a gem.” The Evangelical Journal meanwhile said, “You will not be disappointed with this already very popular book.”
Reflections and Critical Review
Mulholland had been keen and sensitive of the highly individualistic culture of America and the post-modern world as wrought with brokenness. Instant gratification, lack of patience and compassion, and being dreadfully self-centered and selfish all lead to brokenness, he noted.
The deep issue of control and self-reliance have resulted in anxiety and frustration among many people from all ages and walks of life.
Mulholland wrote, and I couldn’t agree more: “One of the underlying realities behind the epidemic of suicide among adolescents and senior citizens is that we are a culture which values people primarily for what they do. A person’s value, meaning, and purpose reside in the nature of their work.”[3] People are judged to be successful or worthless based on their work’s output of money or power.
Mulholland said that there must be a ‘great reversal’ of the self which is blindly subscribing to the informational-functional orientation of post modern-day culture. Instead, individuals must be awakened to choose ‘to being formed by God” thus, spiritual formation.
He additionally noted the brokenness of the biblical order of ‘being and doing’ among people. “We live in a culture that has reversed the biblical order of being and doing, which are integrally related.”[4]
What I found difficult to actualize is Mulholland’s prescription on balancing the paradox of “working out your own salvation and waiting for God’s grace to do it and make it happen.” [5]
In a like manner, having a genuine spiritual discipline of loving obedience offered to God with no strings attached [6] is also almost next to impossible.
How do I accomplish this in the here and now? Through the discipline of silence, solitude, and prayer, Mulholland wrote that one will be able to do a great cultural and personal reversal. I think this process begins with one’s humility. No emptying of oneself and listening to one’s silence and to God’s words could begin without humility.
By constant and consistent practice of silence, I believe that we could begin to let go of our manipulative control and in solitude, we face up the depths of our being alone. And ultimately in prayer: the final dynamic of the classical spiritual disciplines (that is in relation with God), we offer our brokenness and manipulative selves to God’s grace to work in our lives.[7]
Mulholland outlined the spiritual journey of awakening, purgation, illumination, and union as flowing on the distinct personalities of people.[8] He melded psychology with spiritual formation.
“Our spiritual formation comes within a corporate and social context. Our social growth toward wholeness in Christ for the sake of others within the body of Christ, that we might nurture one another into the wholeness of Christ. Our growth toward wholeness is also for the sake of others beyond the body of Christ, that the redeeming, healing, transforming love of God may be made known in a broken and hurting world.”[9]
I found Mulholland’s classification of personalities: introvert, extravert, sensory, intuitive, thinking, feeling, perceiving, and judging as dangerous and unreliable because it tends to label and put people in a personality box. Personalities are not static. They could change in the face of a variety of situations.
Psychology, as a social science, is not set on stone.
For example, in a situation where I am assigned to do a story coverage in a prison camp, I could consciously be introvert, sensory, thinking, feeling, and perceiving all at once, because these qualities are needed in that situation. In another case, I could be extravert, intuitive, feeling, and judging when interviewing somebody who is bravely stepping up to file legal charges against the person who raped her.
It may, perhaps, be important for the author to emphasize that this personality classification is just a tool for understanding people in each place and time (situation). And even within a community church or organization, fluid personality traits could be matched and complement each other - depending on circumstances that are being addressed or solved.
I am merely pointing out that personality traits emerge in relation to the other and in context to a given situation.
This ‘corporate spirituality’ concept is a breakthrough by Mulholland. He integrated psychology and spiritual formation for the fullness of human beings, as part of the body of Christ which are distinct but must function in synch and harmony.
It was reassuring that Mulholland made a qualifying statement of the complementarity of psychology and spiritual formation and not neither is the substitute for the other.
And if I may add, I found psychology exciting (because it’s about self-awareness) but too limited to respond to behavioral problems of individuals. It cordons itself with theories of personality and human behavior paradigms, that when applied, individuals will just go around their personal and social issues, rooting out causes, but not really resolving anything.
This was the reason why I never sustained my interest in practicing psychology although it was my bachelor’s degree. I thought it just labeled persons so much and would not even go to the spiritual dimension of personality to facilitate healing.
With Mulholland’s concept of integration, a new dimension of healing and wholesomeness is introduced using the spiritual realm. Catholic theologian and psychologist Benedict Groeschel describes mature faith as a “decline of anxiety and increase of peace.”[10]
Mulholland also reminded us to be consistent in our spiritual journey towards wholeness which requires great concern for others. This for me is the antidote to self-centeredness which leads to greed and ultimate emptiness.
A major learning for me is Mulholland’s emphasis on Biblical tension. “Attempting to worship God while closing one’s eyes to dehumanizing injustices in the social, political, and economic realms – or worse, while engaging in practices that contribute to injustice – is regularly denounced as totally unacceptable. Iniquity joined with solemn assembly is an abomination to God.”[11]
Additionally, Mulholland wrote that “the New Testament regularly conjoins love for God with love for one’s neighbor and indicates that the godliness that is pure and faultless is to look after marginalized and powerless people.[12]
This, he said, constitutes social spirituality.
Mulholland concluded that “We are being formed in the image of Christ for the sake of others within the body of Christ and for the sake of others outside the body of Christ. Corporate spirituality and social spirituality are inseparable elements of the wholeness of our journey in faith. [13]
The end game of the spiritual journey, he wrote, is the “radical trust in and abandonment to God.” [14]As the movie Frozen theme song goes, ‘let it go’…and let God.
Conclusion
This book’s greatest contribution to the enlightenment and inspiration for all is its integration of psychology and spiritual formation. It looks at the personality dynamics in relation to group and community dynamics.
It is truly a holistic approach to one’s spiritual journey, where the awakening begins with the individual while the practice of spiritual disciplines, especially prayer and social care, are done as a community of faithful building each other up.
Mulholland inspires that amid a larger harsh world, communities of faith can begin to reestablish their concentric environments of faith, authenticity, and true love for each other. #
(This book review and reflection was written on October 13, 2021 for my Spiritual Formation & Integration course at the HJI Graduate School for Peace & Public Leadership in Manhattan.)
[1] Mulholland, M. Robert. 2016. Invitation to a Journey: A Road Map for Spiritual Formation. Illinois: InterVarsity Press.
[2] Barton, p. 16
[3] Mulholland, p. 35
[4] Mulholland, p. 36
[5] Mulholland, p. 120
[6] Mulholland, p. 151
[7] Mulholland, p. 122
[8] Mulholland, p. 89
[9] Mulholland, p. 165
[10] Mulholland, p. 99
[11] Mulholland, p. 185
[12] Mulholland, p. 185
[13] Mulholland, p. 193
[14] Mulholland, p. 117
