'This Lenten devotional is unlike any I've seen. It's not about giving up something trivial for a few weeks. It's about getting free of the "false self" that alienates us from ourselves, each other, and God. Nobody understood that transformation better than Thomas Merton - and nobody understands Merton better than Robert Inchausti.'Parker J. Palmer, writer, speaker and author of On the Brink of EverythingThe Way of Thomas Merton guides you through the major...

Considers the legacy of Thomas Merton and his relevance for contemporary times.With the publication of The Seven Storey Mountain in 1948, Thomas Merton became a bestselling author, writing about spiritual contemplation in a modern context. Although Merton (1915–1968) lived as a Trappist monk, he advocated a spiritual life that was not a retreat from the world, but an alternative to it, particularly to the deadening materialism and spiritual vacuity of the ...

An exploration of Beat spirituality--seen through excerpts from the writings of the seminal writers of Beat Generation themselves.It’s been said that Jack Kerouac made it cool to be a thinking person seeking a spiritual experience. And there is no doubt that the writers he knew and inspired—iconic figures like Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, Gary Snyder, and Michael McClure—were thinkers seeking exactly that. In this re-claiming of their vision, Robert Inchau...

Thomas Merton’s groundbreaking last major work—a provocative and pivotal look into contemplation and the true meaning of spirituality“True contemplation is not a psychological trick but a theological grace."—Thomas MertonRevised directly before his untimely death and released in full for the first time ever, Merton’s book on contemplation has captivated readers for decades. In it, Merton takes us down a different spiritual journey than his ...

As Matthew Fox notes when an aging Albert Einstein was asked if he had any regrets he replied I wish I had read more of the mystics earlier in my life. The 365 writings in Christian Mystics represent a wide-ranging sampling of these readings for modern-day seekers of all faiths or no faith. Fox is uniquely qualified to comment on these profound sometimes startling often denounced insights. In 1998 this longtime member of the Dominican Order was silenced by Cardinal Ratzinger now Pope Bened...

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...

An essential collection of Stephen Batchelor’s most probing and important work on secular Buddhism As the practice of mindfulness permeates mainstream Western culture, more and more people are engaging in a traditional form of Buddhist meditation. However, many of these people have little interest in the religious aspects of Buddhism, and the practice occurs within secular contexts such as hospitals, schools, and the workplace. Is it possible to recover from the Buddhist t...

Logos Bookstore Association AwardDallas Willard Center Book Award FinalistForeword INDIES Book of the Year Awards FinalistWorld Magazine's Best BooksAldersgate Prize by the John Wesley Honors College at Indiana Wesleyan UniversityECPA Top Shelf Book Cover AwardOutreach Magazine Resource of the YearMissio Alliance Essential Reading ListShusaku Endo's novel Silence, first published i...

"Delightful . . . a superb guide to the ecological themes of Merton's life and writings." ? The Christian CenturyNature was always vital in Thomas Merton's life, from the long hours he spent as a child watching his father paint landscapes in the fresh air, to his final years of solitude in the hermitage at Our Lady of Gethsemani, where he contemplated and wrote about the beauty of his surroundings. Throughout his life, Merton's study of the natural world sh...

In this dynamic and utterly novel presentation, David Loy explores the fascinating proposition that the stories we tell—about what is and is not possible, about ourselves, about right and wrong, life and death, about the world and everything in it—become the very building blocks of our experience and of reality itself. Loy uses an intriguing mixture of quotations from familiar and less-familiar sources and brief stand-alone micro-essays, engaging the reader in challenging and illuminating ...

Though he lived in the thirteenth century, Meister Eckhart’s deeply ecumenical teachings were in many ways modern. He taught about what we call ecology, championed artistic creativity, and advocated for social, economic, and gender justice. All these elements have inspired spiritual maverick Matthew Fox and influenced his Creation Spirituality. Here, Fox creates metaphorical meetings between Eckhart and Teilhard de Chardin, Thich Nhat Hanh, Carl Jung, Black Elk, Rumi, Adrienne Rich, and ot...

This gem-like, concise anthology provides thoughtful people with both an introduction to the paranormal and a reason to take a fresh look at it.Nostradamus...channeling...Atlantis...divination. Most serious people consider such topics nonsense. But look again. Writing with intellectual verve and a deeply critical mind, religious thinker Richard Smoley explores and reconsiders the supernatural in history and today.We are often conditioned to think of the Judeo-Christian trad...