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Book Reviews |
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The Holy Longing
The Search for a Christian Spirituality
Ronald Rolheiser
257 pages
Doubleday, 1999
Retail Price: $21.95
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This book is for those searching to understand what Christian spirituality means and how to apply it to their lives. Rolheiser explains the nonnegotiables – the importance of community worship, the imperatives surrounding social action, the centrality of the Incarnation, the sustenance the spiritual life – and how spirituality necessarily impacts every aspect of human experience.
In the preface Rolheiser states that this is a book for those who are struggling spiritually. “This is to be a guide-book of sorts for those who have not been exposed to Christian spirituality in a way that makes it palatable. It will help make the things of faith a little clearer, a little more acceptable and a whole lot more hopeful for the many good and sincere persons who struggle today with their faith and with their churches.”
Reviews
The Holy Longing is a profound look into the realms of Christian spirituality. Ronald Rolheiser approaches the subject, as he says, "not as a neutral analyst, but as someone within a confessing, worshiping, Christian, Catholic community."
This is one of the most understandable, comprehensive and uplifting treatises on Christian spirituality I have yet encountered.
As a Catholic layperson in these times of widespread disagreement among practicing Christians concerning critical moral issues, it was absolutely exhilarating to hear a theologian define as non-negotiable his four pillars of the spiritual life, on which depend our moral health as Christians and as human beings.
This is a must read book for anyone interested in the subject of Christian or Catholic spirituality.
— Patrick M. Quinn
Retired President & CEO Spartan Stores Inc.
"Of all the hungers in our world today, the hunger for the spiritual is the most predominant. Oh, it is disguised in many ways, but it is seen in the frantic pace which so many maintain, in the desire 'to get away for a while, but how can I?' Rolheiser addresses this longing in practical and down-to-earth language. He combines the best of the Christian spiritual tradition, but nudges the reader to new and creative consideration of God’s presence in the ordinariness of his or her life."
— Father Jim Friedel, OSA, Retreat Leader throughout the United States
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