Orbis Books Traditions of Christian Spirituality Series
The overall purpose of the Traditions of Christian Spirituality Series is to make selected spiritual
traditions available to a contemporary readership. The books seek to provide accurate and balanced historical and thematic
treatments of their subjects. The authors are also conscience of the need make connections with contemporary experience and
values without being artificial or reducing a tradition to one dimension.
One problem that such a series inevitably faces is the word ’spirituality’. No single definition
of ’spirituality’ has been imposed on the authors in this series. Yet, despite the breadth of the series there is a
common core in the writers themselves and in the traditions they describe. All Christian spiritual traditions have their source
in three things.
First, while drawing on ordinary experience and even religious insights from elsewhere, Christian spiritualities
are rooted in the Scriptures and particularly in the Gospels. Second, spiritual traditions are not derived from abstract theory
but from attempts to live out gospel values in a positive yet critical way within the specific historical and cultural contexts.
Third, the experience and insights of individuals and groups are not isolated but are related to the wider Christian tradition
of beliefs, practices and community life. From a Christian perspective, spirituality is not just concerned with prayer or even
with narrowly religious activities. It concerns the whole of human life, viewed in terms of a conscious relationship with God,
in Jesus Christ, through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and within a community of believers.
Books already published in the Traditions of Christian Spirituality Series and available through Orbis Books include:
