Skip to main content

Reading for Spiritual Formation 2022-23

It's the summer holidays, and I have finished my spiritual formation reading list for the year! I've really enjoyed the process of reading and reflecting, even though I haven't found every book helpful. Of course, one book leads to another, so I was barely halfway through this year before I'd started making a list of what to read next. I've ended up with five books, but last year I managed to fit Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations in as an extra, so I think it will be doable.

 

Interestingly, my list this year has skewed towards British women (Evelyn Underhill, Penelope Wilcock, Chine McDonald) and Catholics (Stephen Bevans, Oscar Romero, Evelyn Underhill). They are also all 20th-21st century authors - Underhill, who was born in 1875, is the earliest. None of that was intentional.

So it's not quite as balanced a list as my previous one. But I'm looking forward to reading them so much that I had a hard time deciding which order to put them in. I wanted to read all of them first! 

Here's the list.

Concerning the Inner Life with The House of the Soul by Evelyn Underhill


On my recent retreat at Launde Abbey, I was browsing the bookshelves and noticed several books by Evelyn Underhill. I'd vaguely heard of her as a 20th century mystic, so I took one of the old-fashioned, blue-bound volumes with her name on and dipped in. I was immediately taken by her practical but profound thoughts on caring for your own soul - and those of others. When I got home, I ordered my own copy; it's got a snazzy new cover, but I'm pretty sure the interior is a facsimile of the 1947 edition I picked up at Launde. It's actually two books in one - hence the odd title - but they're very short.


Equality is Biblical: Lifting the Curse of Eve by Penelope Wilcock

 

OK, I confess I have read this one already. Each chapter finished with some interesting and thought-provoking questions. I wanted to have time to think about those and answer them properly, and the best way to do that was to make this one of my spiritual formation books. So I did.

 

Models of Contextual Theology by Stephen B. Bevans


This wasn't meant to be a spiritual formation book. I bought it for something else. When it arrived, I opened it at random, read two sentences, and went, "Ohhh! Richard Rohr has an anthropological model of theology! (pause) I definitely don't. I wonder what model of theology I have?" Well, I had to read a bit more to find that out, and also to realise that the book isn't really about your personal theological preference (I was so sure there would be an online quiz for that, but I couldn't find one). It's very much about mission, and how culture and faith intersect. I decided that was quite relevant for spiritual formation, so... on to the list it went.

 

God is Not a White Man and Other Revelations by Chine McDonald

 

I can't quite remember how I came across this one, but I was pleased to have it recommended by a friend recently. It was also featured on the wonderful Beer Christianity podcast. So I expect good things. Plus it sounds like it's partly a memoir, which should be a nice change after Bevans' scholarly monograph.

 

The Scandal of Redemption by Oscar Romero


 

Archbishop Oscar Romero is certainly a voice worth hearing from. He was a Catholic priest in El Salvador who stood up for the poor and spoke out against the corrupt government. In 1980, while he was celebrating mass, he was shot dead by an assassin. This book is a collection of excerpts from his letters, sermons, and radio broadcasts.

 

So that's my five books to read between September and July. I'll let you know my thoughts as I go along - and you're most welcome to read with me, or borrow a book afterwards.


Stained glass image by Marybeth from Pixabay
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mr White Watson of Bakewell

Once upon a time, back in 1795 or so, lived a man who was always asking questions.  The kind of questions like, "Why is glass transparent?" or "Why do fruit trees grow better in that place than in this place?" or "What does the earth look like underneath the surface?"  This last question was one that he was particularly interested in, and he went so far as to work out what the rock layers looked like where he lived, and draw little pictures of them.  Now he was a marble sculptor by trade (as well as fossil hunter, mineral seller, and a few other things) so he thought it would be even better to make his little pictures in stone.  That way he could represent the layers using the actual rocks they were composed of.  Over the course of his lifetime he made almost 100 of these tablets, as he called them. Then he died.  And no one else was quite as interested in all those rocks and minerals as he was.  His collection was sold off, bit by bit, and the table...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Imitation of Christ: Spiritual Formation Book 2

"This is my hope, my only consolation, to flee unto thee in every tribulation, to trust in thee, to call upon thee from my heart, and to wait patiently for thy consolation." The second of my  four books for spiritual formation  is The Imitation of Christ  by Thomas à Kempis.  The introduction to my copy starts off by saying that 21st century readers may wonder why they are bothering, which hardly seems like a recommendation!  I have to admit I finished it with a certain sense of relief, but there were some hidden gems along the way.  It's rather like reading the book of Proverbs.  There's no story or explanation of a theme, but there are astute observations, honest prayers, the occasional flash of humour, and quite a lot of repetition. Thomas à Kempis was a priest in an Augustinian monastery in the 1400s.  Presumably his life conditions favoured the silence and solitude that he advocates for in  The Imitation of Christ , but also gave him opp...
Post a Comment
Read more

Pirate Party

Ahoy there, me hearties!  All hands on deck, we have some partying to do!  Arrrr! Now, hats on, and don't forget - no self-respecting pirate admits to having two working eyes.  Eyepatches it is, mateys!  (What scurvy dog cut the elastic too short?  They should be thrown into Davy Jones' locker.) Hats ready for assembly.  From Yellow Moon but the elastic really was too short. All of ye who can wield a pen, get drawing a treasure map.  We wouldn't want to mislay our loot, would we now? Toby wrote his name backwards and Blogger uploaded this sideways, just to confuse you. Shiver me timbers!  Where did those gems and spyglasses go?  Get hunting, me hearties, and the last one back with the swag is a scurvy dog. Each pirate had to find these in the treasure hunt. Now, this is a strange parcel, methinks.  Let's pass it round, and when the shanty stops, why, 'tis your turn to unwrap a layer. One of his real presents, act...
Post a Comment
Read more