Search for Spirituality, The

Spiritual Life, Fall 2004

The Search for Spirituality. Edited by Stephen J. Costello. Chester Springs, Pa.: Dufour Editions, 2003. Pp. 228. Paper. $17.95.

The Search for Spirituality explores seven traditional paths within the Catholic tradition: Augustinian, Benedictine, Carmelite, Cistercian, Dominican, Franciscan and Ignatian (Jesuit). It is intended for all those on a search, for all those struggling with meaning, suffering, hoping, hating, and loving. It weaves together a tapestry of Catholic Christianity, with each contribution being a thread that connects us to a living historical tradition and a vibrant, sometimes unknown, path of prayer in the present.

A distinction is often drawn between (academic) theology and (lived) spirituality, but, though they are distinct, they are not opposed. Spirituality must be rooted in theology and tradition lest it become sentimental and saccharine. Theology should not become divorced from an existential commitment to faith lest it become irrelevant and impotent. Each presupposes and is required by the other. That said, the stress on this book is on spirituality. Every reader will find something in it that will speak to them of ultimate love because it is for this that the human heart longs. The contributors are from the various religious traditions.