Spiritual Living

This autumn finds spiritual authors seemingly in a reactive mode, coming to terms with breaking news and worrisome trends. Some give witness, from widely varying perspectives, to ongoing national and global upheavals, economic, physical, and spiritual alike. Others respond to assaults on organized religion and concepts of a conventional or personal God, and yet another offers a different way out of the believer vs. atheist standoff. Two important books re-evaluate the legacy of Mother Teresa. Finally, not one but two authors bring spirituality down to earth with welcome touches of gracious good humor.

This annual (formerly Best Spiritual Writing) is always cause for rejoicing. Zaleski, coauthor with wife Carol Zaleski of the justly acclaimed Prayer: A History, has assembled a remarkable constellation of penetratingly thoughtful pieces that range from memoir to diatribe to travel essay to reflection on the Holocaust. The authors, e.g., Wendell Berry, Pico Iyer, Maxine Kumin, Robert Pinsky, Oliver Sacks, and John Updike, signify not only the quality of this year's anthology but the temper of our times. Highly recommended.

Episcopal priest Bourgeault (Centering Prayer) offers a fluent, persuasive reimagining of Christian understanding through the lens of the Eastern search for wisdom. Although the publisher is best known for Buddhist works, Bourgeault's innovative approach results in a sound and authentic Christianity that takes into account historical discoveries and Eastern traditions; her vision of Jesus centers around "self-emptying." With five "wisdom practices" for Christians. Highly recommended.

The latest in a decadeslong rehabilitation of the hermits who went to the deserts of Egypt in the third and fourth centuries C.E. not for self-discovery but to make a strenuous private journey toward blessedness. Neither a new complete translation of the ancient texts nor a simple anthology of sayings, Chryssavgis's (Understanding Orthodox Christianity Today) book instead offers a capsule history while addressing key issues, such as the desert environment itself. With consistent use of sayings and anecdotes to draw parallels useful to the modern reader; for most collections.

No Christian saint has ever been more mindful of method, or more aware of the everyday Christian's practical needs, than St. Ignatius of Loyola, whose Spiritual Exercises were a kind of plan book for closeness to God through imaginative identification, that is, "contemplation." Gallagher (The Discernment of Spirits) rightly points out that Ignatius's method can also be used for contemplation's reflective counterpart, meditation. This brief, practical book is bursting with examples and includes a comparative outline of contemplative practices. For most collections.

Owing largely to Tibet's precarious political situation and the charisma of the Dalai Lama, Tibetan Buddhism is popular in America, but its ancient texts are at times dauntingly obscure. Brief and remarkably effective, this book covers topics such as happiness, Karma, and meaningful living and dying. Many readers find any work by the Dalai Lama crucial, and this book in particular would be an excellent starting point for new seekers. For most collections.

Piver (The Hard Questions) brings together the collective insight of six noted teachers of meditation in the Buddhist tradition, including Sakyong Mipham on tranquility, Larry Rosenberg on vipassana, and Sharon Salzberg on loving-kindness. For all the variety and richness of experience these teachers offer, there is a remarkable unity in the simplicity and focus of their brief essays. Both Buddhists and non-Buddhists will find this introduction brief and clear. For most collections. (Accompanying CD not heard.)

Edelman (founder, Children's Defense Fund; The Measure of Our Success), educator and civil rights activist, here continues the themes of her earlier works. Framed as a series of open letters to dead, future, and hypothetical readers, the book asks all of us to consider what we have accomplished and what we have yet to accomplish for the next generations of children. Each letter-chapter is punctuated by prayer. Many readers, across race and faith lines, will find inspiration and food for thought. To coincide with the 35th anniversary of the Children's Defense Fund; for most collections.

Main (Yoga and the Path of the Urban Mystic), a yoga instructor who is gay and Christian, offers a sincere and wide-ranging book on Christian faith and homosexuality. He aspires to help others understand the convictions of conservative Christians who believe that homosexuality is condemned by Jesus. While Main cannot exhibit the moral authority of a John Shelby Spong or the learning of a John Boswell, he writes with an engaging clarity. With seven essays by others whose lives have been touched by religious intolerance, as well as lists of books, films, and organizations useful for thinking about homosexuality in the light of Christian faith. For most collections.

For better or worse, Mother Teresa of Calcutta has become the contemporary world's model of piety and sanctity, arguably more visible and accessible even than the Pope. So it was all the more unsettling when Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta (ed. by Brian Kolodiejchuk) revealed that her life was one of miserable struggle against "the dark night of the soul." Dominican Fr. Murray (The New Wine of Dominican Spirituality) offers a brief but sincere effort, from a devout Catholic standpoint, to make sense of the disturbing revelations. He admits that her perseverance in devout love of God and her fellow creatures in spite of her sense of abandonment is a "mystery" but suggests that the answer may lie in her letter to a friend: "Darkness may cover your soul...but be happy it is like that—for that too is the living proof that He has accepted you."

Poplin (education, Claremont Graduate Univ.), who spent two months in 1996 as a volunteer for Mother Teresa in Calcutta, combines a peek inside daily life at the Missionaries of Charity, an oblique account of Poplin's own movement from disbelief to piety, and a call for the integration of Christian perspectives in the modern academy. These important books, Murray's in particular, go far toward reclaiming Mother Teresa from the status of contemporary stereotype of religious commitment. For most collections.

Raymo (professor emeritus, Stonehill Coll.; Honey from Stone), a former science columnist, is one of the most articulate and subtly elegant contemporary writers on science and spirit. Here, he offers a new kind of spirituality in the light of empirical science, writing candidly of his Catholic upbringing and his current agnosticism, poised "in the portal between knowledge and mystery, between the commonplace and the divine." He draws on sources ranging from Sigrid Undest to Saint-Exupéry to depict a wonder-filled religious naturalism. In an environment characterized by the strident antireligionism of such writers as Christopher Hitchens, Raymo's eloquence should win many readers. Highly recommended.

Taylor (Piedmont Coll. & Columbia Theological Seminary; Leaving Church) has written a winning book that balances memoir and spiritual guide. Acknowledging that many see themselves not as "religious" but as "spiritual," Taylor offers a journey through forms of spirituality that can be found and celebrated outside conventional religious or churchly practice, e.g., walking, housework, and pronouncing blessings. As evinced by the success of her earlier work, she writes fluently, with an eye and ear for the striking image and memorable phrase. Many readers, especially the vast numbers of the "unchurched" but "spiritual," will find support and useful counsel. For most collections.

Fr. Williams (dean of Theology, Regina Apostolorum Pontifical Univ., Rome; Spiritual Progress) chooses the Christian conscience as his topic in a fearlessly Catholic interpretation of the issues surrounding moral perception and right action. Not surprisingly, he prefers Aristotelian models to Platonic ones and Catholic models to either of those. Williams's tone is frequently patronizing, and he seems incapable of recognizing certain forms of moral complexity. But his work, which is a good index of contemporary mainstream Catholic thought, will command attention because of his high-profile television appearances as Vatican analyst for CBS. For larger collections.

Darden (journalism & Black Gospel Music Restoration Project, Baylor Univ.; People Get Ready! A New History of Black Gospel Music) is senior editor of The Wittenberg Door, a beloved religious satire magazine, on- and offline. Not surprisingly, his latest book recommends laughter and humor as important and even essential components of Christian life. He strains to find humor within Christian scripture itself—instances of the words laugh and laughter are as likely to suggest cruel mockery—but he is on better ground when he advocates laughter as part of the joy of the fulfilled spiritual life. For most collections.

The contents deliver what the title promises and perhaps a bit more. A kind of Christian-market counterpart to Sam Martin's How To Mow the Lawn, but without irony and with a bit of Christian moral reflection thrown in, this book offers a number of step-by-step sidebars on topics ranging from how to do a swan dive to how to drive a stick shift. The authors, a therapist and a counselor, keep their eyes soundly on how to do all this while keeping in mind Christian lessons and morals about humility, respect, "authentic manhood," and "servant leadership." Many readers, male and female, will be genuinely amused and instructed. For most collections.

Psychologist Mangis (cofounder, Ctr. for Rural Psychology) theorizes that our sins bear a signature for us as much as our fingerprints. These signatures are a blend of temperament, culture, family, and gender. Mangis is interested not only in a fearless acknowledgment of sin that brings out true honesty in the face of God but also in the systemic change from within that reshapes both outward sinful behavior and our hearts. He includes exercises and a set of "Questions for Group Discussion." Rich in serious (but not solemn) insight and advice, this is for most collections.

That Schenck (rector, All Saints' Episcopal Church, Briarcliff Manor, NY) is a husband, father, and pet owner is at the heart of this array of brief, genial essays on the little lessons to be learned from such a life. Although they are not sermons, many of his observations on SUVs, children's art, and home repairs can feel like the sorts of modern instances used by contemporary preachers to liven up reflection on the scripture of the day. Schenck is careful not to stray far from the everyday and the amusing.

Orr-Ewing (European training director, Ravi Zacharias International Ministries; Is the Bible Intolerant?) is one of the most articulate of modern apologists for conservative Christianity. Here she takes on the sort of questions she commonly hears, e.g., "what about other people's genuine experience of God?" Her responses tend toward special pleading or an overreliance on the experience of faith, with chapters unlikely to convince the unconvinced. Still, some Christians may find helpful points for discussion. For larger collections.

From Salzberg (cofounder, Insight Meditation Society and Barre Ctr. for Buddhist Studies; The Force of Kindness) comes a pragmatic successor to her other works that emphasize the importance of kindness both to self and others in modern American Theravada Buddhism. Metta, which means loving-kindness or friendship, is a central practice in Buddhism and is offered with compassion to self, friends, difficult people, and, finally, the whole world. Ultimately, Salzberg joins this compassionate sense of friendship to a vision of the interconnectedness of everyone and everything.

The evocative cover image of a cell phone screen showing meditation stones on raked sand says a great deal about what is within. Less a guide than a far-reaching anthology of insights from Rumi, Pema Chodron, and Eckhart Tolle, the book focuses on each present moment as the starting point of the power of self-realization and enlightenment.

Claiborne, a preacher, and Wilson-Hartgrove (director, Sch. of Conversion) seek to put faith into action with examples from scripture and personal anecdote serving as the fuel for socially engaged action.

This is a printed and bound counterpart to Holmes's web site, TheRightAttitude.org. Holmes is, as he says, the veteran of more than one termination and shows how faith can guide a reader through the stress and dismay of job loss, job search, and relocation.

King (Christian Mystics) has written a remarkably wide-ranging book that touches briefly on many aspects of the spiritual life across the world—both our need for spirituality and how we have sought to address that need through nature, science, and the arts.

Peterson (The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language) has written a thoughtful and engaging study of the ways Jesus, as speaker rather than writer, used the oblique language of parable to communicate his message.

One of the most distinguished analytical philosophers, Putnam has written an unusual book that uses the thought of key philosophers to find points of commonality between the religious and the philosophical.

This is not another anthology of Buddhist sayings but a gathering of interviews Sachs (The Passionate Buddha) conducted with Buddhist leaders addressing poverty, warfare, the environment, and the notion that we might be living in a "dark age." Foreword by the Dalai Lama.

A psychologist and interfaith counselor writes as a representative of the more than one million people who identify themselves as "JuBus" (Jewish and Buddhist) to show that Zen Buddhism can be reconciled with Jewish faith. With insights on bringing order to life and exercises for putting Judaism and Buddhism into practice.

This former Zen Buddhist monk intriguingly offers a Zen slant on Bible stories that Strand sees as revealing our own dreams and illusions: "When our ideas about God are shattered, that is the moment God himself appears."

Rabbi Weiss (founder & president, Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, New York) has been called one of the 50 most influential rabbis in America. Here, he uses the materials of his own life to show how one can become an effective spiritual with an impact on social change. Includes a step-by-step "Spiritual Activist's Action Plan."

In a slender book rich with large and profound ideas, Hedrick collects 13 essays solicited from scholars in religion (including himself) that answer the broad question of how faith is understood when it conflicts with reason, science, or scholarship. Their answers are remarkably varied, painfully honest, and profoundly respectful of Christian tradition and newer truths alike.