I hope to have shown over the past two entries that pragmatic faith is not something beyond our grasp; that it is not something ridiculous or impossible. But now that we have seen that such a thing is possible, another problem has reared its ugly head: can pragmatic thought (specifically the idea of recontextualization) account for transcendent spirituality like the kind found in Christianity? So now we come to the brief conclusion of our three part series. 

Dealing with the problem

Sometimes the easiest way through a difficult problem is to ask the simplest question. When encountered with the thought that something like recontextualization necessarily eliminates the possibility of spirituality, the best question to ask is: why? Why does recontextualization have to deny spirituality? Though it might seem on the surface that recontextualization denies these things, those reactions usually amount to little more than personal taste. Essentially, is the denial of spirituality a critical aspect of the idea itself, or something born out of the orignial authors bias and attached to the idea? 

The answer in experience

To counter any suggestion that recontextualization denies spirituality, the believer can respond by saying that experience has allowed him access to this transcendent thing (spirituality) that he was unable to access before. What was originally intended (new beliefs ‘woven’ through experience) to block out any notion of spirituality has just worked in our favor–if spirituality is something experienced, then recontextualization can say nothing against it.