Defining Spirituality: Critical Implications for the Practice and Research of Educational Leadership

Abstract

This essay problematizes the current discourses on spirituality and leadership, particularly in terms of how spirituality is defined. To this end, the authors provide a brief overview of the different definitions of spirituality as explicated in the literature on spirituality and leadership, identify the underlying epistemologies of these definitions, and discuss why epistemology matters when thinking about spirituality and leadership. Additionally, the authors outline how an “endarkened feminist epistemology” (Dillard, 2000) can assist our thinking about spirituality and leadership, and advance not a definition per se but perspectives to consider when teaching and conducting research on or about spirituality and leadership, and when practicing leadership that takes into account social justice.