Customer Reviews

A History of Christian Spirituality: An Analytical Introduction (The Library of Episcopalian Classics)

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This work is a collection of spiritual biorgaphies and Urban T Holmes analyzes the spiritual approaches of great Christian thinkers, looking specifically at different spiritual approaches.

The introduction is fantastic. Holmes looks at the ways that people approach God on a matrix. In crude terms less technical than those used by Holmes, he contrasts a head approach with a heart approach, and a focus on the revealed things about God and a focus on the unknown mystery of God. It is really a great study of spirituality.

This book give a most concise and remarkably clear expose of the development of Christian spirituality through the last 2,000 years. This is an amazing achievement on the part of the author - given the scope of the subject matter. It's an invaluable resource for anyone researching Christian spirituality, methods of reflection, or prayer. And it has many excellent references for followup if required. I found it to be the most helpful single reference source on the topic I've ever encountered. It cannot be too highly recommended.

Not an easy read and very basic information on each person or topic. Maybe good as a reference source to look up a specific person for further research.

Urban "Terry" Holmes III, in A HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY first wrote this book in 1981. It has just been re-released and it has lost none of it's value. Holmes writes with clarity and insight and connects the various stages of development in the spirituality of the Church from the crucifixion to the present. I intend to make this book the first of several text books in a summer course at the Episcopal Ministry School for Ministry in St. Louis.