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Product Description
What is the source of personal writing? When do we begin to consider our own lives worthy of a story? These powerful and passionate selections of spiritual autobiography do not merely represent a vital literary tradition; they bring together fifty-eight writers whose search for truth and understanding has spanned over two millennia and several continents.
From Saint Augustine and Rabi'a to T. S. Eliot and Kathleen Norris, each of these autobiographers tells the story of the inner life as a spiritual quest. Although separated culturally, historically, and linguistically, they are united by their efforts to respond to Socrates' challenge to "know thyself." In four parts this insightful collection includes works by:
* Wanderers and seekers, like Leo Tolstoy and Thomas Merton, who feverishly explore many experiences and world views
* Pilgrims and missionaries, like Anne Bradstreet and David Livingstone, who unwaveringly pursue God and holiness in lives of self-sacrifice
* Mystics and visionaries, like Julian of Norwich and Annie Dillard, who discover the ecstasy of epiphany in a life of contemplation and seclusion
* Scholars and philosophers, like Simone Weil and Blaise Pascal, who seek to ground spiritual conviction in a rational certitude.
Strong, deep, and enduring, the selections in this illuminating anthology remind us that "the unexamined life is not worth living" and speak to us with an immediacy that transcends time and space.
Amazon.com Review
This anthology is broken down into the four basic categories of spiritual journeys, according to the editors. 1) Wanderers and seekers--those who pursue "all available experiences under the sun." 2) Pilgrims and missionaries--"individuals whose life goal has been the unwavering pursuit of God." 3) Mystics and visionaries--"who focus on supernatural experiences and epiphanies." 4) Philosophers and scholars--those who "demonstrate a lifelong commitment to the discernment of the truth through the exercise of the intellect."
By organizing spiritual quests into these themes, the authors create an effect that is more liberating than confining, offering a clear context for the sometimes ethereal and wrenching stories of real-life saints, rabbis, writers, and pilgrims from all walks of life. Literary heroes add their impassioned and tender stories of spiritual transformation, whether it be Leo Tolstoy's excerpt from The Confession, Madeleine L'Engle's self-revealing story of forgiveness and the sensuality of the human body, or Annie Dillard's tug of war with a loving God who allows terrible things to happen to good people. Spiritual seekers will no doubt find their own stories in this stimulating and expansive dedication to the soul's eternal pilgrimage. --Gail Hudson
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