This book provides a new introduction to the study of Christian spirituality, exploring it through the human sciences and ranging from philosophy and hermeneutics to psychology, history, sociology and anthropology.
Systematic and progressive, it introduces the key approaches and shows how they relate to the understanding, study and practice of spirituality. Covering a vast amount of ground - from traditional themes such as images of God, spiritual direction and pilgrimage to more contemporary issues, such as place and space, cyberspace and postcolonialism - the author takes an ecumenical, inclusive stance, allowing the book to be used in a wide variety of courses and across denominations.
Biography
David B. Perrin is President of St. Jerome's University, Waterloo, Ontario, is a former Dean of the Faculty of Theology, Saint Paul University, Ottawa, and is a former President (2005-6) of the Society for the Study of Christian Spirituality.
Readers looking for a comprehensive introduction to the contemporary study of Christian Spirituality will be well served by David Perrin's Studying Christian Spirituality. This volume offers an ecumenical, interdisciplinary, and thoroughly referenced guide to both method and content in this emerging academic discipline. Perrin knows the issues and the literature as well as anyone in the field, and he clearly writes out of his rich experience of creative teaching and spiritual practice.
Arthur Holder, Dean and Professor of Christian Spirituality, Graduate Theological Union, USA
