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2014 Best Book of Spirituality―Academic, from Byron Borger, Hearts and Minds Bookstore
Ever since Richard Foster wrote Celebration of Discipline in 1978, evangelicals have hungered for a deeper and more historic spirituality. Many have come to discover the wealth of spiritual insight available in the Desert Fathers, the medieval mystics, German Pietism and other traditions. While these classics have been a source of life-changing renewal for many, still others are wary of these texts and the foreign theological traditions from which they come.
The essays in this volume provide a guide for evangelicals to read the Christian spiritual classics. The contributions fall into four sections. The first three answer the big questions: why should we read the spiritual classics, what are these classics and how should we read them? The last section brings these questions together into a brief reading guide for each of the major traditions. Each essay not only explores the historical and theological context, but also expounds the appropriate hermeneutical framework and the significance for the church today.
Together these essays provide a comprehensive and charitable introduction to the spiritual classics, suitable for both those who already embrace them and those who remain concerned and cautious. Whether you are a newcomer to historic spirituality or a seasoned reader looking to go deeper, you will find this volume to be a reliable resource for years to come.
- Sales Rank: #913050 in eBooks
- Published on: 2013-06-01
- Released on: 2013-06-01
- Format: Kindle eBook
Review
"[A] striking feature of this volume is how very well written it is. Some of the chapters just sing. It should be a slam-dunk decision in course design that at least some of these chapters should be assigned in any undergraduate or graduate-level course in which the spiritual classics are accessed." (Glen G. Scorgie, Journal of Spiritual Formation & Soul Care, Spring 2014)
"Collections of essays around a common theme can be a grab bag and too often uneven in quality--both in terms of content and writing style. Happily, the writings found in Reading the Christian Spiritual Classics are uniformly excellent: informative, thorough, well written. This will be a valued collection for evangelicals just encountering the spiritual classics for the first time and a helpful and insightful resource for those already familiar with these rich treasures of the church." (Christopher Hall, Eastern University, associate editor of the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture)
"Here you have an absolutely unrivaled mapping by experts of the whole church's rich, smorgasbord heritage of Christ-centered, sanctification-focused devotional writing, most of which will be unknown to most of us. What to do with it? Take it as your tour guide and start reading its recommended texts. You will be glad you did, I promise you. Wealth awaits." (J. I. Packer, professor of theology, Regent College)
"Savvy travelers rely upon guidebooks to prepare for trips to unknown destinations. The wisdom that is found among those who have 'been there, done that' is invaluable. Goggin and Strobel have assembled a team of well-traveled experts to help us make sense of the unfamiliar world of Christian spiritual classics. Of course, among Catholic and Orthodox Christians--as well as those familiar with Reformed, Wesleyan and Pietist traditions--reading spiritual classics must feel like home. But the rest of us need reliable guides to give good advice as we visit these strange worlds we've heard so much about. Sensible, balanced, hospitable and inspiring, this collection of essays not only provides the 'how-tos' of reading the classics for spiritual formation, it places the writers of this great tradition in historical context to help us appreciate the diversity of our shared faith. A must-read for those who are ready to branch out beyond the familiar environs of their favorite Christian authors." (Rodney Reeves, Southwest Baptist University)
"The vistas of the Christian tradition open up wide in this volume on the Christian classics, with rich rewards for those searching for insight, reading for wisdom and aiming at the glory of God. This introduction to the writings of Christian spirituality is a gem, as it combines solid evangelical grounding with genuine generosity of spirit." (Hans Boersma, Regent College, Vancouver)
"This volume is a very worthwhile contribution to the growing body of literature being produced by evangelical scholars who are attempting to make known to a wider audience the rich resources of the history of Christian spirituality. The contributors are largely successful in avoiding the dangers, on the one hand, of theologically uncritical and eclectic readings of Roman Catholic and Orthodox texts, or on the other hand, of dismissing such texts and not allowing them to speak in their own voices. This book should prove to be a valuable resource and point of reference for pastors, seminarians, campus workers and those engaged in ministries of spiritual formation and direction." (John Jefferson Davis, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary)
"This collection of essays is in every sense of the word an introduction to the Christian classics for evangelicals. It gives all the right reasons for reading the classics, pointers on how to do it and a handy map to navigate through various genres and traditions. The beginner will not be disappointed while the more advanced may still pick up some useful tips from these seasoned guides." (Simon Chan, Trinity Theological College, Singapore)
About the Author
Jamin Goggin (PhD candidate, University of Wales Trinity Saint David) is a pastor at Saddleback Church. He holds an MA in spiritual formation and soul care and an MA in New Testament from Talbot School of Theology. Jamin is co-editor of Reading the Christian Spiritual Classics: A Guide For Evangelicals.
Kyle Strobel (PhD,University of Aberdeen) teaches spiritual theology for Talbot's Institute for Spiritual Formation and Spiritual Formation Focus programs. Strobel has published Jonathan Edwards' Theology: A Reinterpretation and Formed for the Glory of God: Learning from the Spiritual Practices of Jonathan Edwards. He has also published in the Harvard Theological Review, Journal of Spiritual Formation & Soul Care and Relevant magazine.
Most helpful customer reviews
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful.
An Evangelical Reading of Spiritual Classics Should Be Both Humble and Bold
By George P. Wood
In contemporary America, many people describe themselves as "spiritual, not religious." They are interested in God, prayer, and spiritual disciplines, but not in dogma or denomination. They are critical of religious people who, to them, seem concerned only with the finer points of doctrine and weekly attendance at a specific type of Christian church.
Evangelical Christians--including Pentecostals--need to listen to this critique, even as they disagree with it. The disagreement part is easy: Spirituality and religion cannot be separated so easily because what we believe and how we live are inseparable. The listening part is harder, however, because it involves recognition that many American churches--including, too often, our own--are spiritually dead. This deadness, which often manifests as persnickety dogmatism and denominational pride, in turn feeds the desire for a spirituality decoupled from organized religion.
Authentic renewal requires us to recouple religion and spirituality, faith and life, and doctrine, ecclesial communion, and vibrant experience. The 1978 publication of Richard J. Foster's Celebration of Discipline signaled the desire of many evangelicals to do precisely that. But given how Foster drew on spiritual classics from across Christian history, it also signaled the need for evangelicals to pay ecumenical attention to the best of what Christians have said and written about spirituality across the ages.
This poses a dilemma for evangelicals, however. As a movement, we are part of the "Great Tradition" of Christianity, which affirms the Trinity, Incarnation, and Atonement, among a host of doctrines held in common. Within that tradition, however, we are critical of some of the doctrinal emphases and spiritual practices of our fellow traditioners. As Western Christians, aspects of our doctrine and spirituality are distinct from and stand in tension with those of Eastern, i.e., Orthodox, Christians. As Protestants, we are critical of aspects of Catholicism: e.g., papal authority, soteriology, Mariology, sacramentalism. As evangelical Protestants, we have our own disagreements with mainline Protestants. And within evangelicalism, we have running disagreements too: Arminianism vs. Calvinism, credobaptism vs. paedobaptism, Pentecostalism vs. cessationism.
How, then, can evangelical Christians appropriate the riches of the Christian tradition without compromising our own contributions to and critique of it?
Answering that question is the agenda of Reading the Christian Spiritual Classics: A Guide for Evangelicals, edited by Jamin Goggin and Kyle Strobel. As the editors note in their Introduction, they have organized authors' contributions around four themes: "why should spiritual classics be read, how should spiritual classics be read, what are these spiritual classics and who are the people behind them" (p. 11).
I will not review each of the chapters in the book, lest I simply recapitulate the book's contents and make this review too long to be useful. However, by way of evaluation, I will say that I learned something from each chapter, found the book as a whole to be quite excellent, and was motivated--by reading it--not merely to read further in the spiritual classics but also to love God more, which is the ultimate and unifying point of all Christian spiritual classics.
Having said that, however, I will focus on Fred Sanders's contribution, "Reading Spiritual Classics as Evangelical Protestants" (pp. 149-166), which directly addresses the dilemma I raised above. Sanders counsels evangelicals to read Christian spiritual classics with an "open but cautious" attitude (p. 149), what he later terms "principled eclecticism" (p. 160). This is nothing new, for as Sanders notes, "The evangelical book-recommending network is as old as evangelicalism itself; the evangelical movement seems to have been born in a flurry of literary recommendations" (pp. 151-152). This included not only Protestant, Puritan, and Pietist spiritual classics, but also classics from other Christian communions, such as the Puritans' recommendation of Bernard of Clairvaux on the Song of Songs, or John Wesley's recommendation of The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis.
Sanders summarizes a specifically evangelical reading of Christian spiritual classics as being "for the gospel" (p. 150). Here's his longer description:
"We read widely in the classics, presupposing the gospel in the sense that we know what it is before we start reading, and we will recognize it when we come across it in a spiritual classic. We are guided by the gospel, so that we will immediately know when it is missing from what we are reading. We seek out the gospel, meaning that we read in such a way that can find the good news even when it is present in a fragmentary, disguised or distorted way. And we are jealous for the gospel, meaning that we cannot be satisfied by any disguised, distorted or otherwise deficient presentation of the gospel. If we are to go shopping in the spiritual classics with this kind of attitude of freedom and potential criticism, we had better be appropriately humble about how much we have to learn, but also appropriately bold about confessing that we know what an evangelical reading of the classics would look like" (p. 160).
This humble-and-bold approach should characterize an evangelical reading not merely of Christian spiritual classics, but also our life as Christians more generally. We know what we know, but there is much that we don't know and need to learn. Therefore we engage the Christian tradition--an the world more generally--in conversation, both listening and speaking, learning and teaching, so that the gospel may be experienced and lived out in ever-increasing measure.
Given the anti-historical stance of many of my fellow Pentecostals, who sometimes give the impression that the Spirit jumped over the centuries from the Day of Pentecost directly to Azusa Street, this humble boldness is a necessary lesson, even if hard to admit. But it must be learned if we are to affirm the truth of Scripture itself: "[the Father] will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever--the Spirit of truth (John 14:16-17). As Pentecostals, to deny that we can learn from Christian spiritual classics is tantamount to denying that God kept his promise.
I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend Reading the Spiritual Classics: A Guide for Evangelicals. In addition to 14 topical essays, it includes an extensive list of suggested readings, both primary readings of spiritual classics and secondary readings about them. My only complaint is that the two-page subject and author index is too short and woefully incomplete.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
A long-needed resource
By Alan J. Fadling
I set aside the first week of July as some stay-cation space for myself and our family. One of the gifts of that week was the arrival of a copy of Reading the Christian Spiritual Classics (InterVarsity Academic) edited by Jamin Goggin and Kyle Strobel. It is a collection of essays by various authors on this theme.
I especially enjoyed Steve Porter's "Why Should We Read Spiritual Classics," in which he suggests three theological reasons to engage the classics: 1) for insight into the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, 2) for insight into the lived experience of sanctification and 3) benefitting from trustworthy historic voices from others in the body of Christ of which we are part (my summaries, not his).
Evan Howard's "The Schools of Christian Spirituality" provides a succinct and insightful overview of movements or schools of Christian spirituality beginning with the desert fathers all the way up to modern day Evangelicalism. I found it a very helpful survey. It helps me get a lay of the landscape of two millennia of spirituality and the various "schools" or communities out of which key writings emerged.
Finally, I especially enjoyed the final five essays in the section titled "How to Read the Spiritual Classics," which deal with 1) the church fathers and mothers, 2) the desert fathers, 3) the medieval traditions, 4) reformation traditions and 5) Puritan and Pietistic traditions. Again, similar to Howard's essay on schools of spirituality, these essays drilled down a bit into these eras in terms of history, theological context, interpretive framework, key figures/writings and use in the church today.
I'm confident this work will find a home in many seminary courses on spiritual formation themes. It would also serve well as an introduction to someone wanted to dive deeper into the rich treasure of classic Christian spiritual writings.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Reading the Christian Spiritual Classics: A Guide for Evangelicals by Jamin Goggin & Kyle Strobel
By Jason Brueckner
Reading the Christian Spiritual Classics: A Guide for Evangelicals by Jamin Goggin & Kyle Strobel
Ever since Richard Foster wrote Celebration of Discipline in 1978, evangelicals have hungered for a deeper and more historic spirituality. Many have come to discover the wealth of spiritual insight available in the Desert Fathers, the medieval mystics, German Pietism and other traditions. While these classics have been a source of life-changing renewal for many, still others are wary of these texts and the foreign theological traditions from which they come. The essays in this volume provide a guide for evangelicals to read the Christian spiritual classics. The contributions fall into four sections. The first three answer the big questions: why should we read the spiritual classics, what are these classics and how should we read them? The last section brings these questions together into a brief reading guide for each of the major traditions. Each essay not only explores the historical and theological context, but also expounds the appropriate hermeneutical framework and the significance for the church today. Together these essays provide a comprehensive and charitable introduction to the spiritual classics, suitable for both those who already embrace them and those who remain concerned and cautious. Whether you are a newcomer to historic spirituality or a seasoned reader looking to go deeper, you will find this volume to be a reliable resource for years to come.
Publication Information:
Reading the Christian Spiritual Classics: A Guide for Evangelicals. Eds. Jamin Goggin, Kyle Strobel. IVP Academic, 2013. 333 pages. ISBN-13: 978-0830839971. $17.82
"Here you have an absolutely unrivaled mapping by experts of the whole church's rich, smorgasbord heritage of Christ-centered, sanctification-focused devotional writing, most of which will be unknown to most of us. What to do with it? Take it as your tour guide and start reading its recommended texts. You will be glad you did, I promise you. Wealth awaits." (J. I. Packer, professor of theology, Regent College)
"This collection of essays is in every sense of the word an introduction to the Christian classics for evangelicals. It gives all the right reasons for reading the classics, pointers on how to do it and a handy map to navigate through various genres and traditions. The beginner will not be disappointed while the more advanced may still pick up some useful tips from these seasoned guides." (Simon Chan, Trinity Theological College, Singapore)
Summary:
Reading the Christian Spiritual Classics is a collection of essays providing a broad overview to the practice of reading various Christian classics. The book is a composed of fourteen essays broken up into four parts and a helpful list of suggested readings at the conclusion. The first part is an apologetic entitled Approaching Spiritual Classics, answering why these books are worthwhile for spiritual growth and of value to evangelical Christians. The second section, The Spiritual Classics Tradition, introduces the reader to the types of literature, historical content, and theological variation within pieces considered classics. As the subtitle of the book indicates it is specifically intended for evangelical Christians and part three, Reading Evangelically focuses on this project. Cautions to keep in mind while reading Catholic and Orthodox spirituality are addressed in chapters seven and eight respectively as well as an overview of all classics given in chapter nine. Approaches are recommended for deriving spiritual benefit from these streams while paying attention to the sometimes significant theological differences. The chapters of part four focus on each historical tradition from which we draw spiritual classics. Major figures from The Church Fathers and Mothers (chapter 10) to The Puritan and Pietistic Traditions (chapter 14) are elucidated, giving context and advice for the modern evangelical reader. The organization of the book is essentially from "why study these classics" to "how to study these classics", concluding with "what classics to read".
Evaluation:
I am no stranger to Christian spiritual classics. I have read old books, or selections from old books, many times along my evangelical Christian journey. Yet this work was quite helpful for me even as I read it for the purposes of this review. It provides a framework for understanding classics regarding their individual purpose as well as how they fit together within all of church history. The format, moving from lesser to greater specificity, is helpful for the reader.
As a collection of writings, it is difficult to speak sufficiently about each selection. Suffice to say, the authors represent a spectrum, from devotional and conversational to straightforwardly academic. Each contributor's voice comes through his or her piece, some are more cautious than others regarding the reading of classics with divergent doctrinal issues. This variation gives balance to the work. On a personal note, it was welcome to once again "hear the voices" of some of my former professors through reading their contributions to the work. I imagine that anyone familiar with any of the contributors would have a similar experience.
As noted above, the question "why should I read the Christian classics?" is addressed. However, the work is largely intended for Christians who are already interested in the spiritual benefits of reading the classics. This is, perhaps, the only deficiency of the work. It is an excellent guide, for those who have already decided to read the classics, but for those who have not decided, the motivation may not manifest. In some ways the book stands alone as a historic overview, while it seems to have been intended to actively motivate the reader to partake in the spiritual growth to be found in the classics. The contributors who succeed in motivating the reader generally utilize two devices. First, they offer lengthy quotes from the classic figures they are referring to, thus showing the reader rather than telling. Secondly, and even more effectively, they share personal stories of the growth that occurred in their spiritual journey through engaging in the classics. Though excellent as it is, the work would have benefitted if these two devices were utilized more often.
This review was originally written by J. Begg at TheBraveReviews.com.
This book was provided free from IVP Academic with my promise to post an unbiased review.
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