The Best Spiritual Writing 2001

The Best Spiritual Writing

by Philip Zaleski, Andre Dubus III

The Best Spiritual Writing series is the place to find today's most compelling voices in spiritual writing. This series has a remarkable legacy of bringing together the distinguished literary voices of the present, while offering a glimpse into the bestselling spiritual writers of the future. Representing a wide spectrum of religious traditions, these authors speak from the soul about both the profound and the everyday aspects of spirituality in our lives. Philip Zaleski has brought together a collection of wise and lyrical writing about art, intimacy, prayer, love, and faith.

Genres: Religion, Spirituality

294 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Z...

Excerpts from The Fellowship: The Literary Lives of the Inklings: J.R.R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, Owen Barfield, Charles Williams available here:

http://chronicle.com/article/Oxfords-...

http://us.macmillan.com/excerpt?isbn=...

Reviews

[JP · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of stories provided the spiritual thought fodder I was expecting to kick off Lent this year. My favorite was probably "How to Pray: Reverence, Stories, and the Rebbe's Dream" by Ben Birmbaum. Birmbaum shared several stories about his Jewish upbringing, including the tale he read about a Rabbi who traveled to a far-off town to find a teacher, who turned out to be a woodcutter who ate ernestly as a result of a deep commitment to God. He also relates a spiritual teaching about the meaning of the proximate stories of the man who tried to catch the Ark of the Covenant and David's ernest dancing before the Lord. "Grace Notes" by Brian Doyle was an enjoyable essay in the Montaigne style about how Grace can be found in so many ways. "Bear Butte Diary" by John Landretti and "Stillbirth" by Leah Koncelic Lebec were vivid but don't sit deep in my memory. "Toward Humility" by Bret Lott was interesting both as a story and for the relevance to the life of a writer. "Being Saint Francis" by Valerie Martin was a very personal introduction to the life of Saint Francis Assissi. Others that I appreciated include "Holy Land Pilgrimages: A Diary" by George Weigel (an analysis of Pop John Paul II's pilgrimage in 2000). The poems didn't resonate with me.