In the New Testament, the word "spiritual" almost always refers to the kind of life that Christians possess because the Holy Spirit indwells and influences them. "Christian spirituality," then, is life lived by, in, and through God's Spirit.
Today, "spirituality" is a particular way of approaching and experiencing life-what results when a particular set of beliefs and principles and emphases contact life's nitty-gritty. In this sense of "spirituality," there are Zen Buddhist as well as Shinto "spiritualities"; and different Christian traditions-Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Calvinist, Methodist, among others-each has its own "spirituality," arising from its own particular "take" on Christian faith and life.
Veith's very fine little book rehearses the "spirituality" of historic Lutheranism. He wants to show that what he discovered there, after his own pilgrimage through several other non-Christian and Christian spiritualities, is a "spiritual framework big enough to embrace the whole range of human existence, a realistic spirituality," one "that is not a negation of the physical world or ordinary life, but one that transfigures them." This spirituality is particularly centered on Jesus Christ's cross. It is evangelical because it focuses on the Gospel, "the good news that Christ, through His death and resurrection, has won forgiveness for sinful human beings and offers salvation as a free gift." Starting from the conviction that "all human effort to reach God is futile," it takes true spirituality to have to do first and foremostly with "recognizing God's work-what He accomplished on the cross and what He continues to accomplish in people's lives through the Holy Spirit." So Veith's book is about "spirituality" in both of its senses.
There are chapters or sections on the Lutheran distinction between law and gospel, the word of God as God's addressing human beings through human language, the hiddenness of God in Christ's work on the cross as well as in our own suffering, the sanctification of ordinary life through the concept of vocation, the notion that Christians live in two kingdoms-one secular, one sacred, but both under God's rule-and Lutheran worship. Each clearly and succinctly summarizes part of what makes the Lutheran way of life a distinct "spirituality."
Aimed at non-Lutherans, this book enables us outsiders to avail ourselves of the spiritual insights found therein. There are, as Veith says, "problems and distortions" in each Christian tradition, and places where Christians in different traditions will disagree. For instance, I found Veith's remarks on sanctification to be quite dissatisfying, as I often find such Lutheran remarks to be-that is why I am not a Lutheran but a Calvinist! Yet, overall, this book is rich, warm food for those who hunger for true spirituality.
