Studying Christian Spirituality proposes a framework to discover how spirituality can be understood beyond the conventional boundaries that religions have established.Its nine chapters discuss a wide variety of issues and questions, which include: definitions of spirituality; the impact of models of God; human-spiritual development; the importance of context; historical criticism; anthropology; interpretation of texts and art; and examples of spiritual practice. David B. P...

This book provides a new introduction to the study of Christian spirituality, exploring it through the human sciences and ranging from philosophy and hermeneutics to psychology, history, sociology and anthropology.Systematic and progressive, it introduces the key approaches and shows how they relate to the understanding, study and practice of spirituality. Covering a vast amount of ground - from traditional themes such as images of God, spiritual direction and pilgrimage to more co...

Archbishop Romero and Spiritual Leadership in the Modern World presents a contemporary and integrated understanding of one of the most remarkable pastoral leaders of our time. This bishop, Oscar Romero of El Salvador, experienced deeply the overwhelming sufferings of the Salvadoran people, as well as those within himself. He cried out in vain to Presidents Carter and Reagan, “no more arms to El Salvador,” but his pleas were not heard at that time. Knowing that he would soon be murdered, Ro...

Being human is a lifelong journey of becoming. This journey defines our humanity, for it is a journey toward our source and our fulfillment, described in Christian theology as union with God. If we remain open to God as our sense of self awakens, we experience a deeper consciousness of being in him. The self that emerges during this process is larger, more enlightened, and whole.David Benner, who has spent thirty-five years integrating psychology and spirituality, presents psycholo...

It has been suggested that 'spirituality' has become a word that 'can define an era'. Why? Because paradoxically, alongside a decline in traditional religious affiliations, the growing interest in spirituality and the use of the word in a variety of contexts is a striking aspect of contemporary western cultures. Indeed, spirituality is sometimes contrasted attractively with religion, although this is problematic and implies that religion is essentially dogma, moralism, institutions, buildi...

A practicing psychologist explores the church's role in "soul care," advocating a counseling method that anchors modern therapy in timeless biblical principles.

• Fox marries mysticism with social justice, leading the way toward a gentler and more ecological spirituality and an acceptance of our interdependence• A road map to fulfillment for the coming centuryIn A Spirituality Named Compassion, Matthew Fox, the popular and controversial author, establishes a spirituality for the future that promises personal, social, and global healing. Using his own experiences with the pain and lifestyle changes that resulted from an acc...

Based on decades of work, travel, and experience, Rohr, a Franciscan brother and best-selling author, unearths the complexities of male spiritual maturation and helps us to understand the importance of male initiation rights in both culture and the church.

From handshakes and toasts to chant and genuflection ritual pervades our social interactions and religious practices. Still few of us could identify all of our daily and festal ritual behaviors much less explain them to an outsider. Similarly because of the variety of activities that qualify as ritual and their many contradictory yet in many ways equally legitimate interpretations ritual seems to elude any systematic historical and comparative scrutiny. In this book Catherine Bell offers a...

"There are no unsacred places," the poet Wendell Berry has written. "There are only sacred places and desecrated places." What might it mean to behold the world with such depth and feeling that it is no longer possible to imagine it as something separate from ourselves, or to live without regard for its well-being? To understand the work of seeing things as an utterly involving moral and spiritual act? Such questions have long occupied the center of contemplative spiritual traditions. In

The Cambridge Companion to Religious Studies is both informative and provocative, introducing readers to key debates in the contemporary study of religion and suggesting future research possibilities. A group of distinguished scholars takes up some of the most pressing theoretical questions in the field. What is a 'religious tradition'? How are religious texts read? What takes place when a religious practitioner stands before a representation of gods or goddesses, ghosts, ancestors, saints...

In The Future of Religion and the Religion of the Future, Theodore John Rivers explores the changing relationship between technology and religion. Rivers draws upon his expertise in the fields of medieval and religious history to discuss how the promotion of Christianity and monasticism in the Middle Ages began a process that has lent religious undertones to the way in which we interact with modern technology. Rivers ultimately suggests that the growing presence of technology make...