Christian Spirituality: Themes from the Tradition

A great book for those who are serious about spirituality and on the history of the Western Tradion. Good for church ministries and personl use. I high recommend this book.

Excellent introdution to living the Christian spiritual life that includes history and practice written by a man who not only teaches theology, etc., but lives the Christian life.

While Christian Spirituality is a fairly basic book about the spectrum of the spiritual life,its main focus is spirituality developed within the Roman Catholic tradition. Cunningham brings his description forward to the 21st century keeping the roots connected to the future. I particularly liked his chapter on Friendship and how it relates to one's spiritual growth. That is one of the more unique contributions this book makes. Cunningham's foundational approach is a good start for someone initially exploring this topic. He presents every chapter in a chronological manner, describing first the scriptural basis of this aspect and then bringing it forward through the history of Christian history. Obviously this is not done in depth, but provides a reader with many footnotes, bibliography and some exercises to help the reader look for his/her own nuance.I have read and heard many of the things Cunningham wrote, but I found his presentation be to be a concise and terse one. I enjoyed that. It is the kind of book one can go back to find something quickly for further exploration.

I have read this book three times. Every time I wish to send a gift to a Catholic friend, this is what I send. Why? Because it is loaded with the best stuff the Catholic Church has to offer. That may be a drawback. It is unlikely that readers who aren't Catholic would be familiar with many of the experts on prayer who are quoted and interpreted. Persons who aren't Catholic, however, who are seeking to grow in their spiritual life, will have a hard time finding a more useful method to pray the psalms than what is offered here. The entire Bible, of course, is presented as our first source for prayer and meditation, but the specifically Catholic traditions may be offputting to some. For over a year now, ever since I read this book for the first time, I have been spending an hour with God in the morning before I do anything else. It has changed my life.