'Penthos is precisely the kind of book most of us need today-something utterly unfashionable that can cut through the trendiness of contemporary spiritual consumerism. It is a book for serious people, about a serious subject. Besides being a very nice piece of historical theology, it qualifies as a fine book for devotional reading'-Worship. 'This book (as difficult as it is) will be of interest to students of the spirituality of the Christian East, to those who have made the Jesus Prayer an integral part of their spiritual discipline, and to others who wish to deepen their understanding of how our Christian identity is formed'-The Living Church.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 191-193).

This is a study of the life, work and spiritual theology of John Cassian (c.365-430) whose writings were the bridge between eastern monasticism and the developing Latin monasticism of Southern Gaul. He exerted a major influence on the rule of Benedict and the theology of Gregory the Great.

Spiritual practitioners and experts across religious traditions are convinced that contemplation cultivates an awareness of the deeper desires of the human heart. But many will ask: does contemplation still exist? If one has been led to believe that there indeed exists the art of contemplation, one will still perhaps wonder what it is and whether or not it is still relevant and applicable today. For many, the term “contemplation” itself perhaps connotes a sense of an exotic practice from a distant past unrelated and impractical to the contemporary life. In this book the author explores the nature and functions of Christian contemplation and offers the reader a wide variety of contemplative prayer methods that can help cultivate an awareness of the spiritual dimension of the human life. The author argues that Christian contemplation is the work of the Holy Spirit. While drawing upon a variety of Christian traditions, the author bases his discussion on the Jesuit tradition of prayer, discernment, and spiritual growth as revealed in the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius.

In this resourceful and illuminating exploration of the biblical virtues, Benjamin W. Farley examines both the Old and the New Testament and applies their teachings on moral character to the Christian life today. In the process, Farley critically reviews the current philosophical and theological interest in virtue, engages the Aristotelian, Thomist, and modern views of virtue, incorporates and responds to feminist concerns, and discusses the importance of the biblical virtues for our pluralistic age.

This book explores the liturgical experience of emotions in Byzantium through the hymns of Romanos the Melodist, Andrew of Crete and Kassia. It reimagines the performance of their hymns during Great Lent and Holy Week in Constantinople. In doing so, it understands compunction as a liturgical emotion, intertwined with paradisal nostalgia, a desire for repentance and a wellspring of tears. For the faithful, liturgical emotions were embodied experiences that were enacted through sacred song and mystagogy. The three hymnographers chosen for this study span a period of nearly four centuries and had an important connection to Constantinople, which forms the topographical and liturgical nexus of the study. Their work also covers three distinct genres of hymnography: kontakion, kanon and sticheron idiomelon. Through these lenses of period, place and genre this study examines the affective performativity hymns and the Byzantine experience of compunction.

This book is a comprehensive, profound and immediately accessible book which opens the way for all to increase their understanding and develop their practice of prayer. Richard Foster explores the riches of the historical classics of prayer as well as his own personal experience. No one who reads Prayer will remain unmoved; all will find encouragement within its pages.