The Fourth International Conference of the British Association for the Study of Spirituality, Can Spirituality Transform Our World? New frontiers in understanding and exploring contemporary spiritualities, was held at the Chancellor's Conference Centre, Manchester, UK; 23–26 May 2016.
Following three very successful conferences in 2010, 2012 and 2014 which explored the relationship of spirituality studies to aspects of contemporary society – ‘change’, ‘fragmentation’ and ‘challenge’ – the 2016 BASS conference took a new turn. Receiving the baton from the final keynote lecture at Cumberland Lodge in 2010 – in which Emerita Professor Ursula King challenged us to consider spirituality's transformative potential – the 2016 conference programme aimed to facilitate interdisciplinary exchange in addressing four critical questions:
‘Spiritual but not religious’: Encapsulating the mood or counter-cultural?
‘To be spiritual is to be happy’: Experienced truth or elaborate hoax?
The spirit of enquiry: Evidence-based or ways of knowing?
A rose by any other name? Spiritual care and practice in secular organisations.
Each theme was further explored in depth through the rich variety of 60 oral papers and seven 50-minute workshops. Rather than grouping papers along disciplinary lines, they were organised by sub-topic within the four themes of ‘Religion, spirituality and secularisation’; ‘Spirituality, health and wellbeing’; ‘Spirituality research, methodological questions and forms of knowledge’; and ‘Distinctiveness and appropriateness of spiritual care in secular organisations’; as well as those papers addressing the overarching conference theme of ‘Spirituality as transformative’. The result was some surprising synergies of approach and findings from quite different starting points, as well as the stimulation of new ways of looking at familiar questions. Together, speakers and participants brought a critical appreciation to the study of spirituality which provided both challenge and validation in a supportive environment – which can be hard for spirituality scholars to find in their day-to-day work settings.
From the ‘Welcome Reception’ through to the closing session, BASS 2016 was thought-provoking and enjoyable, with a convivial atmosphere as old friends caught up and new associations were made. Participants commented favourably on the opportunity to start the day with a Meditation, led by Arthur Hawes, and the special contribution this made. Ultimately, it is the participants who make a conference what it is and I am personally very appreciative of the eager engagement of the 92 BASS delegates from around the globe – the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, India, Malta, Ireland, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Italy and Germany, as well as England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. BASS welcomes the loyal and enthusiastic support of our international colleagues and we have been challenged by them to think further about how BASS as an organisation, and the biennial conference in particular, can best facilitate this opportunity for the development of spirituality studies around the globe. As we leave behind us the 2016 conference, however, what was achieved in our encounter with the potential of transformation is succinctly summarised in the very down-to-earth comment of this delegate: ‘Good papers, good chats, out of box thinking’.
I hope this brief report has whetted your appetite enough to put the next BASS conference in your diary: May 2018!
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Margaret Holloway
Margaret Holloway was BASS Conference Chair, 2016, and is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Hull, UK.