NEW BOOKS Spirituality for Sex and the Sacred Hot Topics: |
Visions of Daniel
Author Daniel A. Helminiak, STL, PhD, PhD, LPC |
Saint Vincent Seminary,1964
Rome, Christmas, 1967
Boston College, spring, 1979
Atlanta, fall, 2004
|
Welcome to my website. I am Daniel Helminiak, and like my namesake, the biblical figure, I have a vision. My burning concern is spirituality in a pluralistic and secularized world. How could the human family today be one? Whereas religions used to hold communities together, religion now We need to forge a core spirituality that would ground a global community. We need to discern a set of essential beliefs and values that could be common to all cultures and religions. Such a spirituality could only be based on what we all have in common—our humanity. In the human heart and soul we must nurture a spirit that reaches up to the heavens. Thus, there could be common cause among religious and non-religious folk alike, among those who believe in God and those who are non-theist. The spirituality we need must be open to every woman and man of goodwill on the planet. Such a core spirituality is my vision. Serendipitously, unexpectedly, providentially, my shifting life-course prepared me for such a vision. My Oh, the polar tensions in my life experience! I grew up in an intensely devout Polish Catholic community in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Having entered seminary at a tender age of seventeen, I was ordained in Rome, where I earned a Vatican license to teach theology (STL: Sacrae Theologiae Licencia = License in Sacred Theology), and I ministered as a Catholic priest. Preparing to teach in seminary, I earned a PhD in Systematic Theology at Andover Newton Theological School and Boston College. There I was teaching assistant to Bernard Lonergan (d. 1984), whom Time magazine styled as the Thomas Aquinas of the 20th century. Aquinas is noted for reconciling the science and religion of his Unpredictable turns in my life have led me into a lion’s den of global, spiritual turmoil. Here I stand unperturbed, secure in the convictions of my heart and mind, prepared by a charmed life to address the big questions that challenge our world. I welcome you to my website. I invite you to share a spiritual quest with me. Here you may glimpse the vision of spirituality that I have developed and you may also have a personal vision of me—all VisionsOfDaniel.
Links to topics of interest on my web site: Is Abortion ethcially acceptable? Ken Wilber's Perennial Philosophy Roberto Assagioli and Psychosynthesis Ken Wilber: Response to Marquis, Holden, and Warren's criticism of Helminiak Don Browning's Religious Thought and the Modern Psychologies Helminiak's Response to Oliff & Hodges on the Bible and Homosexuality (PDF) Lawrence Crabb's Model of Integration (of biblical religion and psychology) Evangelical Intergration Project The Bible and Homosexuality Supposed ethical objections to homosexuality Treating Spiritual Issues in Secular Psychotherapy
Copyright 2008, All Rights Reserved. |
splinters our world. What used to be the solution has become our problem. 
own experience runs the gamut from the intense piety of a simple religious faith to the critical thinking of sophisticated secular science. In my own person I have held these extremes together. With religious faith undiminished, with personal integrity intact, I nonetheless propose a fully down-to-earth approach to spirituality, a hard-nosed insistence on evidence-based opinions even in matters spiritual. Still following Jesus, I hold that “by their fruits you will know them.”
day. Lonergan’s thought influences everything I do; it has provided the basis for my proposed core spirituality. Realizing I am gay, disillusioned with the institutional church, and unable to reconcile my integrity with Vatican expectations, I enrolled in The University of Texas at Austin, earned a PhD in Human Development, withdrew from active priestly ministry (the Vatican has never recognized this resignation: I remain a Catholic priest), and accepted a teaching position. I am now a full Professor in the humanistic and transpersonal Department of Psychology at the University of West Georgia, near Atlanta, where I live. I am also trained as a psychotherapist—a Fellow of the American Association of Pastoral Counselors and a Licensed Professional Counselor in Georgia. My professional commitments themselves force me to address the spiritual questions that unnerve our world. In a virtually unheard-of convergence of elements, I teach spirituality as a psychology professor in a state university. Besides, my book,