Book Notices

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BOOK NOTICES

The intention of these book notices is very simple: to draw attention to new spirituality books that could be of interest to readers of Studies in Spirituality. Henk Rutten, the libra- rian and information manager of the Titus Brandsma Institute, lists here some seventy tit- les with short descriptions. They are not meant to be comprehensive and in-depth book reviews. The descriptions can also be found on the website of the Institute in the Bulletin Board section of Spirin: http://www.titusbrandsmainstituut.nl/eng/spirin/Bulletin%20 Board.htm Here a growing number of in-depth book reviews by various scholars can be found as well. Where applicable, they will be referred to below.

Adams, Gwenfair Walters, Visions in Late Medieval England: Lay Spirituality and Sacred Glimpses of the Hidden Worlds of Faith, Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2007 (Studies in the History of Christian Traditions; Vol. 130), XXIII, 273 pages, ISBN: 978-90-04-15606-7. Visions were highly popular in the late Middle Ages, whether preached as vivid stories from the pulpit, illuminated in saint-filled manuscripts, or experienced during the breathless anticipation of a Mass or eerie darkness of a Yorkshire graveyard. This volume is the first to map out the wide range of vision types in late medieval English lay piety. Analyzing 1000 visionary accounts gathered from sermon and exempla collections, religious devotional works, saints’ legends, and lay stories, it explores five central dynamics of spirituality that visions shaped and sustained: Transactions of Satisfaction (visits to and from purgatory and hell), Reciprocated Devotion (visitations of the saints), Spiritual Warfare (attacks by demons), Supra-Sacramental Sight (Mass and Passion sightings), and Mediated Revelation (prophetic visions). Gwenfair Walters Adams, Ph.D. (1993) in Medieval Ecclesiastical History, Cambridge University, is Associate Professor of Church History at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

Alexander, Hanan, Reclaiming Goodness: Education and the Spiritual Quest, Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2001, 288 pages, ISBN: 978-0-268-04003-5. This work begins with the premise that sound models for achieving both spiritual fulfillment and the ‘good life’ are lacking in contemporary culture. Arguing that contemporary education is responsible for having abandoned spirituality and the cultivation of goodness in people, the author advances a definition of spirituality which acknow- ledges an integral connection to education. For the author, spirituality requires that we seek to ‘discover our best selves in learning communities devoted to a higher good’. He explores how spirituality provides an orientation toward a meaningful life and how, in our pursuit of that goal, it gives us a vision of the good life. For the author, this renewed vision of spirituality is necessary to provide the ethical framework so many of us seek; to achieve such a state of spiritual health, he proposes reenergizing liberal 1536-08_SIS18(2008)_19_Book 30-10-2008 13:56 Pagina 382

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education. In their extreme responses to the spiritual crisis, both relativists and funda- mentalists have misused education as a method for promoting narrow ideological goals and producing individuals ill-equipped to act autonomously. Taking a cue from the golden mean of Aristotle and Maimonides, the author suggests situating education between the subjectivism and relativism of the left and the dogmatism and fundamen- talism of the right. For the author, revitalizing education is a way to correct the misgui- ded notion that extremism is an appropriate response to the spiritual crisis of modern society. This book charts a way to reintegrate ethical and spiritual values with the values of critical thought and reason. Hanan A. Alexander is Head of the Ethics and Educa- tion Project and the Center for Jewish Education, and is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education, University of Haifa. He is also Visiting Associate Professor in the School of Education, Bar Ilan University, and was editor-in-chief of Religious Education: An Interfaith Journal of Spirituality, Growth, and Transformation from 1991-2000. See the more in-depth review by Dr Lia van Aalsum on the website of the Institute in the Bulletin Board section of Spirin.

Arthur, Rosemary, Pseudo-Dionysius as Polemicist: The Development and Purpose of the Angelic Hierarchy in Sixth Century Syria, Aldershot, Hants; Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2008 (Ashgate New Critical Thinking in Religion, Theology and Biblical Studies), 226 pages, ISBN: 978-0-7546-6258-7. The anonymous theologian known as Pseudo-Dionysius had a significant influence on mediaeval European mysticism. This book places him in his religious and political context in sixth century Syria, and uncovers the hidden agenda which lies behind his writings. New evidence is presented to establish the dating of the corpus more accura- tely than has been done before. Rather than analysing the minutiae of Dionysius’ thought, Rosemary Arthur focuses on his sources for, and treatment of, the Angelic Hierarchy and the Dazzling Darkness, with a view to ascertaining his motive for writing, his relationship with his opponents and his need to hide his identity. Having originally studied chemistry, Rosemary Arthur later became interested in theology, and returned to London University, obtaining a BD in 1992. This was followed by an MA in Mediaeval English in 1993, specializing in the Anglo-Saxon church. Her doctoral research was carried out at King’s College London under the supervision of Dr Graham Gould and she was awarded a PhD in 1998.

At Work: Spirituality Matters / edited by Jerry Biberman and Michael Whitty, Scranton: University of Scranton Press, 2007, XXVIII, 292 pages, ISBN: 978-1-58966-130-1. Making spirituality an integral part of the hectic workday is a key concern for the authors of this work. They offer a number of solutions meant to help integrate these two worlds, all with a common theme – the positive renewal and transformation of both worker and workplace. Carefully avoiding the pat answers of pop psychology, this book is instead an in-depth read for teachers, consultants, and people interested in making their work environment a more healthful and compassionate one. Jerry Biberman is professor of management at the University of Scranton and is editor of the Journal of Management, Spirituality and Religion. Mike Whitty is professor in the School of Business at University of Detroit Mercy, and heads the Future of Work Institute in Detroit. 1536-08_SIS18(2008)_19_Book 30-10-2008 13:56 Pagina 383

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Baker, Don, Korean Spirituality, Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai’i Press, 2008 (Dimensions of Asian Spirituality), 184 pages, ISBN: 978-0-8248-3257-5 (paperback); ISBN: 968-0-8248-3233-9 (cloth). Korea has one of the most dynamic and diverse religious cultures of any nation on earth. Koreans are highly religious, yet no single religious community enjoys dominance. Buddhists share the Korean religious landscape with both Protestant and Catholic Chris- tians as well as with shamans, Confucians, and practitioners of numerous new religions. As a result, Korea is a fruitful site for the exploration of the various manifestations of spirituality in the modern world. At the same time, however, the complexity of the country’s religious topography can overwhelm the novice explorer. Emphasizing the attitudes and aspirations of the Korean people rather than ideology, the author has written an accessible aid to navigating the highways and byways of Korean spirituality. He adopts a broad approach that distinguishes the different roles that folk religion, Buddhism, Confucianism, Christianity, and indigenous new religions have played in Korea in the past and continue to play in the present while identifying commonalities behind that diversity to illuminate the distinctive nature of spirituality on the Korean peninsula. Don Baker teaches Korean civilization in the Department of Asian Studies, University of British Columbia.

Barnhart, Bruno, The Future of Wisdom: Toward a Rebirth of Sapiential Christianity, New York: Continuum, 2007, X, 229 pages, ISBN: 978-0-8264-2767-0 (hardcover); ISBN: 978-0-8264-1932-3 (paperback). This is the most ambitious effort so far to communicate the depth and power of the Christian sapiential tradition, or ‘wisdom Christianity’, and the promise of its dramatic rebirth in our time. While much of the writing of Rahner, von Balthasar, Merton, Bede Griffiths, Abhishiktananda, Leclercq, De Lubac, and Odo Cassel is of this kind, theologians have been slow to connect the dots and to awaken to the organic gestalt of sapiential theology in its unity and vitality. The book shows how the sapiential consciousness and its theological expression develop both the unitive depth (or ‘East’) and the historical dynamism (or ‘West’) of the mystery of Christ. The work unfolds in 4 stages: (1) the awakening of sapiential consciousness, (2) the Eastern turn, which opens Christianity to its own unitive (or nondual) core, (3) the Western turn, in which Christian wisdom is first challenged and then regenerated by its encounter with the personal and historical dynamism of the West (expressed in freedom, creativity, critical thinking, and historical progress), and (4) the global turn of postmodernity, global consciousness, and the world church of Vatican II, in which the unity and inten- tionality of history become visible and understandable in a Christocentric perspective. Bruno Barnhart is a Camaldolese monk of New Camaldoli Hermitage in Big Sur, California.

Blumenthal, D., Philosophical Mysticism: Studies in Rational Religion, Jerusalem: Bar-Ilan University Press, 2007, 260 + 12 pages, ISBN: 965 226 305 2. ‘Can a philosopher be a mystic?’ Classical scholarship on medieval Jewish thought ans- wered this question, with few exceptions, in the negative. This book, a collection of essays written over a forty-year period by the author, offers a forceful positive answer – that 1536-08_SIS18(2008)_19_Book 30-10-2008 13:56 Pagina 384

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philosophy was the penultimate step to post-philosophic, post-intellectual, post-cognitive religious experience and, conversely, that philosophic mystical experience was quintessen- tially philosophic in its preliminary stages and in its tone and quality. Calling on linguistic and cultural evidence, the author argues that even Maimonides, the towering figure of medieval Jewish philosophy, was a philosophic mystic. The argument presented in this book, especially its application to Maimonides, should change the way scholars think about both medieval philosophy and mysticism. David R. Blumenthal is the Jay and Leslie Cohen Professor of Judaic Studies at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.

Cobussen, Marcel, Thresholds: Rethinking Spirituality Through Music, Aldershot, Hants; Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2008, 170 pages, ISBN: 978-0-7546-6479-6 (hardback); 978- 0-7546-6482-6 (paperback). In this work the author rethinks the relationship between music and spirituality. The point of departure is the current movement within contemporary classical music known as New Spiritual Music, with as its main representatives Arvo Pärt, John Tavener, and Giya Kancheli. In almost all respects, the musical principles of the new spiritual music seem to be diametrically opposed to those of modernism: repetition and rest versus development and progress, tradition and familiarity versus innovation and experiment, communication versus individualism and conceptualism, tonality versus atonality, and so on. As such, this movement is often considered as part of the much larger complex called postmodernism. Joining in with ideas on spirituality as presented by Michel de Certeau and Mark C. Taylor, the author deconstructs the classification of the ‘spiritual dimensions’ of music as described above. This volume presents an idea of spirituality in and through music that counters strategies of exclusion and mastering of alterity and con- nects it to wandering, erring, and roving. Using the philosophy of Martin Heidegger, Georges Bataille, Jean-François Lyotard, Jacques Derrida and others, and analysing the music of John Coltrane, the mythical Sirens, Arvo Pärt, and The Eagles (to mention a few), the author regards spirituality as a (non)concept that escapes categorization, classification, and linguistic descriptions. Spirituality is a-topological, non-discursive and a manifestation of ‘otherness’. And it is precisely music (or better: listening to music) that induces these thoughts: by carefully encountering, analysing, and evaluating certain examples from classical, jazz, pop and world music it is possible to detach spirituality from concepts of otherworldliness and transcendentalism. This work opens a space in which spirituality can be connected to music that is not commonly considered in this light, thereby enriching the ways of approaching and discussing music. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to show that spirituality is not an attribute of music, not a simple adjective providing extra information or used to categorize certain types of music. Instead, the spiritual can happen through listening to music, in a more or less persona- lized relationship with it. This relationship might be characterized as susceptible instead of controlling, open instead of excluding, groping instead of rigid. Dr. Marcel Cobus- sen is Assistant Professor of Music Philosophy and Cultural Theory, Leiden University, The Netherlands.

Demacopoulos, George, Five Models of Spiritual Direction in the Early Church, Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2007, 288 pages, ISBN: 978-0-268-02590-0. 1536-08_SIS18(2008)_19_Book 30-10-2008 13:56 Pagina 385

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In late antiquity the rising number of ascetics who joined the priesthood faced a pastoral dilemma. Should they follow a traditional, demonstrably administrative, approach to pastoral care, emphasizing doctrinal instruction, the care of the poor, and the celebration of the sacraments? Or should they bring to the parish the ascetic models of spiritual direction, characterized by a more personal spiritual father/spiritual disci- ple relationship? This book explores the struggles of five clerics (Athanasius, Gregory Naziansen, Augustine of Hippo, John Cassian, and Pope Gregory I) to reconcile their ascetic idealism with the reality of pastoral responsibility. Through a close reading of Greek and Latin texts, the author explores each pastor’s criteria for ordination, his supervision of subordinate clergy, and his methods of spiritual direction. He argues that the evolution in spiritual direction that occurred during this period reflected and informed broader developments in religious practices. The author describes the way in which these authors shaped the medieval pastoral traditions of the East and the West. Each of the five struggled to balance the tension between his ascetic idealism and the realities of the lay church. Each offered distinct (and at times very different) solutions to that tension. The diversity among their models of spiritual direction demonstrates both the complexity of the problem and the variable nature of early Christianity. George E. Demacopoulos is Assistant Professor of Historical Theology at Fordham University.

Dreyer, Elizabeth, Making Sense of God: A Woman’s Perspective, Cincinnati, OH: St. Anthony Messenger Press, 2008 (Called to Holiness: Spirituality for Catholic Women; Vol. 1), 128 pages, ISBN: 978-0-86716-884-6. ‘Discovering who we are as women in God’s sight is an amazing journey toward truth and love. We make sense of God as we reflect, walk, drive, ponder and question the meaning of our lives as Christians’. The moment is ripe for ordinary Catholic women to ‘do Christian theology’. Times such as these challenge Catholic women to be holy, to be alive in the Spirit, to summon the energy and make the commitment to help each another grow spiritually. Now is the time for Catholic women to make sense of God. In this introductory volume to the eight-volume series, Called to Holiness: Spirituality for Catholic Women, Catholic theologian Elizabeth Dreyer encourages Catholic women to acknowledge their dignity, harvest their gifts and empower all women in church and society. Dreyer helps them to shape what they think about God, justice, love, prayer, family life, the destiny of humanity and the entire universe.

Dumont, C., As a Consuming Fire, Wisdom / translated from the French by Adélard Fau- bert, Leuven: Peeters, 2007 (Fiery Arrow; Vol. 7), XX, 181 pages, ISBN: 978-90-429- 1926-6. In this book Claire Dumont shares her very profound, personal experience of the Wisdom Spirituality proposed by Saint Louis-Marie de Montfort in his masterpiece The Love Eternal Wisdom. Claire Dumont vividly describes the passionate loving relationship with God in which de Montfort invites us to enter. Those who will accept his guidance will be profoundly transformed, freed from their anxiety, pacified and encou- raged to find their own happiness in the love and service of others. Thus the consuming fire of divine love will spread throughout a world which needs it so much. 1536-08_SIS18(2008)_19_Book 30-10-2008 13:56 Pagina 386

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Esser, Annette, Interkontexte Feministischer Spiritualität: Eine enzyklopädische Studie zum Begriff religiöser Erfahrung von Frauen in ökumenischer Perspektive, Münster: LIT Verlag, 2007 (Theologische Frauenforschung in Europa; Vol. 23), 448 pages, ISBN 978-3- 8258-0591-3. Thesis Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, The Netherlands. This book is an extensive study of the phenomenon of feminist spirituality in oecumen- ical context. The author shows the different contexts in which spiritual movements and individuals are embeded and she describes the common ground of several seemingly incompatible contexts like feminism/theology, mysticism/politics, Christianity/other religions, psychotherapy/spirituality, art/ritual as seats of feminist spirituality. These inter- contexts are identity giving and religiously relevant and not the usual, tiring controver- sies. Annette Esser studied theology, arts and geography in Köln, Münster and New York. She also studied art therapy, bibliodrama and psychodrama. She teaches at several high schools and colleges, as well as in adult education.

Female Monasticism in Early Modern Europe: An Interdisciplinary View / edited by Cor- dula van Wyhe, Aldershot: Ashgate, 2008 (Catholic Christendom, 1300-1700), 240 pages, ISBN: 978-0-7546-5337-0. This volume of eleven interdisciplinary essays addresses the multifaceted nature of female religious identity in early modern Europe. By dismantling the boundaries between the academic disciplines of history, art history, musicology and literary studies it offers new cross-cultural readings essential to a more comprehensive understanding of the complexity of female spirituality in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Utilising a wide range of archival material, encompassing art, architecture, writings and music commis- sioned or produced by nuns, the volume’s main emphasis is on the limitations and poten- tials created by the boundaries of the convent. Each chapter explores how the personal and national circumstances in which the women lived affected the formation of their spirituality and the assertion of their social and political authority. The production and use of cultural artefacts is thus examined as the result of processes of acculturation. Con- sisting of four sections each dealing with different parts of Europe, and discussing issues of social and spiritual identity, such as the formation of community and memory, spiritual direction and secular patronage, this compelling collection offers a significant addition to a thriving field of study. Dr Cordula van Wyhe joined the Department of History of Art of the University of York, UK, in 2006.

Green, John, ‘Augustinianism’: Studies in the Process of Spiritual Transvaluation, Leuven; Dudley, MA: Peeters, 2007 (Studies in Spirituality Supplements; Vol. 14), VI, 113 pages, ISBN: 978-90-429-1976-1. This book is about the evolution of ‘Augustinianism’ in a process of ‘spiritual transvaluation’ as Augustine of Hippo’s thought was appropriated by spiritual masters in the mediaeval period. The chapters deal with a range of experiences in ‘spiritual transvaluation’ beginning with Augustine’s own philosophic transvaluation of Christian ‘affecti- vity’. The first study is about St Gregory the Great’s ‘pastoral’ transvaluation of Augus- tine’s spirituality; the second about William of St Thierry’s ‘mystical’ transvaluation in the twelfth century; and the final one is about Walter Hilton’s ‘christo-centric’ transvaluation, writing as an Augustinian Canon Regular in late fourteenth century England. 1536-08_SIS18(2008)_19_Book 30-10-2008 13:56 Pagina 387

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The Epilogue draws together the themes of each chapter as a reflection about the spiritual nature of ‘Augustinianism’. After reading history at Oxford, John D. Green worked in industry for twenty eight years. He then obtained the degrees of MA by thesis and PhD at the University of Melbourne where the research which provides the basis for the book was undertaken. Dr Green has more recently lectured in Early Church History at the Catholic Theological College in Melbourne.

Hascher-Burger, Ulrike, Singen für die Seligkeit: Studien zu einer Liedersammlung der Devotio moderna: Zwolle, Historisch Centrum Overijssel, coll. Emmanuelshuizen, cat. VI. Mit Edition und Faksimile, Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2007 (Brill’s Series in Church History, ISSN: 1572-4107; Vol. 28), X, 342 pages, ISBN: 978-90-04-16151-1. This volume concerns a music manuscript written at the end of the fifteenth century and associated with the Brethren of the Common Life at Zwolle. The manuscript is bound together with an incunable containing one of the most influential theological treatises of the Devotio moderna: the De spiritualibus ascensionibus of Gerard Zerbolt of Zutphen. The music manuscript contains 25 one-part hymns and two text excerpts on the Four Last Things (death, judgement, heaven, and hell), the core theme of the Brethren’s penitential meditation. The book deals with the codicological construction of the book, the transmission, and the function of the songs in their context of the practice of penitential meditation. The multidisciplinary study makes an important contri- bution to research on hymns in the late Middle Ages as well as on the music and spirituality of the Devotio moderna. Ulrike Hascher-Burger, PhD (2002, Utrecht University) in Musicology, has a research affiliation to Utrecht University. She has published on late medieval music manuscripts, especially from the Devotio moderna, including Gesungene Innigkeit (Brill, 2002).

Hastetter, Michaela, ‘Horch! Mein Geliebter’: Die Wiederentdeckung der geistlichen Schrift- auslegung in den Hoheliedvertonungen des 20. Jahrhunderts, Erzabtei St. Ottilien: EOS Verlag, 2006, 663 pages, ISBN: 3-8306-7255-1. This work gives a pastoral-theological analysis of musical compositions of the Song of Songs in the twentieth century, and the beginning of the 21th century. A list of 680 compositions created in this period is enumerated and analyzed. Some 52 percent of them are considered ‘secular’, whereas some 48 percent are considered ‘religious’. Of interest is the text accompanying the musical compositions: most of them are Latin (172), English (147), German (100) and Hebrew (79). Few compositions used the full text of the Song (11), whereas the majority of them used only selected verses of it. The long history of more than two millennia of the Song is characterized by a permanent confrontation between its religious, mystic interpretations and the laic interpretation, which was expressed in a huge number of commentaries, as well as in literature, art and music creations. The compositions dedicated to the Song by five contemporary compo- sers, namely: Igor Strawinsky, Maurice Duruflés, Olivier Messiaen, Wilfried Hiller and Hans Zender, are analyzed in detail. Dr. Michaela Hastetter’s work is the first detailed religious analysis of the musical expressions of the biblical poem Song of Songs created in the last century. See the more in-depth review by Dr Chaim T. Horovitz on the website of the Institute in the Bulletin Board section of Spirin. 1536-08_SIS18(2008)_19_Book 30-10-2008 13:56 Pagina 388

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Heelas, Paul, Spiritualities of Life: New Age Romanticism and Consumptive Capitalism, Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub., 2008 (Religion and Spirituality in the Modern World), XII, 282 pages, ISBN: 978-1-4051-3937-3 (hardcover: alk. paper); 978-1-4051-3938- 0 (pbk.: alk. paper). The author explores the ways in which spiritualities of life have been experienced and understood in Western society, and argues that today’s myriad forms of holistic spirituality are helping us to find balance in face of the stifling demands of twenty-first century living. This work traces the development of modern spirituality, from the origins of Romanticism in the eighteenth century, through to the counter-cultural sixties and on to the wellbeing culture of today. This book also explores the belief that modern spirituality is merely an extension of capitalism in which people consume spirituality without giving anything back. It contends that much of the wide range of popular mind- body-spirit practices are really an ethically charged force for the ‘good life’, helping us to find balance in the demands of twenty-first century living. This volume completes a trilogy of books including The Spiritual Revolution (2005, with Linda Woodhead) and The New Age Movement (1996), charting the rise and influence of spirituality today. Paul Heelas is Professor in Religion and Modernity in the Department of Religious Studies at Lancaster University.

Helminiak, Daniel, Spirituality for Our Global Community: Beyond Traditional Religion to a World at Peace, Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2008, XVII, 185 pages, ISBN: 978-0-7425-5917-2 (cloth); 978-0-7425-5918-9 (paper). In this book, the author provides a crucial spiritual option – a middle path between modern society’s secular materialism and traditional religion’s other-worldly focus and institutional dogmatism. The functional atheism of our contemporary consumer and scientific society (as championed by current best selling authors Sam Harris’ The End of Faith, Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion, and Christopher Hitchens’ God is Not Great) doesn’t satisfy our desire for lasting meaning and value. But the parochial, inflexible cha- racter of traditional religious beliefs increasingly results in personal, local, and global conflicts in our current world of pluralism, globalization, respect for science and progress. The author gives us a compelling vision of a global spirituality that downplays beliefs and emphasizes the essential spiritual dynamics of the common human quest for wholeness, goodness, freedom and community. This book builds on the spiritual facet of our common humanity, stressing wholesome living on planet Earth, and opening onto the range of religions and belief in God. Daniel A. Helminiak is Professor of Psychology at the University of West Georgia.

Hense, Elisabeth, Die Kammer der Andacht: Formbeschreibung einer Theaterproduktion, Leuven: Peeters, 2007 (Studies in Spirituality Supplements; Vol. 13), X, 116 pages, ISBN: 978-90-429-1966-2. This theatrical production is based on a text of the Flemish mystic and Carmelite Francis- cus Amelry (approx 1550), whose work was rediscovered recently. The text describes the story of a soul, who fell in love with God. Her guide, the wet nurse, shows the soul the way to the ecstasy of love – to the very unio mystica. A mystagogue reinforces the awareness of what happens to the soul, who comes closer and closer to God. The MusikTheaterKöln chose 1536-08_SIS18(2008)_19_Book 30-10-2008 13:56 Pagina 389

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this text as the basis for their theatrical production. During the rehearsals they developed a scenic-musical improvisation structure. Based on her many years’ experience with Christian mystical texts and because she teaches scenic improvisation, the director, Ursula Albrecht, developed a goal oriented phenomenological style of directing. Dr Elisabeth Hense lectures on spirituality at the Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands.

Herbert, James, Our Distance from God: Studies of the Divine and the Mundane in Wes- tern Art and Music, Berkeley [etc.]: University of California Press, 2008 (The Fletcher Jones Foundation Humanities Imprint), XII, 198 pages, ISBN: 978-0-520-25213-4. In this encounter between reflections on Christian theology and the history of art and music, the author considers how specific works of art establish a relation between the divine and the earthbound audiences for whom the art was created. He looks at five case studies over four centuries: the architecture and artworks that glorified Louis XIV at Versailles, the interaction of libretto and music in Richard Wagner’s Ring of the Nibelun- gen, Claude Monet’s enormous paintings of water lilies mounted at the Orangerie of Paris in 1927, the inaugural performance in 1962 of Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem at the new Anglican cathedral in Coventry, and Robert Wilson’s recent installation based on the Passion, 14 Stations. James D. Herbert is Professor of Art History and Visual Studies at the University of California, Irvine.

Hildegard of Bingen’s Unknown Language: An Edition, Translation, and Discussion / edited by Sarah Higley, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007, 264 pages, ISBN: 978-1- 4039-7673-4. This book is an edition, translation, and philosophical commentary on Hildegard of Bingen’s ‘Unknown Language’ – a list of the things of her Twelfth-century world recast in words of her own creation. The Lingua Ignota, ‘brought forth’ by the twelfth-century German nun Hildegard of Bingen, provides 1012 neologisms for praise of Church and new expression of the things of her world. Noting her visionary metaphors, her music, and various medieval linguistic philosophies, Higley examines how the ‘Unknown Lan- guage’ makes arid signifiers green again. This text, however, is too often seen in too narrow a context: glossolalia, angelic language, secret code. Higley provides an edition and English translation of its glosses in the Riesencodex (with assistance from the Berlin MS), but also places it within a history of imaginary language making from medieval times to the most contemporary projects in efforts to uncover this woman’s bold invol- vement in an intellectual and creative endeavor that spans centuries. Sarah L. Higley is Associate Professor at the University of Rochester, New York.

Hoff, Johannes, Kontingenz, Berührung, Überschreitung: Zur Philosophischen Mystik nach Niko- laus von Kues, Freiburg: Verlag Karl Alber, 2007, 569 pages, ISBN 978-3-495-48270-4. This book is one of the most important books on the theological (and metaphysical) thinking of Cusanus in the last 20 years. Johannes Hoff succeeds to show the meaning of Cusanus for the actual debates in theology and philosophy of religion at the beginning of the 21st century on a very fundamental level. The major merit of Hoff consists in the fact that he shows theologians that they are not able to forget fundamental philosophical questions (on discourse). At the same time, he shows the philosophers that 1536-08_SIS18(2008)_19_Book 30-10-2008 13:56 Pagina 390

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they are not allowed to neglect theological patterns of thinking in name of autonomous reason. Johannes Hoff brought Cusanus-research at the reflexion level of our time. Johan- nes Hoff studied philosophy and theology and he lectures on systematic theology at the University of Wales, Lampeter, since 2007. See the more in-depth review by Dr Inigo Bocken on the website of the Institute in the Bulletin Board section of Spirin.

Howard, Evan, The Brazos Introduction to Christian Spirituality, Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2008, 496 pages, ISBN: 978-1-58743-038-1. Christian spirituality is in vogue in the postmodern twenty-first century. Both colleges and seminaries now offer courses – even advanced degrees – on spiritual formation and spiritual disciplines; for this reason, a straightforward, comprehensive textbook is needed. This book offers a broad-minded approach that covers protestant, Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox traditions. In addition, it is interdisciplinary in its approach, drawing from fields such as theology and psychology. What makes this book especially accessible are its chapter outlines and objectives, sidebars, focus boxes, charts, pictures, cartoons, chapter summaries and questions, and glossary. In brief, this work is informative, illumina- ting, interesting, and ecumenical. Evan B. Howard (PhD, Graduate Theological Union) founded and directs the Spirituality Shoppe, an evangelical center for the study of Chris- tian spirituality. In addition, he is a lecturer in philosophy and religion at Mesa State College in Grand Junction, Colorado.

The Inner Journey: Views from the Christian Tradition / edited by Lorraine Kisly, Sand- point, ID: Morning Light Press, 2006, XVI, 316 pages, ISBN: 978-1-59675-008-1. For over three decades, Parabola magazine has sought out those for whom the Christian Way is one of discovery and of questioning, rooted in a state of spiritual need. Now editor Lorraine Kisly, who has studied and worked with the texts of the great religious traditions for more than twenty-five years, has selected the best writings about Christianity from within Parabola’s pages. The result is a book that allows you to join Thomas Merton, Elaine Pagels, Philip Zaleski, Thomas Keating, and 20 other authors in a vivid exploration of what it means to be a Christian. This excellent collection combines incisive interviews and cogent essays with poetry and folklore. Chapters include The Search for the Self, Attention and Remembrance, Transformational Knowledge, and Fullness of Being. From full works of great intricacy to passages of pure insight, this work spans the tradition’s greatest trends. Whether you’re looking for an introduction to Christianity or want to expand your knowledge of it, the journey in this book is sure to inspire and enlighten.

James, Nancy, The Spiritual Teachings of Madame Guyon, including Translations into English from Her Writings, Lewiston: Edwin Mellen Press, 2007, VI, 260 pages, ISBN: 978-0-7734-5289-3. This work includes an essay examining the apophatic mysticism of Madame Guyon, the French mystic and writer, along translations of portions of her works, letters and poems. Annotations provide needed information to understand both the history of this important era and Guyon’s influential theology of pure love. Selections were taken from following works: Life of Madame Guyon, Written by Herself, A Short and Easy Method of Prayer, Song of Songs of Solomon, Spiritual Torrents, and from poems and letters. 1536-08_SIS18(2008)_19_Book 30-10-2008 13:56 Pagina 391

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Kay, Brian, Trinitarian Spirituality: John Owen and the Doctrine of God in Western Devo- tion, Bletchley, Milton Keynes, UK; Waynesboro, GA: Paternoster, 2007 (Studies in Christian History and Thought), XIV, 214 pages, ISBN: 978-1-8422-7408-8. This work examines the problem of how to connect the historic doctrine of the Trinity to Christian devotional practice. Two critieria for a successful Trinitarian Spirituality are proposed: that of drawing significantly from nuances of the classic formulations of the doctrine; as well as dealing with the mode of original Trinitarian self disclosure, that is, the unfolding biblical doctrine of the historia salutis. Various historical attempts at arti- culating a method are examined, with special emphasis given to the Puritan John Owen.

Kochetkova, Tatjana, The Search for Authentic Spirituality in Modern Russian Philosophy: The Perdurance of Solov’ëv’s Ideal, Lewiston, NY [etc.]: Edwin Mellen Press, 2007, XI, 461 pages, ISBN: 978-0-7734-5412-5. This book traces the quest for self-realization that inspired the Russian Cultural Renais- sance at the turn of the twentieth century, also called the Silver Age, from its fin-de- siècle inception until the present day. Following the historical periods under consideration, the study breaks into three parts: the first is concerned with the quest for transcendence in Vladimir Solov’ëv’s theory of Divine Humanity; the second considers the way in which Solov’ëv’s Silver Age philosophical and poetic followers utilized and developed his ideas about self-realization; finally, the third considers contemporary discussions regarding the possibility of transcendence and self-realization. This book goes beyond mere historical-philosophical curiosity: it is an attempt to understand the idea of self- realization in a global context. Dr. Tatiana Kochetkova is a post-doctoral research fellow at the Utrecht University for Humanist Studies.

Korthals Altes, Edy, Spiritual Awakening: The Hidden Key to Peace and Security, Just and Sustainable Economics, A Responsible European Union, Leuven: Peeters, 2008 (Studies in Spirituality Supplements; Vol. 16), VIII, 235 pages, ISBN: 978-90-429-2046-0. This book, written by a former senior Dutch diplomat, offers a penetrating analysis of some of the major threats to humanity. Its special feature is that it goes beyond the usual pragmatic approach by putting the emphasis on a spiritual awakening. The author makes a convincing case about the need for a fundamental transformation in our deep- est motivation; a reappraisal of man’s place in Ultimate Reality. Here is, according to the author, the base for the so urgently required change in attitude towards man, material goods and nature. This ‘spiritual approach’ has not only far-reaching consequences for our personal development, but also for the society we live in. Spiritual values should not be treated as abstract notions, but have to be translated into hard reality. Hence, the inspiring chapters about just and sustainable economics; a comprehensive concept of security and a responsible European Union. Edy Korthals Altes joined the Foreign Service in 1951, after completing his studies at the Rotterdam School of Economics. He served all over the world. In 1986 he resigned as Ambassador in Madrid, in connection with his public stand on the arms race (in particular Star Wars). Since then he has been actively involved in Peace and Security (Pugwash Movement), and in faithba- sed organisations. Since 2005, he is recognized as Fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science. 1536-08_SIS18(2008)_19_Book 30-10-2008 13:56 Pagina 392

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Leading with Wisdom: Spiritual-based Leadership in Business / edited by Peter Pruzan and Kirsten Pruzan Mikkelsen (together with Debra and William Miller), Sheffield: Green- leaf Publishing, 2007, 352 pages, ISBN: 978-1-874719-59-5. Many business executives are increasingly becoming workaholic human-doings, longing to be full and integrated human-beings. This book provides food for thought for people dealing with these challenges. It portrays an emerging global culture. It offers the experiences and perspectives of 31 top executives from 15 countries in 6 continents. It is based on extensive personal interviews. These are business people who express from first-hand experience what it is like to lead a business from a spiritual basis. They tell amazing, down-to-earth, real-life stories about how spirituality and rationality can go hand in hand in leadership and life. Their words of wisdom demonstrate that executives who lead from a spiritual basis can achieve success, recognition, peace of mind and happiness, while at the same time serving the needs of all those affected by their leadership.

Leeuwen, René van, Towards Nursing Competencies in Spiritual Care, Enschede: Ipskamp Printpartners, 2008, 253 pages, ISBN: 978-90-77113-65-3. Thesis University of Groningen, The Netherlands. Nursing students are taught to provide client-centred, so-called holistic nursing care to patients. Taking a holistic approach means that all aspects of human functioning should be considered in assessing the individual patient’s needs and in planning nursing care for that patient. The holistic approach includes attention to the spiritual functioning of patients, because that may also affect a patient’s wellbeing. Health care organisations, like the World Health Organisation (WHO) and professional nursing organizations such as the International Council of Nurses and the Dutch Nursing Organization emphasize that nurses should pay attention to the spiritual aspects of nursing care. This holistic and health-related approach is emphasized in nursing models and studies have made clear that the health problems and needs of patients may also be related to the spiritual functioning of humans. Attention to the spiritual element of human functioning within nursing has also been emphasized and proven in different nursing studies, but the lack of it has also been observed. Spiritual care in nursing is deemed important and relevant, but it seems to lack systematic attention due to various factors. One factor is that nurses are not well prepared for their spiritual care role. Authors emphasize the importance of this educational gap and conclude that more attention should be paid to research within the area of education to gain more insight into its effects. The observations mentioned above formed the start of this study with the intention of contributing to a systematic embed- ding of spiritual care into nursing care and education. René van Leeuwen held several positions from 1985 to the present day. Amongst others, he was teacher and team leader at the Verpleegkunde (Nursing) College of the Christelijke Hogeschool Ede.

Luther’s Spirituality / edited and translated by Philip D.W. Krey and Peter D.S. Krey; preface by Timothy J. Wengert. New York: Paulist Press, 2007 (The Classics of Western Spirituality), XXX, 296 pages, ISBN: 978-0-8091-0514-4 (hardcover); ISBN: 978-0- 8091-3949-1 (paperback). This volume in the Classics of Western Spirituality series offers a selection of texts, some newly translated, by Martin Luther. These texts represent the varieties of ways Luther 1536-08_SIS18(2008)_19_Book 30-10-2008 13:56 Pagina 393

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understood how one believed and behaved as a Christian. This comprehensive collection includes both his critique of late medieval spiritualities that he inherited and his various constructive proposals. The book is designed for the reader to discover the rich complex of issues that Luther contributes to the discussion of spirituality. The collection is divided into three sections of fresh and modified translations: Luther’s Spiritu- ality in a Late-Medieval Context, Teaching the New Spirituality, and The New Path to Prayer which also includes various songs. The volume includes Luther’s spiritual classics like the German edition of the Freedom of a Christian, the Magnificat, The Ser- mon at Coburg on Cross and Suffering, letters of consolation, biblical prefaces and commentaries like Psalm 117 and 118, a Simple Way to Pray, and selections from the Large Catechism. Philip D.W. Krey is the President and Ministerium of New York Pro- fessor of Early and Medieval Church History at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. Peter D.S. Krey teaches religion, ethics, and philosophy at community colleges in the San Francisco Bay Area especially at Vista Community College, Berkeley, CA.

Margry, Peter Jan, Shrines and Pilgrimage in the Modern World: New Itineraries into the Sacred, Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2008, 362 pages, ISBN: 978-90-8964-011-6. The modern pilgrimage – to sites ranging from Graceland to the Vietnam Veterans’ annual Ride to the Wall to Jim Morrison’s Paris grave – is intertwined with man’s existential uncertainties in the face of a rapidly changing world. In a climate that reprodu- ces the religious quest in seemingly secular places, it’s no longer clear exactly what the term pilgrimage infers – and Shrines and Pilgrimage in the Modern World critiques our notions of the secular and the sacred, while commenting on the modern media’s multi- plication of images that renders the modern pilgrimage a quest without an object. Using new ethnographical and theoretical approaches, this volume offers a surprising new vision on the non-secularity of the ‘secular’ pilgrimage. Peter Jan Margry is a senior researcher of religious culture at the Meertens Institute in the Netherlands and vice-president of the International Society for Ethnology and Folklore.

Margry, Peter Jan and Caspers, Charles (together with Jan Brouwers), 101 Bedevaartplaat- sen in Nederland, Amsterdam: Bakker, 2008, 570 pages, ISBN: 978-90-351-3288-7. Pilgrimage is an old custom that is on the rise again since a few decades and not only amongst catholics. The modern, revitalised pilgrimage fits in seamlessly with modern society. This revival began a couple of decades ago with the walking trips to Santiago de Compostela, whereas nowadays many people – believers as well as non-believers – walk pilgrim paths also in their own country. They look for the healing rhythm of walking in the countryside or they search for the silence and the contemplative environment of a hidden shrine. Not only do these sanctuaries have a rich history and a special location in the landscape, but often they have been turned into centers of fine sacral art by bene- factors and artists and that alone makes them worth visiting. This book offers a sample sheet of the old and rich pilgrimage culture of the Netherlands, with the 101 most beau- tiful, most important and most excentric places of pilgrimage of the Netherlands. Pilgrimage specialists Charles Caspers and Peter Jan Margry, together with Jan Brouwers, wrote this book. 1536-08_SIS18(2008)_19_Book 30-10-2008 13:56 Pagina 394

394 BOOK NOTICES

Masuku, Francis, The Encounter Between Christian and Traditional African Spiritualities in Malawi: The Search for a Contextual Lomwe Christian Spirituality, Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 2007, XII, 370 pages, ISBN13: 978-0-7734-5248-0. This book explores the manner in which Christian spirituality encounters Lomwe traditional spirituality, in an attempt to understand the kind of spirituality the Lomwe Catholic Christians in Malawi are now living. After examining Lomwe traditional spirituality within the broader context of African spirituality, the work explores the roots of the present cultural-religious encounter by analyzing the way in which missionaries introduced Christianity in Malawi. The study then moves on to consider the present tensions between Christian and traditional spiritualities in pursuit of the possibility of an integrated ‘African Christian spirituality’. This study will appeal to those scholars who are interested in inculturation, interreligious dialogue, and the relevance of Christian spirituality among the people of different cultures in the world.

Moderne Devoten in Monnikspij: Klooster en Colligatie van Sibculo 1406-1580 / edited by Rudolf van Dijk, Mariska Vonk and Ton Hendrikman, Kampen: IJsselacademie; Nijmegen: Titus Brandsma Instituut, 2007 (Publicaties van de IJsselacademie; Vol. 203), 408 pages, ISBN: 978-90-6697-190-5. The central question of this book is: were the members of the colligation of Sibculo Cistercians with the life style of the Brethren of the Common Life, or were they Brethren of the Common Life in the habit of Cistercians? The book is divided up into two parts. In the first part emphasis is on the origin, the spirituality, the ups and downs and the decline of the monastery Groot-Galilea in Sibculo. In the second part of the book the colligation of Sibculo is examined from the context of the Order of Cîteaux. There are contributions about the origin, the development and the decline of the association of the twenty priories of the colligation. The book is the result of a cooperation of the Stichting IJsselacademie, Kampen, the Historische Werkgroep Kloosters IJssel-Vecht- streek and the Titus Brandsma Instituut, Nijmegen.

Murray, David, Matter, Magic, and Spirit: Representing Indian and African American Belief, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007, 213 pages, ISBN: 978-0- 8122-3996-6. The spiritual and religious beliefs and practices of Native Americans and African Ame- ricans have long been sources of fascination and curiosity, owing to their marked difference from the religious traditions of white writers and researchers. This book explores the ways religious and magical beliefs of Native Americans and African Americans have been represented in a range of discourses including anthropology, comparative religion, and literature. Though these beliefs were widely dismissed as primitive superstition and inferior to ‘higher’ religions like Christianity, distinctions were still made between the supposed spiritual capacities of the different groups. The author’s analysis is unique in bringing together Indian and African beliefs and their representations. First tracing the development of European ideas about both African fetishism and Native American ‘primitive belief’, he goes on to explore the ways in which the hierarchies of race created by white Europeans coincided with hierarchies of religion as expressed in the deve- loping study of comparative religion and folklore through the nineteenth century. 1536-08_SIS18(2008)_19_Book 30-10-2008 13:56 Pagina 395

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Crucially this comparative approach to practices that were dismissed as conjure or black magic or Indian ‘medicine’ points as well to the importance of their cultural and political roles in their own communities at times of destructive change. The author also explores the ways in which Indian and African writers later reformulated the models developed by white observers, as demonstrated through the work of Charles Chesnutt and Simon Poka- gon and then in the later conjunctions of modernism and ethnography in the 1920s and 1930s, through the work of Zora Neale Hurston, Zitkala Sa, and others. Later sections demonstrate how contemporary writers including Ishmael Reed and Leslie Silko deal with the revaluation of traditional beliefs as spiritual resources against a background of New Age spirituality and postmodern conceptions of racial and ethnic identity. David Murray is Professor of American Studies at the University of Nottingham.

La Naissance de Dieu dans l’Âme chez Eckhart et Nicolas de Cues / edited by Marie-Anne Van- nier, Paris: CERF, 2006 (Patrimoines Christianisme), 188 pages, ISBN 2-204-07985-5. The contributions in the book, published by Marie-Anne Vannier attempt to show that the theme of the ‘birth of God in the soul’ is one of the central themes in Eckhartian thinking. As almost all authors, important scholars like Bernhard McGinn, Georg Steer or Harald Schwaetzer, argue, the idea of divine birth is a still more important theme than that of ‘detachment’, a theme which is stressed by more orthodox interpretations. This general interpretation of Eckhartian thinking is reinforced by the comparison with Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1464), one of the most important Eckhart-readers in late middle ages. It is often said, that there are many lines between the work of Eckhart and that of Cusa. Departing from the idea of divine birth, this intuition becomes ensured knowledge. The idea of divine birth becomes embedded in a larger mystical-speculative tradition as the contributions of McGinn and Schwaetzer both show in a fascinating manner. See the more in-depth review by Dr Inigo Bocken on the website of the Institute in the Bulletin Board section of Spirin.

Nangle, Joseph, Engaged Spirituality: Faith Life in the Heart of the Empire, Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2008, XIX, 170 pages, ISBN: 978-1-57075-763-1. During his fifteen years in Latin America, the author observed firsthand the awakening of a church and a new reading of the Gospel that is ‘good news to the poor’. In this book he shares the lessons from that experience, showing how the radical challenge to ‘love God and our neighbors as ourselves’ can transform, on every level, our understanding and practice of faith. On an obvious level, this involves recognition of the social dimen- sion of the Gospel. But this leads inevitably to a new understanding of scripture, prayer, religious vows, the church, Eucharist, and spirituality. Joseph Nangle is a Franciscan priest who serves as co-director of the Franciscan Mission Service in Washington.

Ngien, Dennis, Luther As a Spiritual Advisor: The Interface of Theology and Piety in Luther’s Devotional Writings, Bletchley, Milton Keynes, UK; Waynesboro, GA: Paternos- ter, 2007 (Studies In Christian History and Thought), XXIV, 183 pages, ISBN: 978-1- 84227-461-3. Most Luther scholars have focused largely on the polemical side of the reformer with only occasional allusion to his Devotional Writings. The aim of this book is to unfold the 1536-08_SIS18(2008)_19_Book 30-10-2008 13:56 Pagina 396

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pastoral, not the polemical, side of the reformer, drawing on the spiritual insights he offers to people of high and low estate. These writings are devotional and catechetical in shape and intent, yet not devoid of rich theological substance, the fruit of his rigo- rous reflections. They are the exercises of Luther’s basic calling as a theologian-pastor, and are the concrete illustrations of the interface of theology and piety, the former being the abiding presupposition of the latter. Dr Ngien’s work reveals Luther as a true theologian, i.e., theologian of the cross at work in the pastoral context. Dennis Ngien is Research Professor of Theology at Tyndale University College and Seminary, and founder of the Centre for Mentorship and Theological Reflection, Toronto, Canada.

Norbert and Early Norbertine Spirituality / selected and introduced by Theodore Antry and Carol Neel; preface by Andrew Ciferni, Paulist Press, 2007 (The Classics of Western Spirituality), XVI, 309 pages, ISBN: 978-0-8091-4468-6 (paperback); ISBN: 978-0-8091-0577-9 (hardcover). This is a collection of writings, appearing for the first time in English, pertaining to the spirituality of the 12th-century Norbertines (a.k.a. Order of Premonstratensians, the religious order founded by St. Norbert of Xanten). Having met with resistance in his attempts to reform the clergy in his native Xanten, Norbert (ca. 1080-1134) founded a religious community in France. His establishment was the first house of an eventually hugely successful order, the Canons Regular of Premontre, also known as the Premonstratensians or Norber- tines. Although Norbert, who was appointed archbishop of Magdeburg in 1126, left no writings, his followers produced many important texts in their efforts to reform a lax and demoralized clergy. Yet, despite these authors’ significance to the spirituality of their age, their words and their historical context are little-known to modern readers. This volume renders audible the voices of the twelfth-century followers of Norbert, presenting the most important early Premonstratensian texts (including two versions of the Vita Norberti), along with an introductory essay describing their place in twelfth-century religious life.

O’Brien, Mary Elizabeth, A Sacred Covenant: The Spiritual Ministry of Nursing, Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 2008, X, 116 pages, ISBN: 978-0-76375-571-3. This volume focuses on the nurse’s personal spirituality and spiritual needs and is a great companion to her other books especially Spirituality In Nursing: Standing on Holy Ground. Each chapter is based in scripture, both Old and New Testament, providing a broad spiritual grounding for the topics discussed. Key themes explore: the nurse-patient covenant; the nurse as minister; the nurse’s tradition of service; the nurse’s compassion; the nurse’s devotion and commitment to caring; the nurse’s vulnerability; and the nurse’s faith. Since writing Spirituality In Nursing, the author has collected a significant number of additional ‘nurse’s stories’ to flesh out the chapter topics. To enhance the ‘devotional’ aspect of the work, and also in distinction to Spirituality In Nursing, each chapter begins with a ‘nurse’s meditation’ and ends with a ‘nurse’s prayer’; these may be used individually or in a group setting such as before a class or a meeting. While the book has a ‘devotional’ aspect with the inclusion of nurse’s meditations and prayers, topics are also well referenced which is a characteristic appreciated by nurses. 1536-08_SIS18(2008)_19_Book 30-10-2008 13:56 Pagina 397

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O’Malley, William, Holiness, Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2008 (Catholic Spirituality for Adults Series), 144 pages, ISBN: 978-1-57075-715-0. The author looks at ‘down-to-earth’ holiness and inspires us to live for God on the spot where we’re standing. To be holy, he writes, is to be ‘fully human, fully alive’, and he draws on Jesus’ life and the examples of saints who are flawed like us to surprise us and inspire us to be what we already are: children of God in the family of God. William J. O’Malley, S.J., has published many popular books and articles on spirituality and Christian living. A teacher for more than forty years, he currently teaches at Fordham Preparatory School in New York City.

Orsuto, Donna, Holiness, London; New York: Continuum, 2006 (New Century Theo- logy), 212 pages, ISBN: 978-0-8264-5398-3. The goal of the Christian life is to become a people among whom the Holy One dwells. For Christians, holiness can only be achieved through a relationship with Jesus. The author begins by examining the Hebrew Scriptures and showing how the concept of holiness is intimately intertwined with the idea of God, who is ‘Wholly Other’ and transcendent, and yet paradoxically calls us into intimacy. Both individuals and the Church are ‘temples’ where God dwells. Although there are common characteristics of holiness, there are also many diverse ways of being holy. The sacraments, prayer and reflection on the word of God have traditionally been seen as ways of opening oneself up to the Holy One and of embracing one’s responsibility as a Christian in society. Orsuto offers a contemporary Christian understanding of holiness and considers topics such as the uniqueness of Christian holiness in a multi-faith society, the use and abuse of psychology in the quest for Christian holiness, and the dilemma of how the ‘one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church’ can also be in need of reform. Donna Orsuto is Profes- sor of Spiritual Theology at the Gregorian University in Rome. She is also the founder and director of the Lay Center at Foyer Unitas in Rome.

Parry, Jim, Nesti, Mark, Robinson, Simon and Watson, Nick, Sport and Spirituality: An Introduction, New York, NY: Routledge, 2007, 280 pages, ISBN: 978-0-41540-483-9 (softcover); 978-0-415-40482-2 (hardcover). Sport science can quantify many aspects of human performance but the spiritual dimensions of sports experience cannot be fully understood through measurement. However, the spiritual experience of sport – be it described as ‘flow’, ‘transcendence’ or the discovery of meaning and value – is central both to our basic motivation to take part in sports, and to achieving success. This work explores these human aspects of sports experience through the perspectives of sport psychology, philosophy, ethics, theology and religious studies. It includes discussions of: Spirituality in the postmodern era; Spiritu- ality, health and well-being; Theistic and atheistic perspectives on sport and the spiritual; Nature and transcendence – the mystical and sublime in outdoor sport; Applied sport psychology and the existential; Spiritual perspectives on pain, suffering and destiny; Sport, the virtues, ethical development and the spirit of the game; The Olym- pic Games and de Coubertin’s ideas of the ‘religio athletae’. 1536-08_SIS18(2008)_19_Book 30-10-2008 13:56 Pagina 398

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The Participatory Turn: Spirituality, Mysticism, Religious Studies / edited by Jorge Ferrer and Jacob Sherman, Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2008, 416 pages, ISBN: 978-0-7914-7601-7. This work cuts through traditional debates to argue that religious phenomena are cocreated by human cognition and a generative spiritual power. Can we take seriously religious experience, spirituality, and mysticism, without reducing them to either cultural-linguistic by-products or simply asserting their validity as a dogmatic fact? The contributors to this volume argue that we can, and they offer a new way: the ‘participatory turn’, which proposes that individuals and communities have an integral and irreduci- ble role in bringing forth ontologically rich religious worlds. They explore the ways this approach weaves together and gives voice to a number of robust trends in contemporary religious scholarship, including the renewed study of lived spirituality, the postmodern emphasis on embodied and gendered subjectivity, the admission of alternate epi- stemic perspectives, the irreducibility of religious pluralism, and the pragmatist emphasis on transformation – all trends that raise serious challenges to the currently prevalent linguistic paradigm. The first part of the book situates the participatory turn in the context of contemporary religious studies; the second part shows how this approach can be applied to various global traditions, ancient and contemporary, from Western esotericism to Jewish mysticism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sufism, and socially engaged Buddhism.

Polemical Encounters: Esoteric Discourse and Its Others / edited by Olav Hammer and Kocku von Stuckrad, Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2007 (Aries Book Series, ISSN: 1871-1405; Vol. 6), XXII, 325 pages, ISBN: 978-90-041-6257-0. In its historical development from late antiquity to the present, western esotericism has repeatedly been the issue of polemical discourse. This volume engages the polemical struc- tures that underlie both the identities within and the controversy about esoteric currents in European history. From Jewish and Christian kabbalah through heretical discourse and interconfessional polemics in early modernity to the legitimization of esoteric identity in modern culture, the 12 chapters, accompanied by an editors’ introduction, provide a cor- nucopia of relevant cases that are interpreted in a framework of polemical discourse and ‘Othering’. This volume sheds new light on the ultimately polemical structure of western esotericism and thus opens new vistas for further research into esoteric discourse. Olav Hammer, PhD (2000), is Professor of History of Religions at the Institute of Philosophy, Education and Religion at the University of Southern Denmark. Kocku von Stuckrad, PhD (2000), is Assistant Professor in the Center for the History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents at the University of Amsterdam.

Prinz, Julia, Endangering Hunger for God: Johann Baptist Metz and Dorothee Sölle at the Interface of Biblical Hermeneutic and Christian Spirituality, Münster [etc.]: LIT Verlag, 2007 (Religion – Geschichte – Gesellschaft; Vol. 44), 304 pages, ISBN: 978-3-8258- 0495-4. Post-Auschwitz biblical hermeneutic by Johann Baptist Metz and Dorothee Sölle is set in dialogue with Post-colonial biblical hermeneutic focusing on resistance against destruc- tion of biblical text through fascist or colonial interpretation. This dialogue is brought into the self-implicative dynamic of Biblical Spirituality research, reflecting the authors 1536-08_SIS18(2008)_19_Book 30-10-2008 13:56 Pagina 399

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own context of engaging biblical text. Julia D.E. Prinz, VDMF graduated with a PhD from the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA in October 2006. She holds degrees from the Bonn University, the Goettingen University, PSR at Berkeley, PUU in Rome and JSTB. She taught in Madrid, Spain and Berkeley, CA and is currently involved in base-community work in San Francisco.

Rich, Antony, Discernment in the Desert Fathers: Diakrisis in the Life and Thought of Early Egyptian Monasticism, Bletchley, Milton Keynes, UK; Waynesboro, GA: Paternos- ter; Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2007 (Studies in Christian History and Thought), XXV, 332 pages, ISBN: 978-1-84227-431-6; ISBN: 978-1-55635-339-0. This book is a study of discernment (Diakrisis) in the life and thought of the fourth- and fifth-century Egyptian Desert Fathers. Rich argues that their understanding of Diakrisis was based upon a practical application of biblical Diakrisis in general and not, as has been argued, primarily a development of the gift of ‘discernment of spirits.’ He begins with an examination of Scripture and goes on to consider the philosophical and theological background of the period as represented by Plotinus and Origen respectively. An examination of the works of the first ‘theologians of the desert,’ Evagrius and Cassian, who lived among these first Christian monks and nuns, provides an early interpretation of the sayings of the Desert Fathers or Apophthegmata Patrum. The Greek, Latin, and Coptic sayings that survive are then examined in detail, some of them translated into English for the first time. This indepth analysis (including the comprehensive list of cross–references which will be a valuable resource for scholars researching the subject in the future) provides many insights into the lives of these early Christians and demonstrates how Diakrisis touched every aspect of their inward and outward lives. Rich con- cludes that Diakrisis was a critical faculty and charism central to the spiritual and practical life of these early monks and nuns in their mystical search for God, for purity of life, and knowledge of him. Antony D. Rich is an associate research fellow, director of Extended Learning and Open Learning tutor at Spurgeon’s College, London.

Saint-Laurent, George, Catholic Spirituality in Focus, St. Paul, MN: Paragon House, 2007, XV, 136 pages, ISBN: 978-1-55778-865-8. Catholic Christianity is a graced path to God through Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit in the holy church. Catholic spirituality, then, is all about the mystery of divine love. The Lord proclaimed the glad tidings that God is love, and the Gospels testify that he demonstrated this by passing through death to Resurrection for our Redemption. Catho- lic spirituality comprises that which characterizes belief in the Father’s love and commitment to that love in Christian discipleship: taking on Christ’s life, thinking by his mind, serving with his heart, and loving through his heart. We can experience the gradual impact of healing, elevating, and transforming love as we put on Christ in the Commu- nity. This book shows the strong influence of Pope Benedict XVI’s extraordinary new encyclical of 2006, Deus caritas est, with its remarkable emphasis on Agape love. Catholic Spirituality is finally primarily about love: God’s love, God’s love incarnate in Christ, God’s love demonstrated in Christ’s death and Resurrection, and our response of love for God and for one another. Love is truly the central core of it all; the rest is marvelous detail. 1536-08_SIS18(2008)_19_Book 30-10-2008 13:56 Pagina 400

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Sanctity in the North: Saints, Lives, and Cults in Medieval Scandinavia / edited by Tho- mas DuBois, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2008 (Toronto Old Norse-Icelandic Series [TONIS]), VIII, 399 pages, ISBN: 978-0-802-09130-7 (cloth); 978-0-802- 09410-0 (paper). With original translations of primary texts and articles by leading researchers in the field, this book provides an introduction to the literary production associated with the cult of the saints in medieval Scandinavia. For more than five hundred years, Nordic clerics and laity venerated a host of saints through liturgical celebrations, written manuscripts, visual arts, and oral tradition. The textual evidence of this widespread and important aspect of medieval spirituality abounds. Written biographies (vitae), compendia of witnessed miracles, mass propers, homilies, sagas and chronicles, dramatic scripts, hymns, and ballads are found in the region’s surviving medieval manuscripts and early published books. This volume features English translations of these texts from Latin or vernacular Nordic languages, in many cases for the first time. The accompanying essays concerning the texts, saints, cults, and history of the period complement the translations and reflect contributors’ own disciplinary groundings, in folklore, philology, medieval, and religious studies. Thomas DuBois is a professor in the Department of Scandi- navian Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Schmidt, Richard, God Seekers: Twenty Centuries of Christian Spiritualities, Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 2008, 388 pages, ISBN: 978-0-8028-2840-8. A readable introduction to Christian spirituality, this book brings to life thirty-three spiritual masters from throughout Christian history. Through capsule biographies, selected quotations, and questions for reflection, the author presents and explores diverse ways of relating to God. Each chapter personalizes a major stream or movement of Christian spirituality by focusing on a particular key figure. Just to name a few: Origen of Alexan- dria (C. 185-C. 254), Alexandrian Spirituality; Antony (C. 251-355), The Desert Fathers; Augustine of Hippo (354-430), The Birth of Western Spirituality; Benedict of Nursia (C. 480-547), Western Monasticism; Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153), Medie- val Spirituality; Francis of Assisi (1181/2-1226), The Mendicants; Julian of Norwich (1342-C. 1420), The English Mystics; Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556), The Jesuits; Teresa of Ávila (1515-1582), The Spanish Mystics; John and Charles Wesley (1703- 1791 / 1707-1788), Methodism; Thérèse of Lisieux (1873-1897), Spiritual Childhood; Dorothy Day (1897-1980), The Catholic Worker Movement; Thomas Merton (1915- 1968), Solitude; John S. Mbiti (B. 1931), African Christian Spirituality; Rosemary Radford Ruether (B. 1936), Feminist Spirituality.

Scorgie, Glen, A Little Guide to Christian Spirituality: Three Dimensions of Life with God, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2007, 191 pages, ISBN: 978-0-310-27459-9. As interest in spirituality grows, people need a reliable field guide to distinctly Christian spirituality. This is about living all of live before God, and by his Spirit, in a way that encompasses relationship (Christ with us), transformation (Christ in us), and vocation (Christ through us). Navigating the contemporary spiritual maze is a challenge. This book will help readers: think clearly about Christian spirituality; understand its basic dynamics; and utilize classic and contemporary resources with discernment. Join the author on his 1536-08_SIS18(2008)_19_Book 30-10-2008 13:56 Pagina 401

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sabbatical pilgrimages to Iona Abbey in Scotland, spiritually significant sites in Italy and Turkey, and renewal centers in North America. Listen as he provides brief profiles of memo- rable people and places from the rich history of Christian spirituality. Consider his redis- covery that Christian spirituality is about living all of life before God in the transforming and empowering presence of his Spirit. This biblically informed book traces the contours of such an encompassing spirituality. Glen G. Scorgie (PhD, University of St. Andrews and graduate degrees from Wheaton and Regent) has been professor of theology at Bethel Seminary San Diego and a teacher and preacher at Chinese Bible Church of San Diego.

Searching for Spirituality in Higher Education / edited by Bruce Speck and Sherry Hoppe, New York, Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, Frankfurt am Main, Oxford, Wien: Peter Lang, 2007, XIV, 297 pages, ISBN: 978-0-8204-8159-3. This work brings together eclectic points of view on spirituality, drawing upon various theoretical perspectives to frame a discussion of spirituality in higher education. Follow- ing a comprehensive review of the current literature on spirituality, chapters examine the relationship between religion and spirituality and explore related legal issues. Subsequent theory chapters make no unified claims about the basis of spirituality, reflecting the speculative nature of an ethereal subject. The final section contains rich examples that explore ways to integrate spirituality in several academic disciplines as well as in student affairs. In its entirety, the book encompasses a comprehensive review of the salient issues related to spirituality in higher education. Bruce W. Speck is Provost and Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs at Austin Peay State University in Tennessee. Sherry L. Hoppe has been president of Austin Peay State University since 2000.

Sharing Sacred Stories: Current Approaches to Spiritual Direction / edited by Robert Frager, New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 2007, VI, 172 pages, ISBN: 978-0-824-52446-3. In this volume, world-renown authors active in the field of spiritual direction offer their wisdom about the core components of spiritual guidance across diverse religious and cultural traditions. The fifteen chapters of the book are didived into five sections: perspectives on spiritual direction and guidance; spiritual direction and transpersonal psychology; spiritual direction and the mystics; spiritual direction in alternative settings; and group spiritual direction. Robert Frager, founder of the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, introduces this resource for seekers, directors, and teachers.

A Sociology of Spirituality / edited by Kieran Flanagan and Peter Jupp, Aldershot, England; Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2007 (Theology and Religion in Interdisciplinary Perspective Series), XIV, 269 pages, ISBN: 978-0-7546-5458-2. The emergence of spirituality in contemporary culture in holistic forms suggests that organised religions have failed. This thesis is explored and disputed in this book in ways that mark important critical divisions. This is the first collection of essays to assess the significance of spirituality in the sociology of religion. The authors explore the relationship of spirituality to the visual, individualism, gender, identity politics, education and cultural capital. The relationship between secularisation and spirituality is examined and consideration is given to the significance of Simmel in relation to a sociology of 1536-08_SIS18(2008)_19_Book 30-10-2008 13:56 Pagina 402

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spirituality. Problems of defining spirituality are debated with reference to its expression in the UK, the USA, France and Holland. Kieran Flanagan is Reader in Sociology at the University of Bristol, UK. Peter C. Jupp is Golders Green Foundation Research Fellow in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Durham, UK.

Spiritualität & Management / edited by Thomas Dienberg, Gregor Fasel and Michael Fischer, Münster [etc.]: LIT Verlag, 2007 (Kirche – Management – Spiritualität; Vol. 1), 232 pages, ISBN: 978-3-8258-0908-9. Management and spirituality seem to be two domains, that have very little to do with each other. It’s true, managers do go to monasteries more and more for short retreats to be fitted out again for their daily management tasks. But a scientific discussion between the two or even a spiritual management of business seems unimaginable. This book tries to initiate this very discussion. Innovation and change play an important part, precisely in businesses with a Christian spirituality. That goes for the Church and its institutions for two thousand years now, that goes the same today for businesses, that engage in the discussion of values.

Spirituality as a Public Good / edited by Luc Bouckaert and Laszlo Zsolnai, Antwerpen; Apeldoorn: Garant Uitgevers, 2007 (European SPES Cahier; Vol. 1), 111 pages, ISBN: 978-90-4412-156-8. The ongoing process of globalisation, deconstructing our familiar social identities and institutional settings, makes it necessary to find new and deeper sources of self-orientation and moral imagination. Formal rational ethics does not suffice. Ethics needs spirituality as a driver to find its inner purpose and meaning. Selected papers from the foun- dational meeting of the European SPES Forum in Leuven (Belgium) in 2005, explore the fascinating relationship between spirituality, ethics and economics in the context of globalisation. The first part focuses on the emergence of spirituality within economics and business while the second part elaborates on the influence of globalisation on spirituality. It is said that globalisation made the world into a global village, are we heading for a world spirituality?

Spirituality in Educational Leadership / edited by Paul Houston, Alan Blankstein, Robert Cole, Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, 2008 (The Soul of Educational Leadership Series) XVI, 188 pages, ISBN: 978-1-4129-4941-5 (cloth); 978-1-4129-4942-2 (pbk). This fourth volume of The Soul of Educational Leadership series offers key strategies for identifying the moral and ethical dimensions of school leadership practice. With thought- provoking contributions from top leadership figures like Terrence E. Deal, Dawna Markova, and Scott Thompson, this enlightening resource combines research with inno- vative ideas for practice and emphasizes: spirituality within a life-sustaining context; the role of spirituality in empowering leaders as agents for transformative change; and a moral obligation to create safe and supportive learning spaces for students. This book helps educators align everyday practice with core values in ways that will make a significant difference in their professional and personal lives. Alan M. Blankstein is Founder and President of the HOPE Foundation, a not-for-profit organization whose Honorary Chair is Nobel Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The HOPE Foundation 1536-08_SIS18(2008)_19_Book 30-10-2008 13:56 Pagina 403

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(Harnessing Optimism and Potential through Education) is dedicated to supporting educational leaders over time in creating school cultures where failure is not an option for any student.

Spirituality, Social Justice, and Language Learning / edited by David Smith and Terry Osborn, Charlotte, NC: IAP – Information Age Pub., 2007 (Contemporary Language Education Serie), VI, 174 pages, ISBN: 978-1-59311-599-9 (paperback); ISBN: 978- 1-59311-600-2 (hardcover). This book sets out to explore the intersections between matters not frequently yoked in academic discussions: spirituality, social justice, and the learning of world languages. The contributing authors contend not only that these intersections exist, but that they are the site of issues and realities that require the attention of language educators and point to avenues of growth for the language teaching profession. The essays included seek to indicate the possibilities of a neglected area of inquiry, not only in terms of theory but also in terms of the practices of language education. Given this aim of opening up fresh questions, the book is arranged so as to show the relevance of the nexus of spirituality and social justice to teacher education (chapters 3 and 4), language classroom practices (chapters 5 and 6), and the theoretical sources that inform scholarly discussion of language education (chapters 7 and 8). The opening chapters place these explora- tions in a larger context by showing how they fit into existing social contexts and academic discussions.

Tanner, Beth LaNeel, The Book of Psalms Through the Lens of Intertextuality, New York [etc.]: Peter Lang Publishing Group, 2001 (Studies in Biblical Literature; Vol. 26), XIV, 207 pages, ISBN: 978-0-8204-4969-2. Even in an era of expanding methodologies for biblical studies, psalms study seems to be stuck in the old tracks of form criticism. While often beneficial, form criticism excludes two important ways of reading the psalms: that of reading the psalms with the narratives of the Hebrew Scriptures as the historical superscriptions suggest, and that of a feminist reading by expanding an exclusive focus on the cult. This book looks to correct these problems by investigating the psalms via intertextual method, both by seeing the psalms as intertextual – made up of a multitude of other texts – and by reading the psalms intertex- tually with texts outside the psalms. This book also introduces the reader to the variety of intertextual theories in the literary guild and develops an intertextual hermeneutic of biblical study based on these theories that bridges the gap between literary theory and the practice of biblical interpretation. Beth LaNeel Tanner is Assistant Professor of Old Testament at New Brunswick Theological Seminary and chairs the Book of Psalms Section in the Society of Biblical Literature. She received her PhD in Bible from Princeton Theological Seminary. She has presented numerous papers on studies in biblical literature and has aut- hored two articles on lament psalms. See the more in-depth review by Dr Lia van Aalsum on the website of the Institute in the Bulletin Board section of Spirin.

Theologie der Spiritualität – Spiritualität der Theologie(n): Eine Fächerübergreifende Grund- lagenstudie / edited by Erwin Möde, Regensburg: Friedrich Pustet, 2007 (Eichstätter Studien – Neue Folge; Vol. 57), 287 pages, ISBN: 978-3-7917-2093-7. 1536-08_SIS18(2008)_19_Book 30-10-2008 13:56 Pagina 404

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From different perspectives authors try to establish the meaning of spirituality for theology. They ask what a theology of spirituality has to accomplish and to what extent spirituality leaves its mark on theology/ies. With that, amongst other things, is described why a philosopher should be interested in theology (and also its spirituality), or the influence of spiritual movements on the course of Church history is examined. Special attention is paid to the theme of ‘spirituality in the present-day training for the priesthood’. The contributions in the book are divided into two parts: Theological Pespectives by Ger- man authors and Pedagogical Realizations by Polish authors, while the editor opens the volume with a fundamental article about what theology of spirituality is. The work is the outcome of the German-Polish conference about theology of spirituality at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt in 2006. Erwin Möde (1954), Dr. theol., Dr. theol. habil., is professor of Christian Spirituality and Homiletics at the Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt.

Unamuno (y Jugo), Miguel (de) (1864-1936), Treatise on love of God / edited and translated [from the Spanish] from the manuscripts with textual notes by Nelson R. Orrin- ger, Urbana [etc.]: University of Illinois Press, 2007 (Hispanisms), XXXVIII, 180 pages, ISBN: 978-0-252-03124-3 (Original title: Tratado del amor de Dios). Miguel de Unamuno, perhaps the most influential author of modern Spain, wrote his book at the height of his career after suffering a crisis of religious faith. Like Saint Augus- tine’s Confessions and much of Kierkegaard, this work is a study of religious inwardness, and proposes to analyze how God can be found within as a beloved person. Not content with simple introspection, the author also considers Church fathers like Athanasius, Origen, and Tertullian as well as modern religious scholars like Albrecht Ritschl, Auguste Sabatier, and Ernest Renan. Although the author abandoned plans to publish the volume after Pope Pius X issued an encyclical against modernist theology, it deserves serious study as a prelude to his immensely successful Tragic Sense of Life and the concentrated work of a great thinker on a deeply serious subject. Novelist, essayist, poet, playwright, and philosopher, Miguel de Unamuno (1864-1936) won international renown for the courage and intelligence of his repeated challenges to the Spanish government. Nelson R. Orringer is the professor emeritus in the department of Modern and Classical Lan- guages at the University of Connecticut.

Violence and Christian Spirituality: An Ecumenical Conversation / edited by Emmanuel Clapsis, Geneva: WCC Publications; Brookline, MA: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 2007, XVII, 329 pages, ISBN: 978-2-8254-1505-4. What is the relationship of our Christian faith to the violence we see in the world? How do we respond to violence in a manner that is rooted in our faith and our relationship to God? In this relationship with a God of peace and justice, how do we experience peace and justice in our own lives and labour so that they may be realised in the lives of others, in our communities, and in our world? These are some of the questions addressed by a number of theologians and lay people from different Christian traditions when they met in 2005 for an ecumenical conversation on Violence and Christian Spirituality. Edited by the Orthodox theologian, Fr Emmanuel Clapsis, their papers cover issues such as Christian witness in overcoming violence, including reference to the 1536-08_SIS18(2008)_19_Book 30-10-2008 13:56 Pagina 405

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World Council of Churches’ Decade to Overcome Violence (2001-2010), the churches’ response to domestic violence, religious freedom and human rights, and contributions towards an ecumenical spirituality for a culture of peace. Emmanuel Clapsis is Profes- sor of Systematic Theology of the Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, Brookline, Massachusetts, USA, where the conference took place.

Waar de Ziel Haar Naam Verliest: Handschrift Brussel KB 3067-3073, fol. 2r-9v.: Parel- tjes van Nederlandse en Rijnlandse Mystiek / introduction and comment Elisabeth Hense; transcription and translation Nel Kouwenhoven, Leuven: Peeters, 2007, IV, 84 pages, ISBN: 978-90-429-1853-5. One of the oldest Medieval Dutch texts that have been saved, is a manuscript in the Koninklijke Bibliotheek, Bruxelles: 3067-3073. The first piece of this manuscript comes from the vicinity of Meister Eckhart and deals with the nameless ground of the soul, which is a secret entrance to the Godhead. The text has a quieting and slowing down effect. It opens up room in the reader and keeps his concentration in a relaxed way on the Godhead and this way it asserts its relaxing influence on the mind. The soul becomes eye in the eye, ear in the ear, ground in the ground, being in the being. The text is disclosed in three steps: (1) the exploration of its literary-historical context, (2) the presentation of the text in its original form and in contemporary Dutch, (3) the comment on its mystical content.

Webb, Val, Like Catching Water in a Net: Human Attempts to Describe the Divine, New York: Continuum, 2007, XII, 256 pages, ISBN: 978-0-8264-2891-2. The author attempts to set out intuitions or intimations of the Divine nature and attributes from the stories and poems of the world’s religions. In this book, the author is not out to prove the existence of a God or the Divine, but to set out intuitions or intimations of the Divine nature and attributes from the stories and literature of the world’s religions. Casting her net more widely than Karen Armstrong in The History of God or Jack Miles in God: A Biography, the author delves deeply into the poetry and sayings of Sufi, Buddhist, and Hindu mystics, the nature religion of the ancient Mesopotamians, their kin the Israelites, and the Aboriginal people of her own beloved Australia. Val Webb is a university lecturer in religion, with a graduate degree in science and a PhD in theology. Dividing her time between the U.S. and Australia, she teaches every year at Augs- burg College in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Whitley College in Melbourne.

Wilson, Ken, Jesus Brand Spirituality: He Wants His Religion Back, Colorado Springs, CO: Thomas Nelson, 2008, 240 pages, ISBN-13: 978-0-8499-2053-0. ‘Jesus wants his religion back… so it can be for the world again’. So begins this book by Ken Wilson, a pastor, practitioner and pilgrim to engage those drawn to the fascinating figure buried in the messy field of religion. This volume is for those disillusioned by the current swirl of cultural conflict, moralism, and religious meanness that amounts to a form of trademark infringement on the movement that bears his name. Combining candor, curiosity and rare insight, the author explores four dimensions of the spirituality Jesus left in his wake – active, contemplative, biblical, and communal. Practical, engaging and compelling, this fresh illumination of an ancient path is both moving and thought provoking. 1536-08_SIS18(2008)_19_Book 30-10-2008 13:56 Pagina 406

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‘With Wisdom Seeking God’: The Academic Study of Spirituality / edited by U. Agnew, B. Flanagan and G. Heylin, Leuven: Peeters, 2008 (Studies in Spirituality Supplements; Vol. 15), X, 288 pages, ISBN: 978-90-429-2030-9. The distinctiveness of this volume is its European texture derived from papers delivered at the first European Spirituality Conference held at Milltown Institute, Dublin, Ireland in June 2004. Its aim is to extend the horizons of understanding of the discipline of Spirituality as it is being mapped by some of the most experienced voices in the field. The idea for the conference drew inspiration from the work of the US founded Society for the Study of Christian Spirituality, whose recent President, Dr Stephanie Paulsell, delivered the keynote address. Among the features of this three-part publication is an exploration of methodologies for the study of Christian spirituality, interdisciplinary conversations with scholars from varied fields of scholarship and topics which demonstrate how spirituality is applied in a variety of situations and locations. Along with the well-known voices of Philip Sheldrake, Kees Waaijman, Dominique Salin SJ and Leif Gunner Engedal, a number of prominent Irish voices in the field of spirituality are given an international forum for the first time. Drs Bernadette Flanagan and Una Agnew are Associate Professors of Spirituality at the Milltown Institute. Together with a post graduate colleague and recently published author, Greg Heylin, they furnish Preface and Introductions for this three-part publication.

Zweerman, T.H. and Goorbergh E.A. van den, Saint Francis of Assisi, A Guide for Our Times: His Biblical Spirituality / translated by M.S. Damsté, Leuven: Peeters, 2007 (Fiery Arrow; Vol. 8), XII, 237 pages, ISBN: 978-90-429-1955-6. However interesting and important the stories by his contemporaries are, there is no better place to discover the most profound inspiration of Saint Francis of Assisi than in his own writings. These prayers, poems, proverbs, rules and letters are a gold-mine for those who wish to delve into his thoroughly biblical spirituality. He reveals himself in them as being someone who was permanently touched and marked by his encounter with Christ. In brief: the seeker of God who considered his fellow-creatures as his brothers and sisters; someone who even these days still exerts an unequalled magnetism due to his radical following of Christ. However this does not mean that his biblically inspired radiance does not need to be translated to the challenges of modern life. This is because the eight centuries separating us from him form a wide chasm. In a small way, this book endeavours to contribute to the actualisation of Francis’ charisma: a freely chosen life- style characterised by having no possessions as well as by courageous service and cour- teous respect to others. What can his biblical ‘art of living’ signify for the modern individual who jealously guards his or her freedom in a world marked by excessive planning and omnipresent technology, and who at the same time is usually not quite sure for whom or for what he or she is actually free?