Customer Reviews

Communion, Community, Commonweal: Readings for Spiritual Leadership (Pathways in Spiritual Growth-Resources for Congregations and Leadership)

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This book is an excellent way for a person new to the subject of Spiritual Formation to dip into a variety of ancient spiritual practices and traditions. It will stretch you beyond your own denominational practice. I am a Presbyterian Elder and tend to the scholarly in my reading, but the essays in this book are written for the layperson and not the scholar.

John Mogabgab edits this book and the Journal Weavings. Both are very good. The book is a collection of essays from Weavings on living in God's presence or spiritual formation. The book has at least two essays for each of nine topics. Each essay is by a different author of various Christian denominations, everything from Quaker to Greek Orthodox to Presbyterian, Methodist to Roman Catholic.

The variety of traditions and authors is such that you will be comfortable with something and find much that is well outside your normal practice, but is very useful. All of the authors are top-notch. Some are among the most admired Christian authors of our time, such as Henri Nouwen. Every text of his that I have read, I have found worth reading again and again with joy.

A few of the Chapter titles with the name of the author and background follow:

Praying with Scripture by Marjorie Thompson (a Presbyterian pastor, and author of Soul Feast--an excellent text); Conditioning the Spiritual Eye: Icons as a Way to Divine Presence by Tilden Edwards (author of Living in The Presence and Director of the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation); Power, Powerlessness, and Power by Henri J. Nouwen, A Roman Catholic priest.

Reading these essays with an openness to the leading of the Holy Spirit will enrich your soul and your life.

Blessings,

Charles Kennedy