Book Review: Lindholm, J. (2014) . The quest for meaning and wholeness: Spiritual and religious connections in the lives of college faculty.
Purpose: The author had been compelled by a shared sense that the relative amount of attention that colleges and universities devote to the “inner” and “outer” aspects of students’ and faculty members’ lives and well-being is largely out of balance. For this book, the author was not focusing on personal judgements about how students or faculty define their spirituality , the role (or lack thereof) of spirituality and religion in their lives, or the particular meaning they make of their lives. Rather, the author was motivated to learn how these dimensions of students’ and faculty members’ lives contribute …show more content…
The spirituality is a journey of “searching meaning and purpose of existence and seeking beauty in one 's life,developing a meaningful philosophy of life, becoming a more loving person, attaining inner harmony, and attaining wisdom” (p69). Spiritual quest is significant for faculty’s development at the personal and professional levels because “ When work is meaningful to them, people tend to be more creative, productive, committed, and collegial ‘(P74) . Using a nine-item spiritual quest scale to measure reflects an engagement in the search for meaning and purpose in life as grounded in several key aspirations. Faculty members ' spiritual identities are highly varied. About three fourth are at least moderately engaged in existential pursuits. Women more likely than men to register as high scores on the spiritual quest measure, africans are more likely than their colleagues. Older faculty, LGBT and politically conservative are more inclined to spiritual quest. Across the disciplines, humanities and fine arts faculty tend to be the most quest orientated. Engineering, the physical sciences, and the biological sciences have the largest proportion of low spiritual quest
Purpose: The author had been compelled by a shared sense that the relative amount of attention that colleges and universities devote to the “inner” and “outer” aspects of students’ and faculty members’ lives and well-being is largely out of balance. For this book, the author was not focusing on personal judgements about how students or faculty define their spirituality , the role (or lack thereof) of spirituality and religion in their lives, or the particular meaning they make of their lives. Rather, the author was motivated to learn how these dimensions of students’ and faculty members’ lives contribute …show more content…
The spirituality is a journey of “searching meaning and purpose of existence and seeking beauty in one 's life,developing a meaningful philosophy of life, becoming a more loving person, attaining inner harmony, and attaining wisdom” (p69). Spiritual quest is significant for faculty’s development at the personal and professional levels because “ When work is meaningful to them, people tend to be more creative, productive, committed, and collegial ‘(P74) . Using a nine-item spiritual quest scale to measure reflects an engagement in the search for meaning and purpose in life as grounded in several key aspirations. Faculty members ' spiritual identities are highly varied. About three fourth are at least moderately engaged in existential pursuits. Women more likely than men to register as high scores on the spiritual quest measure, africans are more likely than their colleagues. Older faculty, LGBT and politically conservative are more inclined to spiritual quest. Across the disciplines, humanities and fine arts faculty tend to be the most quest orientated. Engineering, the physical sciences, and the biological sciences have the largest proportion of low spiritual quest