Spiritual Journey Press

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Welcome to Spiritual Journey Press!  Let's explore our journeys together!  Use the mail order form  to purchase Endless Possibilities and other Spiritual Journey Press products. 

This bibliography of spirituality books is compiled from previous Books lists, and is updated monthly.   A variety of perspectives, cultures and literary categories are represented.  For your convenience (since many of these books may not be readily available in your local bookstore), I have directly linked each book to its page at Amazon.com; just click its title and you can order in no time! Spiritual Journey Press is an associate of Amazon.com.  To quickly reach an author you are interested in, click the first letter of his/her last name:

A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z

A

Peter Ackroyd, The Life of Thomas More.  Whitbread award-winning biographer Peter Ackroyd masterfully introduces us to one of the great figures in England's history.

Jensine Andresen and Robert Foreman (editors), Cognitive Models and Spiritual Maps : Interdisciplinary Explorations of Religious Experience.

James B. Ashbrook, Carol Rausch Albright, and Anne Harrington, The Humanizing Brain : Where Religion and Neuroscience Meet.  The authors raise the question of the connection between the brain's drive to seek meaning and reality and religion.

W.H. Auden, Forewards and Afterwards.  In the first half of the book, Auden has written a brilliant set of essays on Christian doctrine, thought and mysticism. The essays on Protestant Mysticism and Kierkegaard are worth the price of the entire volume.

Augustine, The Confessions. Augustine's autobiographical account of his journey to Christ is rightly acclaimed a spiritual masterpiece.

B

Howard Baker, Soul Keeping.  Baker speaks with deep humility and honesty about the course of his own journey, and reminds of us that even our "desert" experiences can trigger spiritual growth.  Soul Keeping is an accessible entry into the classical Christian tradition of spiritual formation.

Henry T. Blackaby, Experiencing God.  This book makes the Christian life come alive by deepening the Christian's grasp and experience of God's love, presence and spiritual power. 

John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress.  This is still the best description of the classical spiritual journey, as viewed from a Protestant perspective.

C

The Cloud of Unknowing (author unknown).  In this fourteenth century spiritual masterpiece, the author asserts that we must go beyond intellectual knowledge and directly experience God through love, humility and contemplation. 

Henry Cloud and John Townsend, How People Grow : What the Bible Reveals About Personal Growth .  Starting with the premise that all growth is spiritual growth, the authors then expound on the concept. Cloud postulates that we spend too much time focusing on problems, rather than on root issues.

Robert Coles, The Secular Mind.  Coles is a professor of psychiatry and medical humanities at Harvard.  The Secular Mind is an intellectual ramble through the past few centuries.  Coles seeks to show how literary giants anticipated twentieth century secular culture.  The book is weaker as he looks to the future.  Many of Coles' other books are worthy of note.  The Call to Service examines community service and altruism, and contains plenty of sermon illustrations.  Coles has spent a great deal of time studying the moral and spiritual growth of children.  Two representative works are The Spiritual Life of Children and The Moral Intelligence of Children.

Benjamin Conley, The Spiritual Connection: Values, Faith and Psychotherapy.  Benjamin is a member of the SJP list.

N. Gordon Cosby, By Grace Transformed.  Cosby's insists on maintaining both an inner spiritual life and a commitment to social justice, and this reminds us of the Endless Possibilities' description of the redemptive and mission level journeys.  

D

Eugene G. D'Aquili, Andrew B. Newberg, The Mystical Mind : Probing the Biology of Religious Experience.  Building on an explanation of the basic structure of the brain, the authors focus on parts most relevant to human experience, emotion, and cognition.

Joseph Dan (editor),  The Early Kabbalah (Classics of Western Spirituality).

Marva Dawn, Keeping the Sabbath Wholly.  In a busy age, observing Sabbath spirituality is a difficult challenge.  Marva Dawn invites us to reconsider the Sabbath's potential for our spiritual growth.

Helen De Borchgrave, A Journey into Christian Art.  For all who want to broaden and deepen their appreciation of religious art, this magnificent volume offers over 100 superb color reproductions of some of the world’s greatest paintings.

Bruce Demarest, Satisfy Your Soul: Restoring the Heart of Christian Spirituality.  This is an excellent overview of the subject of spiritual formation from an evangelical perspective. 

Tim Dowley (editor), Introduction to the History of Christianity.  The 2000-year history of Christianity is a dramatic, intriguing, and often surprising story, told here by more than sixty specialists from ten countries.

E

Tilden Edwards,  Sabbath Time: Understanding and Practice for Contemporary Christians.  The director of the Shalem Institute shares his insights into the spirituality of Sabbath keeping.  Consider also Edward's classic Spiritual Friend and Living in the Presence: Spiritual Exercises to Open Our Lives to the Awareness of God.   Living Simply Through the Day is a revised and updated version of a book Edwards wrote 20 years ago, and it is still relevant to our situation.   

Shusaku Endo, A Life of Jesus.   The greatest Japanese novelist of the twentieth century shares Jesus with non-Christian Japanese readers by taking a novelist's approach to the Gospel narratives.  Two other works by Endo which explore Christian themes are The Girl I left Behind and The Final Martyrs.

Shusaku Endo, Silence. The story of a seventeenth century Portuguese missionary-priest who is persecuted in Japan.  This novel probes the meaning of the Cross and the suffering of Jesus as European Christianity and Japanese culture and tradition confront one another.  

F

Steven Fanning, Mystics of the Christian Tradition.   Steven Fanning is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Bruce S. Feiler, Walking the Bible : A Journey by Land Through the Five Books of Moses.  The story of Bruce Feiler's 10,000-mile trek from Mount Ararat to Mount Nebo, undertaken for reasons he did not understand at the outset and accompanied by a companion who was very nearly a stranger.

Daniel Fountain, God, Medicine and Miracles.  Dr. Fountain is well-known as an American Baptist medical missionary. His new book shares an important truth: people find more complete healing when treated as integrated persons.

Monica Furlong, Merton: A Biography. A short but servicable biography of the Trappist monk.

G

Joseph Giovannoli, The Biology of Belief: How Our Biology Biases Our Beliefs and Perceptions.

Hugh Goddard,  A History of Christian-Muslim Relations.  Surveys the complex and ever-changing relationships between the Muslim and Christian faiths and cultures. 

John Grisham, The Testament.  A novel about a lawyer who embarks on a journey of spiritual discovery in Brazil, where a female Baptist missionary is serving.  Also enjoy his Christmas novel, Skipping Christmas!

H

Thich Nhat Hanh, Living Buddha, Living Christ.  This Vietnamese Buddhist monk was a friend of Thomas Merton's.  Living Buddha, Living Christ, is a fascinating series of reflections in which Hanh reinterprets Christ's (and the Holy Spirit's) significance from a Buddhist perspective.  I disagree with much of what he states, but this is a great book for someone trying to understand Buddhist- Christian dialogue.  The audiocassette is performed well.  Fragrant Palm Leaves: Journals 1962-1966 is a newly translated journal chronicling Hanh's stay in the U.S. (1962-1964) and return to Viet Nam (1965-1966).  He argues for an "engaged' Buddhism (one that seeks to help solve societal problems using Buddhist principles).

Jon Hassler, North of Hope.  Hassler's portrayal of Father Frank Healy proves he knows that pastors, missionaries and preachers are real people. 

David Hazard, editor.  Rekindling The Inner Fire 40 Day Devotional Series

Early Will I Seek You : A 40-Day Journey in the Company of Augustine
A Day in Your Presence : A 40-Day Journey in the Company of Francis of Assisi
Majestic Is Your Name : A 40-Day Journey in the Company of Theresa of Avila 
You Set My Spirit Free : A 40-Day Journey in the Company of John of the Cross  

Ernest Hemingway, True at First Light.  A novel by Hemingway on a spiritual books list???   Hemingway has been a favorite of mine since high school.  In this semi-autobiographical novel, he actually does talk about the human soul (see pages 170-173). audiocassette

Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Sabbath.  There is no better work on the spirituality of the Sabbath than this brief reflection by one of the greatest Jewish writers of this century. 

James Hilton, Lost Horizon.  This is the story of the spiritual journey of Robert Conway, a British diplomat in 1930's war-torn China.  His plane is hijacked and he is carried off to Shangri-la, where he meets a lama (actually a Catholic missionary who is centuries old) who commits the idyllic valley community to his safekeeping.  Will Conway accept this call and stay?

James Houston, The Transforming Power of Prayer : Deepening Your Friendship With God.

Irving Howe, A Margin of Hope.  Why recommend an intellectual autobiography composed by a politically liberal/socialist Jewish literary critic?  A Margin of Hope is a tour de force of the mind. 

Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order.

I

Moshe Idel, Messianic Mystics and Mystical Union in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam : An Ecumenical Dialogue.

J

Lewis Jacobs, The Schocken Book of Jewish Mystical Testimonies : A Unique and Inspiring Collection of Accounts by People Who Have Encountered God. This work brings together the few accounts we have by Jewish mystics of their encounters with the divine.

St. John of the Cross, Dark Night of the Soul.  The small but profound work on the mystical life which forever changed my own spiritual journey.  St. John's understanding of the stages of the contemplative journey has never been surpassed, but it is not a book for beginners. 

John Paul II and Interreligious Dialogue (Faith Meets Faith) by Byron L. Sherwin (Editor), Harold Kasimow (Editor), Pope John Paul II, Edward I. Cassidy.  A compendium of the Pope's views on Judaism, Buddhism and Islam.

A Pilgrim Pope : Messages for the World by Pope John Paul II, Achille, Cardinal Silvestrini (Editor).  The most traveled Pope in history has an extraordinary burden for evangelism.   Here is a collection of sermons he has preached to audiences all around the world.

Faith According to St. John of the Cross. by Pope John Paul II Tr. by Jordan Aumann. Based on the author's thesis presented at Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, Rome, this book exposes the mystical roots of John Paul's life and theology.  Unfortunately, it is currently out of print, but Amazon.com is pretty good at finding copies of such books.

Philip Jenkins, Hidden Gospels : How the Search for Jesus Lost its Way.   In this book, Philip Jenkins takes on the interpretations of Jesus Seminar scholars and provides historical and textual evidence to contradict them. 

Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love.  Julian's writings are filled with wisdom. Quick Quote: "Then our Lord opened my spiritual eyes, and showed me the soul in the middle of my heart."

K

Walter C. Kaiser, Jr., Revive Us Again : Bibical Insights for Encouraging Spiritual Renewal.  This call to spiritual renewal is unique in that the messages are based on Old Testament passages (what did you expect from a professor of Old Testament?).  

Jon Katz, Running to the Mountain.  Katz is a fifty year old Jewish man who doesn't believe in religion, but who nevertheless wants to discover a "spirituality" which does not depend upon faith in God or church.  He brings Merton's works as his inspirational guide.

Aryeh Kaplan (translator and commentator), .Bahir and Sefer Yetzirah. 

Morton Kelsey, The Other Side of Silence : Meditation for the Twenty-First Century.  Twenty years ago, The Other Side of Silence was published, the first book to join Christian meditation with Jungian psychology. This is the revised edition.

Morton Kelsey, Spiritual Living in a Material World.  This little gem of a book by a modern pioneer in the field of Christian spirituality is well worth the few dollars it costs to own.  Kelsey provides a basic primer on a number of spiritual disciplines and on journeying in general. 

Morton Kelsey, The Drama of Christmas: Letting Christ into Our Lives.  A nice set of meditations on the Christmas narratives from the well-known spirituality author.

L

C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves.   The Four Loves are affection, friendship, erotic love and our love of God.  See also  The Chronicles of Narnia BOXED SET.   This set includes: The Magician's Nephew/The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe/The Horse and His Boy/Prince Caspian/Voyage of the Dawn Treader/The Silver Chair/The Last Battle.  For a younger reader than the Hobbit series.

Jean-Marie Cardinal Lustiger, Choosing God, Chosen by God.  This is an encounter with the thoughts, convictions, life and faith of Cardinal Lustiger, Archbishop of Paris and one of the most articulate and intriguing voices in the Church today.  In a wide-ranging and in-depth interview, Lustiger--a convert from Judaism--provides insights into his own life as well as answering many spiritual questions.  Consider also these other books by Lustiger: Dare to Believe: Addresses, Sermons, Interviews, 1981-1984 and Dare to Live.  

M

Daniel Chanan Matt (editor), Zohar : The Book of Enlightenment (Classics of Western Spirituality).

Bernard McGinn, The Foundations of Mysticism, Origins to Fifth Century. This is a classic scholarly introduction to the beginnings of Christian mysticism and the monastic movement. 

Cathleen Medwick, Teresa of Avila : The Progress of a Soul.  An impressive new biography of Saint Teresa (1515-1582), widely considered one of the greatest mystics and woman reformers of the Renaissance.  

Thomas Merton, The Seven Storey Mountain.  A classic twentieth century spiritual autobiography written by a Trappist monk whose writings have reached millions of people.  The Seven Storey Mountain is Merton's first published journal and the best way to begin one's journey with this prolific writer.   It will take you up to his entrance into Gethsemeni Monastery in Kentucky.  In the next journal, The Sign of Jonas, Merton's initial enthusiasm and naivete begin to confront the reality of life as a Trappist.  Five later journals have been published, taking us to the end of his life.  The most controversial, Learning to Love (vol. 6), chronicles Merton's struggle with human love and solitude.  Besides the journals, Merton wrote thousands of letters to a veritable pantheon of luminaries.  I enjoyed Shannon's collection, The Hidden Ground of Love. The Asian Journal of Thomas Merton is Merton's most fascinating journal, covering his trip in 1968 to Asia (during which he died).  Merton wrote so extensively that it is possible to be overwhelmed with the breadth of his interests.  This is one of the reasons why I enjoy him so thoroughly; too many modern writers are so parochial in their vision.  After reading Merton's first two journals, I would recommend Life and Holiness, The Wisdom of the Desert (a collection of monastic episodes which makes a great devotional aid), Seasons of Celebration (essays on spirituality based on the church calendar).  Love and Living is an interesting complement to Learning to Love, while The Ascent to Truth is Merton's attempt to explain St. John of the Cross; people not familiar with John should not attempt this book.  For those who wish to sample the full range of Merton's writings in a single volume, I would recommend A Thomas Merton Reader.  Merton's poetry has been collected into a single volume: The Collected Poems of Thomas Merton.

Michael Mott, The Seven Mountains of Thomas Merton.  An excellent biography of Merton.

Gordon Mursell (editor), The Story of Christian Spirituality : Two Thousand Years, from East to West.  Drawing from East and West, the authors present a full and fascinating picture of humanity’s desire for the divine—across the centuries. 

N

Andrew Newberg, M.D., Eugene D'Aquili, M.D., and Vince Rause, Why God Won't Go Away : Brain Science and the Biology of Belief.

Henri J. M. Nouwen, The Way of the Heart. This slim volume is one of the best introductions to solitude, silence and prayer I have read. 

O

Darcy O'Brien, The Hidden Pope : The Untold Story of a Lifelong Friendship That Is Changing the Relationship Between Catholics and Jews : The Personal Journey of John Paul II.  A more focused biography of John Paul's life, which is unique due to its emphasis on how a personal friendship with a Jew has impacted the Pope's views on Judaism.

P

J. I. Packer, A Quest for Godliness : The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life.  An excellent survey of Puritan spirituality by a renowned evangelical theologian.  

J. I. Packer, Knowing God.   As the book's title states, the purpose of the work is to draw us into a deeper personal relationship with God.  A very inexpensive Knowing God Study Guide ($4.99 retail; Amazon.com sells it for $3.99) is also available.

Katherine Paterson, Jacob Have I Loved. A beautiful story of two sisters growing up in the Chesapeake Bay region, with allusions to the Biblical Jacob and Esau rivalry. 

Richard V. Peace, Conversion in the New Testament.  By showing how conversion can take place either suddenly or gradually over time, Peace gives good reasons, and suggests practical ways, to replace one-sided evangelism techniques with more holistic methods. 

Q

R

Ronald Rolheiser, The Holy Longing.  You have to admire a Catholic priest who opens a book on Christian spirituality by discussing the spirituality of Mother Teresa, Madonna and Princess Diana! 

S

Francis Schaeffer, True Spirituality.  An evangelical classic.  Putting Christ's redemptive power at the center of Christianity, this book characterizes true spirituality by its results: humanity's freedom from sin, emotional and spiritual wholeness, and unity with other people.

Gershom Scholem, Zohar : The Book of Splendor : Basic Readings from the Kabbalah.

Michael Sells (editor), Early Islamic Mysticism : Sufi, Quran, Miraj, Poetic and Theological Writings (Classics of Western Spirituality).

James Bryan Smith, A Spiritual Formation Workbook.  Based on Richard Foster's Renovare renewal movement, this small group workbook reviews the key spiritual contributions of 5 major Christian traditions (contemplative, holiness, charismatic, social justice, and evangelical). 

James Smith and Richard Foster, Devotional Classics.  This is an excellent collection of 52 writings from mystics and saints. 

John Stott, Basic Christianity.  An evangelical classic which has been used by countless Sunday School classes. 

John Stott,  Evangelical Truth: A Personal Plea for Unity, Integrity, and Faithfulness. 

T

Mother Teresa, Everything Starts from Prayer: Mother Teresa's Meditations on Spiritual Life for People of All Faiths.  This slim work records Teresa's sayings on prayer, love, silence and service, and serves nicely as a devotional primer for people just starting out in their spiritual lives.

The Life of Teresa of Jesus : The Autobiography of Teresa of Avila by St. Teresa of Avila, E. Allison Peers (Editor).  This is Teresa's own account of her life journey and ministry, and it is considered a classic in the history of Christian autobiography.

J.R.R. Tolkien,  The Hobbit and the Complete Lord of the Rings, the Fellowship of the Ring, the Two Towers, the Return of the King/Boxed Set.  These four books transported me into an adventurous world as a teenager.  More than fantasy, the spiritual journey lessons are deep and lavishly illustrated.

Michel Tournier,  The Four Wise Men.  Tournier's creative retelling of Van Dyke's classic is an outstanding work for adult readers.  The journey of the magi is inspirational and touching.

A.W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy and The Pursuit of God.   Delve into the attributes of God in a prayerful way with a master!  Tozer's style is compelling.  Take, for example, this quote from The Knowledge of the Holy:  "Upon God's faithfulness rests our whole hope of future blessedness."  Amen!

Desmund Tutu, No Future Without Forgiveness. Tutu's newest book chronicles South Africa's attempt to come to terms with its apartheid past by creating a Commission of National Reconciliation, which operated on the basis of a Christian view of confession, repentance and forgiveness.

U

Evelyn Underhill, Mysticism.   Mysticism, first published in 1911, was at once hailed as a classic and swiftly established its author as the foremost authority on the subject in the English-speaking world.  Also see Fragments from an Inner Life : The Notebooks of Evelyn Underhill.  Evelyn Underhill recorded her inner life--her private thoughts--in two notebooks, written between 1921 and 1936. Greene has combined Underhill's entries with commentary that gives context and relevant biographical information.  Also consider these works by one of the great scholars of Christian spirituality:  Concerning the Inner Life and The Spiritual Life.

V

Henry Van Dyke,  The Story of the Other Wise Man.   On the centennial of its first publication, The Story of the Other Wise Man still glows with the eternal essence of Christmas, which is love.  

W

Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Church.  This book has found tremendous success in communicating how churches can fulfill their mission journeys.  If this reminds you of my Endless Possibilities' emphasis on God's will and fufilling our "goal-oriented" journeys, give yourself a pat on the back!

Robert E. Webber, Ancient-Future Faith: Rethinking Evangelicalism for a Postmodern World.   In this book, he discusses how the early church's practices of worship, teaching and outreach can guide our mission in today's culture. 

George Weigel, Witness To Hope.  This new biography of the Pope is extraordinary because the author had a great deal of access to John Paul II, and is very sympathetic to his journey experience and world-view.

Simone Weil, Gravity and Grace. Weil's reflections on gravity and grace, detachment, and attention (as prayer) are illuminating and brilliant. 

Simone Weil, Waiting for God.  Born Jewish, this French mystic delighted in being outside the Catholic Church while believing in Jesus.  Her observations are often brilliantly insightful, especially when she talks about prayer as "waiting" and "attention." 

Donald S. Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life.   Whitney encourages the quest for godliness (the goal of the classical spiritual journey paradigm) through the employment of spiritual disciplines. 

Elie Wiesel, Memoirs: All Rivers Run to the Sea and And the Sea is Never Full.  Wiesel takes us back to his childhood shtetl, his religious upbringing, and inevitably, to the night of the Holocaust - and beyond.  This is a beautifully written book - sad and profound, moving in its joy and darkness.  The second installment is an incredible read, but quite different from the first.  Wiesel reveals a darker, judgmental, defensive, personal side.  However, his chapters on Bitburg, the creation of the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., and his friendship with Cardinal Lustiger are worth the price of the book for me.

Simon Wiesenthal, The Sunflower. About 50 famous writers from many religious backgrounds and professions respond to a real-life Holocaust dilemma posed by Wiesenthal: how should he respond to a Nazi SS prison guard, who on his deathbed asks for forgiveness? 

Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy. Willard desires to count the cost of Christian discipleship and thus rescue it from the mediocrity which is so often characteristic of church life today. 

Garry Wills, Saint Augustine (Penguin Lives).  Saint Augustine, by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and cultural critic Garry Wills, is a 145-page biography of a saint whose collected works total 13 volumes. Despite its brevity, the book offers a complex and compelling interpretation of Augustine's life and work.

Andrew Wilson-Dickson, The Story of Christian Music : From Gregorian Chant to Black Gospel : An Authoritative Illustrated Guide to All the Major Traditions of Music for Worship.  This book narrates a continuing history of such music and projects ahead to how music may be applied in worship by future generations.

N.T. Wright, Following Jesus. In this very accessible book, Wright reflects on the theme of discipleship.  The first half offers a series of NT book overviews (the one on Mark is the best). 

N.T. Wright, The Way of the Lord: Christian Pilgrimage Today.  Pilgrimage is deeper than tourism.  A tourist visits a place, while a pilgrim seeks an encounter with God utilizing place as a sign of God's presence.  Wright explores Holy Land sites and places them within the context of Christian faith. 

Robert Wuthnow,  After Heaven : Spirituality in America Since the 1950s. by Robert Wuthnow argues that professional and social mobility makes it hard for Americans to sustain spiritual life because they don't feel rooted in one place; therefore, they embark on spiritual searches "characterized more often by dabbling than by depth."

Robert Wuthnow, Creative Spirituality: The Way of the Artist.  Wuthnow zeroes in on the mysterious place where artistic creativity and the sacred meet.

Robert Wuthnow, Growing Up Religious : Christians and Jews and Their Journeys of Faith.  Wuthnow examines the lives of people who grew up religious and then later returned to practicing later in life. 

X

Y

Philip Yancey, The Bible Jesus Read.  One of the most popular contemporary evangelical writers turns his attention to 5 Old Testament books/sections in order to help readers see the wisdom of the "Bible Jesus read" in a fresh way. 

Philip Yancey, Church: Why Bother?  My Personal Pilgrimage.  Yancey honestly probes a question many of us have asked:  why bother being a part of a local congregation?   See also Soul Survivor: How My Faith Survived the Church .

Z

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