Spiritual Journey Press

P.O. Box 3041, Mercerville, NJ 08619

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 list of classical (pre-1900) spirituality books all have one thing in common - they all represent the Classical Christian paradigm of journeying.  In this model, the soul ascends toward God in three stages (purgation, illumination, and union of  the  soul with God in heaven through love).  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.

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. His encounter with God's love. mercy and forgiveness in a garden is an archetypal evangelical conversion.  Quick Quote: "I probed the hidden depths of my soul and wrung its pitiful secrets from it, and when I mustered them all before the eyes of my heart, a great storm broke within me, bringing with it a great deluge of tears."

Saint Augustine (Penguin Lives) by Garry Wills.  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. 

John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress.  This is still the best description of the classical spiritual journey, as viewed from a Protestant perspective.   Although often relegated to the world of children's literature, it is really a superb guide for adults who are seeking a deeper understanding of how God guides the soul into spiritual maturity.  Quick Quote: "I never thought that by awakening for sin, God at first begins the conversion of a sinner."

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, perhaps the greatest psychologist of the soul, has influenced many contemplatives over the past four centuries, including Merton, Nouwen and Pope John Paul II.  His works, along with those of Teresa of Avila, are invaluable to the more mature Christian.   John's understanding of the stages of the contemplative journey has never been surpassed, but it is not a book for beginners. 

Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love.  The Penguin Classics series is older than Paulist's, and the translations sometimes sound more dense and old-fashioned.  But for the frugal, the Penguin Classics are very inexpensive.  Julian's writings are filled with wisdom and insight. Quick Quote: "Then our Lord opened my spiritual eyes, and showed me the soul in the middle of my heart."

The Cloud of Unknowing (author unknown). This fourteenth century spiritual masterpiece has had a profound influence on Christian spirituality.  The author asserts that we must go beyond intellectual knowledge and directly experience God through love, humility and contemplation.  Quick Quote: "So if you are to stand and not fall, never give up your firm intention: beat away at this cloud of unknowing between you and God with that sharp dart of longing love."

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. 

The Desert Fathers : Translations from the Latin (Vintage Spiritual Classics) by Helen Waddell (translator), John F. Thornton (editor), M. Basil Pennington (introduction).  By the fourth century A.D., devout Christians--men and women alike--had begun to retreat from cities and villages to the deserts of North Africa and Asia Minor, where they sought liberation from their corrupt society and the confining shell of the social self. The Desert Fathers is the perfect introduction to the stories and sayings of these  pioneers of the contemplative tradition.

The Journey Toward God : In the Footsteps of the Great Spiritual Writers - Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox
by Benedict Groeschel and Kevin Perrotta.  Part 1: The Stages of the Journey:  Conversion, Purification, Mature Faith, Hope and Trust in Darkness, The Illuminative Way, Part I: The Love of Neighbor, The Illuminative Way, Part II: The Love of God, The Dark Night, The Unitive Way.  Part 2: Provisions for the Journey:  Grief and Contradiction, Religious Experience, Coming Closer to God, Prayer, Devotion.

The Prymer : The Prayer Book of the Medieval Era Adapted for Contemporary Use
translated by Robert Webber

The Obedience of a Christian Man (Penguin Classics) by William Tyndale

William Tyndale published The Obedience of a Christian Man two years after he presented his 1526 English translation of the Bible, a forbidden undertaking, which eventually led to his execution. His vigorous, direct translation of the New Testament was intended to make it accessible even to the "boy that driveth the plough." In The Obedience of a Christian Man, he articulates his religious principles in what became one of the most important publications of the first phase of the English Reformation. He boldly develops the argument that ordinary believers should live directly according to Scripture without the intervention of worldly and often corrupt popes and prelates. This fine example of English prose raises, even today, powerful questions about the challenge of living a Christian life.

The Mystical Thought of Meister Eckhart: The Man from Whom God Hid Nothing (The Edward Cadbury Lectures, 2000-2001)
by Bernard McGinn
 

Bernard McGinn is one of the foremost Christian scholars on spirituality, and his works have been featured before on the web site.  I had the privilege to hear him speak in Jerusalem last year.

Streams of Living Water: Celebrating the Great Traditions of Christian Faith
by Richard J. Foster

Streams of Living Water is Richard J. Foster's roundup of six great traditions of Christian spiritual practice. His essays on spirituality--contemplative, holiness, charismatic, social justice, evangelical, and incarnational--are grounded in straightforward profiles of biblical and modern characters whom Foster considers exemplars of these traditions. (from Amazon.com web site)

  The Desert Fathers: Sayings of the Early Christian Monks
by Benedicta Ward

Book Description (from Amazon.com):  The Desert Fathers were the first Christian monks, living in solitude in the deserts of Egypt, Palestine, and Syria. In contrast to the formalized and official theology of the "founding fathers" of the Church, they were ordinary Christians who chose to renounce the world and live lives of celibacy, fasting, vigil, prayer, and poverty in direct and simple response to the gospel. First recorded in the fourth century, their Sayings-consisting of spiritual advice, anecdotes, parables, and reflections on life-influenced the rule of St. Benedict, set the pattern for Western monasticism, and have inspired centuries of poetry, opera, and art. Organized around key themes-Charity, Fortitude, Lust, Patience, Prayer, Self-control, and Visions-this edition of the Sayings is fresh, accessible, and authoritative. About the Author: Benedicta Ward is a reader in the history of early Christian spirituality at the Theology Faculty in Oxford. She has translated The Prayers and Meditations of St. Anselm for Penguin Classics.
 

You can now access Amazon.com's new Christian Bookstore through Spiritual Journey Press!

Just click this graphic!

Copyright © 1998-2007 Spiritual Journey Press.  All rights reserved.