Christian Spirituality: The Classics is a unique and comprehensive guide to thirty key Christian spirituality texts. Ranging from Origen and Augustine to Jonathan Edwards, Thérèse of Lisieux and Thomas Merton, it offers a view of the texts which is founded in scholarship, but which also presents them as living documents that invite- even compel -contemplative reflection and existential response.

Each chapter briefly describes the classic text's author and audience, gives a synopsis of its contents, suggests some of its influence in history, and then explores aspects of the text's meaning for readers today. Key themes include:

The scholars who have written these chapters are all experts on their respective topics, but they wear their learning lightly. Anyone wishing to discover the riches of Christian spirituality will find this the ideal introduction and should be able to progress to a deeper understanding of the texts themselves.

A Community Called Atonement is a constructive theology that not only values the church's atonement metaphors but also asserts that the atonement fundamentally shapes the life of the Christian and of the church. That is, Christ identifies with humans to call us into a community that reflects God's love (the church)--but that community then has the responsibility to offer God's love to others through missional practices of justice and fellowship, living out its life together as the story of God's reconciliation. Scot McKnight thus offers an accessible, thought-provoking theology of atonement that engages the concerns of those in the emerging church conversation and will be of interest to all those in the church and academy who are listening in.

How do theology and spirituality relate to one another? How does the Christian heart connect with the Christian mind? This collection of essays from leading evangelical theologians and writers addresses these concerns through providing scholarly and personal reflections. Here you will find discussion of the integration of theology and spirituality, biblical and classical sources for spiritual formation, a critique of how evangelicals have uncritically appropriated the rhetoric of spirituality, and also the use and abuse of spiritual disciplines by evangelicals.

Amid a culture that is both fascinated by spirituality and inundated by a dizzying variety of options for pursuing it, many Christians long for a deeper, more historically rooted spiritual life. In Four Views on Christian Spirituality, general editor Bruce Demarest presents an invaluable resource for study and comparison of the major Christian perspectives on spiritual formation. Contributors' chapters on Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, Evangelicalism, and Liberal Protestantism, collected side-by-side, easily allow for the beliefs and emphases of the viewpoints to be thoughtfully considered--all in pursuit of greater understanding and spiritual growth. The four viewpoints are given equal opportunity in the hands of the following capable scholars, and each proponent's chapter is followed by responses from the other three. - Brad Nassif (Eastern Orthodoxy) - Scott Hahn (Roman Catholicism) - Evan Howard (Evangelicalism) - Joe Driskill (Liberal Protestantism) In the end, an increased familiarity with each of the different schools of Christian thought will aid readers seeking spiritual transformation for themselves, their family members, and their churches.