Spiritual Journal Keeping: An Ethnographic Study of Content, Materials, Practice, and Structure

Abstract

This thesis reports the findings of an exploratory, ethnographic study of the spiritual journal keeping practices of Catholic university students at the 'Harbour House,' a Catholic student centre and parish operating on the campus of a large, Canadian university. Guided by the question,'How and why do Catholic students keep journals to document their spiritual lives?' it examines journal keeping in the context of Catholic spirituality, the relationships students have with their journals as spiritual documents, and the representations of information found in spiritual journals. Findings are organized under the themes of Content, Materials, Practice, and Structure, and demonstrate that spiritual journal keeping is a deeply personal activity that involves a variety of unique and individualized information practices and behaviours, developed and used in order to better navigate a vast and mysterious spiritual path, and to work towards spiritual growth.