God Seekers: Twenty Centuries of Christian Spiritualities

by Richard H. Schmidt, Phyllis Tickle

Overview

Foreword by Phyllis Tickle

A fresh, readable introduction to Christian spirituality, God Seekers brings to life thirty-three spiritual masters from throughout Christian history. Through capsule biographies, selected quotations, and questions for reflection, Richard Schmidt presents and explores diverse ways of relating to God. Each chapter personalizes a major stream or movement of Christian spirituality by focusing on a particular key figure.

“While God Seekers may be read with delight or for information . . . it is impossible to engage it for long without being seized as well by the grandeur of the panorama it lays out before us. Here, in living people, in living saints, is the history of the church, the body of Christ as we and our kind have shaped it and are shaping it.”
— Phyllis Tickle (from the foreword)

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802828408
Publisher:	Eerdmans, William B. Publishing Company
Publication date:	06/01/2008
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	390
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Richard H. Schmidt is editor and director of Forward Movement Publications. He has also served as an Episcopal parish priest in West Virginia, Missouri, and Alabama and as managing editor of the magazine The Episcopalian.

Table of Contents

Foreword   Phyllis Tickle     ix
Introduction     xii
Irenaeus (c. 130-c. 200): Early Christian Spirituality     1
Origen of Alexandria (c. 185-c. 254): Alexandrian Spirituality     12
Antony (c. 251-355): The Desert Fathers     23
Gregory of NYSSA (c. 335-c. 395): The Cappadocians     35
Augustine of Hippo (354-430): The Birth of Western Spirituality     46
Patrick (c. 390-c. 460): Celtic Spirituality     58
Benedict of Nursia (c. 480-547): Western Monasticism     69
Symeon the New Theologian (949-1022): Experiencing the Spirit     80
Anselm (1033/4-1109): Medieval Spirituality I     92
Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153): Medieval Spirituality II     104
Francis of Assisi (1181/2-1226): The Mendicants     114
Gregory Palamas (1296-1359): Hesychasm     126
Julian of Norwich (1342-c. 1420): The English Mystics     137
Martin Luther (1483-1546): Reformation I     147
Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556): The Jesuits     158
John Calvin (1509-1564): Reformation II     169
Teresa of Avila (1515-1582): The Spanish Mystics     180
George Herbert (1593-1633): Anglican Spirituality     190
John Bunyan (1628-1688): The Non-Conformists     202
Jean-Pierre de Caussade (1675-1751): The Sacrament of the Present Moment     212
John and Charles Wesley (1703-1791 / 1707-1788): Methodism     223
Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855): The Spirituality of Paradox     235
R. A. Torrey (1856-1928): Fundamentalism     246
Amy Carmichael (1867-1951): The Spirituality of Missions     257
Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897): Spiritual Childhood     270
Maria Skobtsova (1891-1945): Martyrdom     280
Donald Gee (1891-1966): Pentecostal Spirituality     291
Dorothy Day (1897-1980): The Catholic Worker Movement     303
Thomas Merton (1915-1968): Solitude     314
Madeleine l'Engle (1918-2007): Narrative Spirituality     326
John S. Mbiti (B. 1931): African Christian Spirituality     338
Rosemary Radford Ruether (B. 1936): Feminist Spirituality     350
Acknowledgments     361
Index     363

Editorial Reviews

Timothy F. Sedgwick
— Virginia Theological Seminary
"Richard Schmidt has done it again! For those seeking entry into the Christian tradition and those wanting sources for meditation, there is no better introduction to Christian spirituality than God Seekers. The breadth of voices and the balance between introduction and short selections ‘in their own words' are just right."

Catholic News Service
“Schmidt truly provides the reader with an inspiring kaleidoscope of eclectic spiritual insights.”
 
Spirit & Life
“In our rapidly shrinking world, it becomes urgent that we embrace differences in cult and creed. Schmidt’s book is a step in that direction.”
 

From the Publisher

A successor of sorts to Schmidt's Glorious Companions: Five Centuries of Anglican Spirituality, this is yet more ambitious, reaching much farther back into Christian history and across languages and cultures to celebrate the richness and diversity of the many Christian approaches to God and a holy life. Schmidt's selections are catholic, to say the least, embracing Origen, Benedict, Luther, Ignatius, and Thérèse of Lisieux as well as lesser-known or more surprising choices like Jean-Pierre de Caussade (The Sacrament of the Present Moment), R.A. Torrey (a pioneer fundamentalist), and novelist Madeleine L'Engle. Schmidt's thoughtful introduction asks readers to be mindful of the rich polarities in the Christian tradition, and his brief prefaces and questions for reflection intelligently contextualize the excerpts from each writer. Highly recommended.
—Graham Christian

Library Journal