Individual representatives of each of these types always have a powerful
religio-spiritual story to tell throughout the term. I try to honor their narratives
as respectfully as I can in every class that I teach. I feel privileged that I am
able to spend 15 intense weeks each semester with such stimulating people.
Each of these seekers demonstrates in every class meeting that the search
for a spirituality of teaching and living is never-ending and persistent, even
though at times it might exist just below the surface. This search for meaning
also shows that it is virtually impossible for any analyst, whether Roof,
Wolfe, or myself, to adequately capture the complexities and nuances of the
distinct religio-spiritual narratives in any easy, catch-all way. Thus, it is my
double intention in offering my course to try to maintain the wonderful
distinctiveness of teachers’ religio-spiritual views (and to encourage them
to recognize the uniqueness of religious views of their own students), while
at the same time to provide them (and, by implication, their own students)
with accurate and helpful narrative classifications by which to investigate
the rich variety of religious experiences among a number of middle-class
and working-class Americans today.