Spiritual Traditions for the Contemporary Church [Paperback]

Robin Maas (Author), Gabriel Odonnell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1990

This volume offers a comprehensive intellectual and experiential introduction to Christian spirituality. It embraces spiritual traditions from the Patristic period to the present day. Part I, "The Roots of Contemporary Western Spirituality," covers spiritual types that have been fundamental in shaping spiritual practice. Part II, "Distinctive Spiritual Traditions," offers major introductory essays on spiritual traditions formed by such notable figures as Luther, Wesley, Ignatius, and John of the Cross, as well as ecclesiastical traditions such as Anglicanism. Part III, "The Feminine Dimension in Christian Spirituality," is devoted to Marian Spirituality, holy women, and feminism. Each of the fourteen chapters is followed by a practicum which enables readers to assimilate the practice prescribed into their own devotional life .

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Robin Maas is associate professor of Christian education, Wesley Theological Seminary.

Gabriel O'Donnell is associate professor of spiritual theology and liturgics, Dominican House of Studies, Washington, DC.

Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Abingdon Press (May 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0687392330
• ISBN-13: 978-0687392339
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #252,209 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spiritual Practices for everybody, May 4, 2003

By 

FrKurt Messick "FrKurt Messick" (Bloomington, IN USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Spiritual Traditions for the Contemporary Church (Paperback)

The book Spiritual Traditions for the Contemporary Church by Robin Maas and Gabriel O'Donnell, OP, is one of my favourite academic texts for use in the study of Christianity. It was one of the very first books I encountered when starting seminary several years ago, and it continues to be used for the SPAM class (SPAM being the student-devised short-hand for Spirituality, Autobiography & Ministry class that most incoming seminarians take). The course is a survey of both the history of and current embodiment of Christian practices across denominations and communities. Many people come to seminary with little experience of Christianity beyond their own particular denominations; some come with little experience outside their own parishes or particular congregations. Those who know more often know it in an academic sense; they have rarely been to other services or engaged in other practices. Some are not even well-versed in their own histories. One point of the course is to help people understand and recognise practices in their own lives.

This goal is well-served in part by this book by Maas and O'Donnell. The book is a combination of practicum and academic exposition. Each chapter includes a practical exercise the reader/student can engage and use to gain greater understanding from the vantage point of the `doer', as well as a section on history and explanation of denominational particularities.

Robin Maas and Garbriel O'Donnell are both editors and contributors to the text, but there is a long list of contributors who include theologians, pastors, priests, lay persons, Christian educators, and other `spirituality experts' who are familiar with practices and histories.

The goal of this book is perhaps best derived in response to a question from the first page.

`Can one spend an adult lifetime reading, teaching, thinking and writing about God and have no vital experience of God, no sense of God's presence? Indeed it is, as anyone who has spent much time in a seminary can attest.'

Many students come into seminary as seekers, and sometimes what they are seeking cannot be found in the academics of seminary teaching; sometimes what they seek is in practice, communal and private, that too often graduate school and seminary training has overlooked.

The purpose of this book is to introduce to Christians of all stripes and creeds the greater history and practice of the Church, large `C', that greater community toward whom we all imperfectly strive. Protestants, Catholics and Orthodoxers (as the three primary strands, but not, of course, the only ones) often look with wonder and suspicion upon the teachings and traditions of their fellow-travelers in the Christian community. All denominations share a common history up to a certain point; even those groups who strive to get back to a `pure Church' - problematic in formulation is ways too numerous to consider here - or a primitive, pre-divided Church, do so today only through the lens of 2000 years of history. Many people when studying Christianity give cursory thought to major thinkers and ideas prior to the foundation of their own denomination, and then begin in earnest to study the kind of Christian they happen to be, often with little appreciation for other, and often with only passing fair knowledge of the issues that caused their particular denominations to form, for such knowledge requires more in-depth study of the greater history of Christianity.

Overall Reflections
The book can sometimes be dense reading, because much history is compressed into chapters of 30-50 pages each. The practicum exercises add an interesting and unique element to this text, but really come alive if one actually engages them, rather than simply reading about them, which is a real danger for one reading this text alone. There are individual practices and group practices.

Because this book is primary intended for students in contemporary Western seminaries, not a lot of attention is given to Orthodox practice beyond the earliest times, and that is a shame. A chapter or two on contemporary Orthodox experience would be most welcome.

Ultimately, this is a book to which I refer frequently. I purchased the paperback version when I first took the class; when it became apparent to me during my first term the next year of teaching in the class that I would be using this book throughout the rest of my career as a seminarian and as a minister, I invested in the hardback edition. In fact, I now keep a copy at my office and at home. It is that valuable to me.

Robin Maas is a professor of Christian education at Wesley Theological Seminary, and Gabriel O'Donnell is a Dominican (hence, the OP after his name, which stands for Order of Preachers) professor of spiritual theology and liturgics at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC. Together they form a good pair for considering the needs of Catholics and Protestants (my concern for Orthodox inclusion is noted above).

I recommend this text for anyone who seeks greater knowledge of the culture of Christianity and the diversity of Christian practice past and present.