Fascinating article here on the World's 100 most spiritually powerful people. They define spiritual power as the spiritually most influential living people, and interestingly there are no Christians in the top 10. Nelson Mandela is there at no 19 and the Pope at no 34. I think that it's an interesting example of the much trumpeted separation of religion and spirituality, however it is also interesting to recognise that there is a significant amount of power in this context.
I also find it interesting that 76% of the list in male. Much of my thinking and reading around contemporary spirituality has note the rise of feminist spirituality within this realm and yet her 76% of the leading figures are male with the average age of them being 67. I wonder how this compares with a list if 100 most influential Christians on the planet? My suspicion would be that there is a higher male percentage in Christianity but I am still rather surprised at the lack of balance in this list.
When you notice that the Pope is at #34, Mandela at #19 and Oprah at #8 you *know* that the definition of "spiritual power" is somewhat esoteric. Surely someone's having a giraffe...
Posted by: Paul Roberts | March 14, 2011 at 08:42 PM