Basic Texts for a Spiritual Life.

The recent embittered debates about the merits of the "Intelligent Design" theory of creation and its place in public schools and public discourse have suggested to some cynics that the United States has not changed much since the Scopes trial of 1925. In fact, it could be said with confidence that America's religiosity has not diminished much over the last 75 years: more than 85 percent of Americans adhere to one of the major faiths. According to Gallup, Americans' confidence that religion has a meaningful influence on public life has declined slightly since the 1950s, their sense of the importance of faith in their personal lives has held steady and even grown.

Americans are still largely Christian--between 75 and 85 percent are Protestant, Catholic, or Orthodox, according to most surveys. No matter how much media attention or conservative ire other religions or alternative spiritualities may attract, the teachings of Isaac Luria or Deepak Chopra still address only a tiny minority of the population. Nevertheless, the Gallup poll suggests that the trend toward personal fulfillment and individual experience of the divine is growing and important. More and more Americans are combining the faiths of their fathers and mothers with extraecclesial explorations into other ways of approaching God or nature; more and more are disaffected or unchurched Christians; more and more will turn away from traditional approaches to God in their search for transcendence.

The result is a greater emphasis on spirituality that can be translated into the domestic or work environment. Many believers want books that explain meditative or contemplative practice in detail in ways that render a minister, rabbi, or teacher all but unnecessary. Life coaching, motivational writing, career planning, self-help, and advice for maintaining mental and physical health continue to converge with more conventional religious writing: the notable success of Marianne Williamson, who has made a career out of her lifelong study of the curious mystical text A Course in Miracles, has a great deal to do with her effectiveness in addressing so many popular concerns in a religious tone without disturbing the orthodoxies too much.

Of course, there are also believers--illustrated by the conservative Christian movement but not restricted to it--who don't want their orthodoxies disturbed at all. Pew Research Center surveys conducted in 2002 reveal that nearly one in five Americans believe that theirs is the one true faith assuring eternal life. These more conservative believers are making their voices heard out of proportion to their numbers as American society approaches such hot-button topics as teaching evolution and legalizing same-sex marriage. They are joined by the less strictly devout who still see a larger role for established belief in American life (for instance, according to Gallup, three-quarters of Americans favor the passage of an amendment permitting voluntary prayer in schools). Even as many Americans reject more traditional paths to God, others swell attendance at megachurches. This divergence can obscure the core truth uniting all seekers: now more than ever, whatever their religious/spiritual persuasion, Americans want to integrate their religious beliefs into their daily lives.

In spirituality and religious practice, the good news is often the oldest news. Texts now hundreds or thousands of years old remain crucial to daily practice as well as communal spiritual life; there is a continued interest in not only the Bible but also other ancient and antique texts, as witnessed by Gary Wills's translations of Augustine and Shambhala's continuing commitment to accessible modern versions of Buddhist classics. The lives of the spiritually gifted, the charismatic, and the elect seem to have renewed importance: they model the individual's journey toward God both within and without the structures of traditional worship practice.

In this environment, the new media have perhaps less influence than might have been anticipated. Most religious organizations and even houses of worship have web sites, but for the larger ones these sites are clearinghouses of information and not likely to drive debate or draw in new or returning believers. Less mainstream sects and faiths--some with very impressive "hit" rates, such as www.witchvox.com, with more than a million hits a month--are far more likely to view the web as an important annex to their worship practice.

To some degree, it might be said that the smaller the sect, the larger the web looms in its life--more than a few of the nation's tiniest religious groups live more on the Internet and in the imagination of their adherents than in the physical world. Beliefnet (beliefnet.org) remains the single most impressive multifaith site on the web for lively discussion within and among America's many believers. The notable success of the Frontline series "From Jesus to Christ," which took even its creators by surprise, suggests that television and popular visual media will continue to broaden the national conversation about religion far beyond the imagination of yesterday's televangelists.

Women remain predominant among believers of all stripes, and, notably, their needs and concerns have moved from the high-oxygen peaks of academic debate and the hinterlands of pagan and quasipagan revival to the broad plains of mainstream denominations. While most denominations remain slow to accept women in leadership positions, at or around the altar, women themselves are increasingly bold about their pervasive influence on the success of the faiths to which they belong and even more on the direction those faiths will take in the next decades.

All of these trends are perfectly exemplified in the firestorm that followed the publication of Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code in 2003 and the widespread reluctance to accept its premises as fiction. The sense of the prescriptive significance of the past; the willingness to believe conspiratorially hidden truths; the readiness to entertain heterodox ideas beside conventional churchgoing (along with resistance to such ideas); and the conviction that women have a crucial role in religion--all might have been almost predicted from the catalogs of America's major and minor publishers in popular religion and spirituality over the past ten years. An effective collection development policy will address the varied curiosities of Brown's readers as they move from hugger-mugger to history and from fiction to faith.

In the continuing boom in religious publishing, no trend is more striking than the rise of self-help and "recovery" books from spiritual and often explicitly Christian perspectives. While the marriage of earthy advice and Christian practice is not new to publishing--think of Marabel Morgan's Total Woman from as long ago as 1973--Christian writers and publishers continue to expand the scope and depth of the practical-cum-prayerful titles available to their readers. Pundits on both sides of the divide bewailed the cultural gulf revealed by the last election, but these titles suggest many humble commonalities among spiritually inclined readers across the country--how to reach teenagers, be a single parent, succeed in real estate, keep a marriage alive, stay awake in church, put down the bottle, all from a Christian perspective. Many authors in this field are extremely productive, and their Jewish, Buddhist, and even neopagan counterparts are not far behind them.

Public libraries can serve their readers' spiritual needs best with a core collection that combines intellectually sound research tools and acclaimed or standard translations or adaptations of classic texts as well as a selection of more popular religious titles. [For specific collection development tips, see the "Perspective" and "Tips & Titles" boxes displayed throughout.] The following bibliography presents some of the essentials and a few of the more outstanding recent works in spiritual reading aimed at a wider audience. Starred titles (*) are essential for most collections.

All collections should include the scriptures of the world's major religions in the best texts available, along with accessible histories and other relevant commentary. These works should be backed up with solid references. While the standard remains The Encyclopedia of Religion (Macmillan), originally issued under the general editorship of Mircea Eliade in 1987 and now available in an updated version, its $1350 price tag places it beyond the reach of most collections. John Bowker's The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions is an excellent, affordable alternative, as is The HarperCollins Concise Guide to World Religion: The A-to-Z Encyclopedia of All the Major Religious Traditions, compiled by Eliade and his successor, loan P. Couliano. Now in its second edition, F.L. Cross and E.A. Livingstone's The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church remains one of the great achievements of Oxford's publication history; there's even a concise version for the cost-conscious. Margot Adler's Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America Today (Penguin. rev. ed.) is an excellent resource on pagan revival, which tends to be overlooked or shortchanged in other works.

Armstrong, Karen. The Battle for God. Ballantine. 2001. 480p. bibliog. index. ISBN 0-345-39169-1. pap. $15.95. Armstrong, Karen. A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Ballantine. 1994. 496p. maps. index. ISBN 0-345-38456-3. pap. $15.95. Pagels, Elaine. Adam, Eve, and the Serpent. Vintage. 1989. 189p. index. ISBN 0-679-72232-7. pap. $12.95. Pagels, Elaine. Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas. Random. 2003. 272p. index. ISBN 0-375-50156-8. $24.95. Pagels, Elaine. The Gnostic Gospels. Vintage. 1989. 224p. index. ISBN 0-679-72453-2. pap. $13.

Armstrong, a former nun, is a broadly skilled writer in religious and spiritual matters; her treatments of the divergent strands of the Faiths of the Book are perhaps the most successful accounts of Western religious history for the contemporary wider readership. Pagels's brilliant exposition of the ideas of the little-known Gnostic Christians, while ostensibly for an academic audience, has proved immensely influential and may be said to have altered the landscape in which all subsequent writing on early Christianity has taken place. (The Battle for God, LJ 2/15/00; A History of God, LJ 9/15/93; Adam, Eve, and the Serpent, LJ 6/15/88; Beyond Belief, LJ 4/1/04; The Gnostic Gospels, LJ 11/15/79)

* The Bible: Authorized King James Version with Apocrypha. Oxford Univ. 1998. 1824p. ISBN 0-19-283525-4. pap. $18.95. The Catholic Study Bible. 2d ed. Oxford Univ. 2006. 2432p. ISBN 0-19-528280-9. $45; pap. ISBN 0-19-528278-7. $34.99. The New International Version Study Bible. Zondervan. 2002. 2240p. ISBN 0-310-92955-5. $39.99.

Aiming for a nonsectarian, historical approach, Oxford offers the authorized version of the Bible (the 1611 or, in popular parlance, "the King James") in an affordable paperback edition. Areas where more conservative Christian denominations predominate may prefer the New International Version Bible, available in a popular study-bible form from Zondervan. Catholics will look for the Catholic Study Bible, originally published in 1990 and now appearing in an updated and expanded second edition.

Higginbotham, Joyce & River Higginbotham. Paganism: An Introduction to Earth-Centered Religions. Llewellyn. 2002. 250p. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 0-7387-0222-6. pap. $14.95. Starhawk. The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Goddess. 20th-anniversary ed. HarperSanFrancisco. HarperCollins. 1999. 336p. index. ISBN 0-06-251632-9. pap. $17.

The Higginbothams have written an accessible and friendly introduction to neopaganism for the nonpagan, including diagrams, discussion questions, and treatments of ethics and personal responsibility. This is the least threatening possible opening to the many forms of neopaganism found today. Starhawk's work, a classic of the Wiccan canon that first brought goddess worship to the attention of the public, has been kept fresh with updates since its publication in 1979. (Paganism, LJ 8/02)

Hindu Scriptures. Univ. of California. 1996. 400p. ed. by Dominic Goodall. ISBN 0-520-20778-5. pap. $27.50. His Holiness the Dalai Lama & Howard C. Cutler, M.D. The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living. Riverhead. 1998. 322p. ISBN 1-57322-111-2. $23.95. Shunryu Suzuki. Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. Weatherhill. 1973. 132p. ISBN 0-8348-0079-9. pap. $12.95. Tagore, Rabindranath. The Religion of Man. Monkfish. 2004. 213p. ISBN 0-9726357-8-5. pap. $16.95.

Unlike the Faiths of the Book (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), Buddhism and Hinduism do not have a single coherent collection of ancient sacred writings. Most American Buddhists come to Buddhism through the Dalai Lama and Tibetan Buddhism or through Zen; Curler's and Shunryu's works here remain key introductory texts to those streams of Buddhist thought. Goodall's compilation of Hindu scripture emphasizes the ancient texts, selecting from the Upanishads and Vedas, as well as the Bhaghavad-Gita, to furnish the beginning reader with a sense of the origins of Hindu practice. Tagore, India's Nobel laureate in literature, wrote and delivered the lectures in The Religion of Man in 1930; his fluent style and wise insights show the direction Hinduism began to take in the modern era.

* How To Be a Perfect Stranger: The Essential Religious Etiquette Handbook. 4th ed. Skylight Paths. 2006. 403p. ed. by Stuart M. Matlins & Arthur J. Magida. ISBN 1-59473-140-3. $19.95.

This work, originally issued in two volumes, was a deserved success. Like any great reference, it answers questions the reader had not yet thought to ask and goes about its task with dispatch and charm. It is now accompanied by The Perfect Stranger's Guide to Weddings (ISBN 1-893361-19-5. pap. $16.95) and The Perfect Stranger's Guide to Funerals and Grieving Practices (ISBN 1-893361-20-9. pap. $16.95). (previous eds. reviewed in LJ 1/96; LJ 3/1/97; LJ 8/99)

The Koran. Everyman's Library. 1993. 724p. tr. by Marmaduke William Pickthall. index. ISBN 0-679-41736-2. $22. * The Meaning of the Holy Qur'an. 11th ed. Amana Pubns. 2004. 1759p. tr. by Abdullah Yusuf Ali. index. ISBN 1-59008-025-4. $24.95. The Qur'an. Oxford Univ. 2004. 512p. tr. by Muhammad A.S. Abdul Haleem. ISBN 0-19-280548-7. $27.

According to Islamic tradition, no single translation can adequately transfer the sublime message of the prophet Muhammad into another language. Pickthall's is perhaps the best-known attempt in English, while Ali's version has the approval of most Muslims. Abdul Haleem's is the most recent.

* Russek, Janet & David Scheinbaum. images in the Heavens, Patterns on the Earth: The I Ching. Univ. of New Mexico. 2004. 152p. photog. bibliog. ISBN 0-89013-427-8. $39.95. * Tao Te Ching. 25th-anniversary ed. Vintage. 1997. 176p. tr. by Gia-Fu Feng & Jane English. ISBN 0-679-77619-2. pap. $18.95.

Feng offers a much-admired translation of the I-Ching, the foundational text of Taoism and Confucianism, accompanied by English's evocative photographs. Using the by-now classic Chinese lettering, translations, and interpretation by Richard Wilhelm, first published in the "Bollingen" series in 1967, photographers Russek and Scheinbaum illuminate the text with their own breathtakingly beautiful black-and-white images. (LJ 1/05)

* Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures, the New JPS Translation According to the Traditional Hebrew Text. Jewish Pubn. Society. 1985. 1,624p. ISBN 0-8276-0252-9. $35.

This is the standard version of the Hebrew Scriptures for the English-speaking audience--fluent, scholarly, and widely used.

* Zaleski, Philip & Carol Zaleski. Prayer: A History. Houghton. 2005. 415p. index. ISBN 0-618-15288-1. $29.95.

The Zaleskis, whose distinguished backgrounds lead one to expect much, do not disappoint in this outstanding contribution to the study of religion. They have found a way to thread the needle of this universal yet elusive subject, tracing the meaning and impact of prayer across times and traditions. (LJ 9/15/05)

* The Best American Spiritual Writing 2005. Houghton. 2005. 240p. ed. by Philip Zaleski. ISBN 0-618-58642-3. $27.50; pap. ISBN 0-618-58643-1. $14. Best Christian Writing 2006. Jossey-Bass. 2005. ed. by John Wilson. 240p. ISBN 0-7879-7475-7. pap. $17.95.

Zaleski, senior editor at Parabola as well as a research associate at Smith College, here offers a real gift to any library: a collection of prose and poetry, drawn from magazines and periodicals across the country, that represents some of the best writing available on spirituality. Though Wilson does not have Zaleski's scope or, perhaps, flawless taste, Best Christian Writing, an annual now in its third volume, still features some of the zestiest and most touching writing on Christianity today. (Best American Spiritual Writing 2005, LJ 10/1/05; Best Christian Writing 2006, LJ 11/15/05)

Chittister, Joan. Becoming Fully Human: The Greatest Glory of God. Rowman & Littlefield. 2005. 128p. ISBN 1-58051-146-5. pap. $14.95. Chittister, Joan. Scarred by Struggle, Transformed by Hope. Eerdmans. 2003. 111p. ISBN 0-8028-1216-3. $20; pap. ISBN 0-8028-2974-0. $12.

What is sanctity? When is care for the self or the other excessive? What does it mean to be faithful in the face of failure? In Becoming, Fully Human, Chittister, a nun and the author of more than 25 books, has written a set of brief meditations nevertheless rich in implications on a variety of topics important to the spiritual life. Scarred by Struggle is an earlier and equally worthy Chittister title that attempts, among other things, to come to terms with post-9/11 trauma.

Cox, Harvey. When Jesus Came to Harvard. Houghton. 2004. 338p. ISBN 0-618-06744-2. $26.

Cox, the acclaimed author of The Secular City and longtime leader of a very popular course on Jesus and the moral life at Harvard, has allowed many decades of thought and experience to percolate in this fluently written book on what Jesus might mean to the modern world--and how he might make his message felt. Cox supplies neither easy questions nor easy answers, but this book should both challenge and uplift many Jewish and Christian readers.

Diamant, Anita. Choosing a Jewish Life: A Handbook for People Converting to Judaism and for Their Family and Friends. Schocken. 1998. 320p. ISBN 0-8052-1095-4. pap. $14. Diamant, Anita with Howard Cooper. Living a Jewish Life: Jewish Traditions, Customs and Values for Today's Families. HarperResource: HarperCollins. 1996. 352p. ISBN 0-06-273443-1. pap. $16.95. Diamant, Anita. Pitching My Tent: On Marriage, Motherhood, Friendship, and Other Leaps of Faith. Scribner. 2003. 240p. ISBN 0-7432-4616-0. $23. Kushner, Harold S. Living a Life That Matters. Anchor. 2002. 176p. ISBN 0-385-72094-7. pap. $11.95. Kushner, Harold S. The Lord Is My Shepherd: Healing Wisdom of the Twenty-Third Psalm. Knopf. 2003. 192p. ISBN 1-4000-4056-6. $19.95. Kushner, Harold S. When Bad Things Happen to Good People. Anchor. 2004. 160p. ISBN 1-4000-3472-8. pap. $9.95. Kushner, Harold S. Who Needs God. Fireside: S. & S. 2002. 224p. ISBN 0-7432-3477-4. pap. $14.

Among spiritual guides rooted in the Jewish faith, works by Diamant and Kushner stand out--and several of their titles will appeal not just to Jewish readers. Diamant has enjoyed notable success in both fiction (The Red Tent) and nonfiction; her works on Jewish life and spirituality have a welcoming air and a thoroughness that is likely to keep them in demand for many years. The title of Rabbi Kushner's When Bad Things Happen to Good People has enjoyed the remarkable distinction of becoming something like a catchphrase, and his subsequent volumes have only enlarged his reputation for wisdom firmly rooted in his Jewish background and rabbinical training. (The Lord Is My Shepherd, LJ 10/ 1/03; Pitching My Tent, LJ 7/03)

* Gomes, Peter J. The Good Book: Reading the Bible with Mind and Heart. HarperSanFrancisco: HarperCollins. 2002. 400p. index. ISBN 0-06-008830-3. pap. $15.95.

Longtime pastor of Harvard's Memorial Church and one of the most noted preachers in the country, Gomes deftly manages to read the Christian Scriptures with both devotion and clarity, maintaining a modern awareness of issues of race, gender, and sexuality while writing memorable reflections in his elegantly simple style. This work was extremely popular and influential at its first appearance in 1996 and remains a small classic in American religious writing.

Gould, Meredith. The Catholic Home: Celebrations and Traditions for Holidays, Feast Days, and Every Day. Doubleday. 2004. 160p. ISBN 0-385-50992-8. $16.95.

This is an exceedingly varied and lively guide to the management of the spiritual year in a Catholic household, stuffed with folk traditions, sage advice, and a surprisingly unprudish sense of humor. Disarming candor does not keep this work from being a very useful handbook for the liturgical year, essential prayers, and even the rosary. (LJ 1/04)

The Jewish Lights Spirituality Handbook: A Guide to Understanding, Exploring & Living a Spiritual Life. Jewish Lights. 2001. 416p. ed. by Stuart M. Matlins. ISBN 1-58023-100-4. $24.95; pap. ISBN 1-58023-093-8. $18.95.

The title notwithstanding, this is not so much a how-to handbook as a broad-based anthology of insights and counsel from a wide variety of Jewish authorities and writers. (LJ 8/01)

Lerner, Michael. Jewish Renewal: A Path to Healing and Transformation. Perennial: HarperCollins. 1995. 464p. ISBN 0-06-097675-8. pap. $16. * Lerner, Michael. Spirit Matters. Hampton Roads. 2002. 256p. bibliog. index. ISBN 1-57174-360-X. pap. $16.95.

Even before Tikkun editor Lerner began to attract widespread media attention with his just-published Left Hand of God, which explicitly brings his spirituality into the political arena, he had written several important books on Jewish identity and spirituality. In particular, Spirit Matters is a wonderful riposte to casual inquirers who can't see the spirituality of the traditional Jewish understanding of the world.

Malania, Fae. The Quantity of a Hazelnut. Seabury. 2005. 138p. ISBN 1-59627-014-4. pap. $14.

This gem of a book contains many years' worth of meditations on life's wonders and struggles by Malania, the widow of an Episcopal priest. Malania writes with singular facility and even wit, engaging the likes of T.S. Eliot, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and Julian of Norwich, as her prose addresses images as small as the hazelnut of the title and problems as large as the death of a president. (LJ 10/1/05)

Valantasis, Richard. Centuries of Holiness: Ancient Spirituality for a Postmodern Age. Continuum. 2005. 240p. ISBN 0-8264-1705-1. $24.95.

This book revives the ancient Christian tradition of "centuries"--100 brief essays on spiritual topics. Beautifully written, they ably address "those who yearn for a spiritual life that has depth and intellectual challenge." Valantasis takes advantage of tile tough-minded asceticism of his Orthodox upbringing while acknowledging postmodern ideas of race, gender, and class; the merit of other faith traditions; and the value of faith-bridging spiritual formation. (LJ 3/1/05)

Tickle, Phyllis. The Divine Hours, Prayers for Summertime. 2000. 672p. ISBN 0-385-49286-3. Tickle, Phyllis. The Divine Hours. Vol. 2: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime. 2000. 672p. ISBN 0-385-49757-1. Tickle, Phyllis. The Divine Hours. Vol. 3: Prayers for Springtime. 2001. 688p. ISBN 0-385-49758-X. ea. vol: Doubleday. index. $29.95.

Written by a prolific author and former Publishers Weekly editor, this renovated take on the Hours is thoughtful, graceful, and comprehensive and has already contributed to a substantial revival of this ancient practice of mindful prayer and spirituality. (The Divine Hours, Prayers for Summertime, LJ 1/00)

Too, Lilian. The Buddha Book: Buddhas, Blessings, Prayers, and Rituals To Grant You Love, Wisdom, and Healing. Gramercy. 2003. 271p. ISBN 0-517-22514-X. $25.95.

This large and brilliantly colored volume is simultaneously a coffee-table book and a sensible, intelligent guide to Buddhism according to the specific teachings of Lama Kyabje Zopa Rinpoche. A pleasure to behold, The Buddha Book makes the complex ideas of Buddhism truly accessible to the general reader.

Perhaps the most frequently published subgenre in spirituality today is the religious memoir, which may show how a very ordinary teacher or truckdriver found God or offer 20 anecdotes that illustrate flawlessly what death really means. The source of the flood is without doubt Augustine and the saints' lives of the Middle Ages: before struggling with their heirs, it might be just as well to begin at the beginning.

Armstrong, Karen. The Spiral Staircase: My Climb Out of Darkness. Knopf. 2004. 336p. ISBN 0-375-41318-9. $24. Armstrong, Karen. Through the Narrow Gate: A Memoir of Spiritual Discovery. reprint. Griffin: St. Martin's. 2005. 304p. ISBN 0-312-34095-8. pap. $19.95. Wakefield, Dan. Spiritually Incorrect: Finding God in All the Wrong Places. Skylight Paths. 2003. 171p. ISBN 1-893361-88-8. $21.95.

Armstrong and Wakefield would be among the last to set themselves in a roster of saints, but for thousands of readers their stories have been exemplary. As described in Through the Narrow Gate, Armstrong left a Catholic convent to pursue a career as a writer; her second memoir, The Spiral Staircase, traces her struggle with uncertainty and temporal lobe epilepsy. Wakefield, the author of such rather racy novels (for their time) as Going All the Way, startled the literary world by announcing his discovery of religion, albeit of a very liberal kind, in his 1984 book Returning. His latest work, Spiritually Incorrect, is drawn from his column for Beliefnet.com and offers precisely the pleasures we expect from variety--from touching personal recollections to reflections on the benefits of Prozac and women as ministers. (The Spiral Staircase, LJ 2/15/ 04; Spiritually Incorrect, LJ 3/1/04)

Butler's Lives of the Saints. concise ed. HarperSanFrancisco: HarperCollins. 1991. 496p. rev. by Michael Walsh. ISBN 0-06-069299-5. $22.

Fr. Alban Butler completed his magisterial, multivolume account of the lives of the saints in the 1760s. Not much remains of Butler's arch tone in Walsh's revision, but the result is a far more scholarly guide to the saints, arranged by saints' days.

Downing, David C. Into the Region of Awe: Mysticism in C.S. Lewis. InterVarsity. 2005. 196p. ISBN 0-8308-3284-X. $17. Lewis, C.S. Mere Christianity. HarperSanFrancisco: HarperCollins. 2001. 256p. ISBN 0-06-065292-6. pap. $11.95. Lindskoog, Kathryn. Journey into Narnia. Hope Pub. House. 1997. 229p. bibliog. ISBN 0-932727-89-1. pap. $15.95.

Clive Staples Lewis, Oxford professor, Christian apologist, and beloved novelist, has attracted a substantial posthumous industry, and the flow of studies has only increased with the release of films based on his children's fantasies. Lewis's enviably direct and savory writing is available in many editions, with Mere Christianity serving as perhaps the best point of entry into his apologetics. Downing (English, Elizabethtown Coll.), who's keenly responsible in his approach to Lewis's biography and background, has written an excellent short book on Lewis's complex attitudes toward mysticism and mystical experience. Lindskoog's extremely capable study of Lewis's Narnia books as parables of Christian theology received the approving imprimatur of the master himself when the first part of it was published in 1957.

Harrison, Kathryn. Saint Thérèse of Lisieux. Viking. 2003. 226p. ISBN 0-670-03148-8. $19.95.

Much-praised novelist and controversial memoirist Harrison retells the now-familiar story of the self-humbling and tubercular French girl whose spiritual autobiography catapulted her posthumously to fame among the devout and ultimately to sainthood. Penguin could hardly have found a better way to introduce Thérèse to readers of its "Lives" series than through Harrison's gentle, intelligent, and sympathetic treatment of the Little Flower.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The Essential Dalai Lama: His Important Teachings. Viking. 2005. 274p. ed. by Rajiv Mehrotra. ISBN 0-670-03444-4. $24.95.

No non-Western spiritual leader in our time has commanded more respect than the 14th Dalai Lama, a tireless advocate for the liberty of his native land of Tibet as well as a first-rate ambassador for Tibetan Buddhism. This collection is perhaps the place to begin for most readers, or the best single choice for a library selecting one title by the Dalai Lama.

Lipsey, Roger. Angelic Mistakes: The Art of Thomas Merton. Shambbala, dist. by Random. 2006. 128p. ISBN 1-59030-313-X. $26.95. * Merton, Thomas. The Seven Storey Mountain: An Autobiography of Faith. 50th-anniversary ed. Harcourt. 1999. 467p. index. ISBN 0-15-601086-0. pap. $16.95.

No single spiritual autobiography of the 20th century has attracted the broad and devoted readership of Merton's The Seven Storey Mountain, which recounts the writer's conversion to Catholicism and ultimate vocation as a Trappist monk in Kentucky. Merton himself was a prolific writer, and, as with C.S. Lewis, there is a substantial industry in reprints, reissues, and interpretations of his life and writing. Lipsey's work presents Merton's lesser-known artistic "calligraphs" and prints, along with excerpts from his journals, three of his most important extended essays on the visual arts, and Lipsey's beautifully penetrating commentary. (Angelic Mistakes, LJ 3/1/06)

* St. Augustine. The Confessions. Everyman's Library: Knopf. 2001. 432p. ISBN 0-375-41173-9. $20. St. Augustine. Confessions. Oxford Univ. 1998. 352p. index. ISBN 0-19-283372-3. pap. $7.95. Wigs, Garry. Saint Augustine's Conversion. Viking. 2004. 144p. ISBN 0-670-03352-9. $23.95. Wills, Garry. Saint Augustine's Sin. Viking. 2003. 104p. ISBN 0-670-03241-7. $23.95.

No saint's life has proven a better model for later generations than that of the great theologian and writer Augustine of Hippo. Recently, historian and religion author Wills has extracted and translated large portions of the Confessions; in Sin, we catch Augustine in the act of committing his famous theft of a pear and shortly thereafter are guided by the great bishop to a consideration of the fall of the angels and other crucial matters. In Conversion, Augustine suddenly intuits the Christian message in his famous conversion. Wills entirely understands Augustine's variousness and his "jazzy" style (as he calls it), and Augustine's ideas engage and enliven Wills as they revitalize every sincere reader.

Wiesel, Elie. Messengers of God: Biblical Portraits and Legends. S. & S. 1985. 237p. ISBN 0-671-54134-X. pap. $13. * Wiesel, Elie. Souls on Fire: Portraits and Legends of Hasidic Masters. S. & S. 1982. 368p. ISBN 0-671-44171-X. pap. $14.

Wiesel is himself a kind of holy man--a Holocaust survivor, novelist, memoirist, Nobel prize winner, and inexhaustible spokesman for Jewish tradition. Souls on Fire is one of his most appealing works, a personal and idiosyncratic study of Hasidism through tales, anecdotes, and stories. Messengers of God, a successor volume, uses Midrashic lore of the Hebrew Scriptures in the same manner. Williams, Rowan. Where God Happens: Discovering Christ in One Another. Shambhala, dist. by Random. 2005. 175p. ISBN 1-59030-231-1. $19.95.

Williams is the Archbishop of Canterbury and as such the spiritual leader of most of the United Kingdom. His most recent book rather unusually addresses the lives and spiritual practice of the Desert Fathers and" Mothers (or Abbas and Ammas), ascetics who lived in Egypt in the early centuries of the Common Era. Holiness, Williams finds through his readings of the hermits' lives, "is with the neighbor, the actual here and now context in which we live." With a mini-anthology of sayings from the Desert Fathers and Mothers. [See also Laura Swan's The Forgotten Desert Mothers: Sayings, Lives, and Stories of Early Christian Women, p. 27.]

Mysticism, which seems on first examination to be an intensely personal experience, is deeply rooted in both the faith that surrounds it and in its own past. The best point of entry into the mystical tradition is "The Classics of Western Spirituality." In this far-reaching and pioneering series, which has been active for many years, Paulist Press has lovingly edited, translated, and published more than 130 titles. The series draws from Amerind, Christian, Jewish, and Sufi writers, including women and supposed heretics.

Frankiel, Tamar. The Gift of Kabbalah: Discovering the Secrets of Heaven, Renewing Your Life on Earth. Jewish Lights. 2001. 228p. ISBN 1-58023-141-1. pap. $16.95. Scholem, Gershom. Kabbalah. Plume. 1978. 512p. index. ISBN 0-452-01007-1. pap. $18. Zohar: The Book of Enlightenment. Paulist Pr. 1983. (Classics of Western Spirituality). 336p. bibliog. index. ISBN 0-8091-2387-8. $22.95.

Given the high profile of celebrity Kabbalism nowadays, it would be wise to acquire a few volumes that address this key mystical Jewish tradition. The single volume in Paulist's "Classics of Western Spirituality" series is an excellent introduction to the topic, while Scholem's outstanding if rather academic study sets the tradition in historical and theological context. Frankiel's straightforward guide sets Kabbalah soundly within both Jewish tradition and daily life; for her, Kabbalah is not a system of magical empowerment but a road to personal spiritual growth.

* James, William. The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature. Modern Library. 1994. 608p. index. ISBN 0-679-60075-2. $22.95. Underhill, Evelyn. Mysticism. Dover. 2002. 544p. ISBN 0-488-42238-0. pap. $18.95.

Despite their relative antiquity (they were first published in 1903 and 1911, respectively), these works still have great currency in mystical circles. James generally adopted a rational approach but still made space for mystical experience, while Underhill broke ground with the first multicultural study of mysticism ever undertaken.

Raymo, Chet. Climbing Brandon: Science and Faith on Ireland's Holy Mountain. Walker. 2004. 208p. ISBN 0-8027-1433-1. $22. Raymo, Chet. The Soul of the Night: An Astronomical Pilgrimage. Cowley. 2005. 209p. index. ISBN 1-56101-236-X. pap. $15.95.

For many years, Raymo contributed essays of unusual deftness to the Boston Globe. That same grace of mind and style illuminates his account of wanderings over Ireland's Mount Brandon, as a vehicle for his trademark musings on science, faith, natural history, and the human experience. For Raymo, the unlikelihood of the faith that animated ancient Irish Christians is no reason to sacrifice the sense of wonder; his meditations close as he silently recites the names of native plants and writes, "Without any human form of speech, my heart had articulated a prayer to the hidden God." The Soul of the Night is an equally transformative journey into the mystery of the nocturnal sky.

Rumi. The Forbidden Rumi: The Suppressed Poems of Rumi on Love, Heresy, and Intoxication. Inner Traditions. 2006. 160p. tr. by Nevit Ergin & Will Johnson. ISBN 1-59477-115-4. pap. $14.95. Shah, Idries. The Way of the Sufi. Penguin. 1991. 320p. ISBN 0-14-019252-2. pap. $16.

Sufism, a mystical offshoot of Islam, has also been called "the interior experience of all religions." Shah was one of its most effective spokesmen, and this is his key study of the Sufi tendency in Islam and its introduction to the West. Jalaluddin Rumi, the 13th-century Persian poet, was one of Sufism's foundational figures; this translation brings to light some hitherto unknown or overlooked verses by him that verge on the heretical.

Boersma, Bette. The Second Eve: Understanding Biblical Equality. Junia Pub. 2006. 160p. ISBN 0-9770240-0-8. pap. $12.95.

Boersma's touching book blends her own journey from what she calls a "limiting belief in traditional gender roles to a liberating belief in God-ordained equality" with careful scholarship that quietly overturns the cruel sexism of ultraconservative Christianity. "This is not about rebellion. And it's not about my acting or dressing like a man. This is about my faith in the complete redemption of Jesus Christ." An important and moving book that deserves a wide audience. (LJ 1/06)

Mazzoni, Cristina. The Women in God's Kitchen: Cooking, Eating, and Spiritual Writing. Continuum. 2005. 224p. ISBN 0-8264-1760-4. $24.95.

Author of the much-acclaimed Saint Hysteria, Mazzoni has worked something like a miracle in this brief book, at once a pleasing collection of stylish essays, a journey through a personal spirituality, and a profound work of scholarship. Mazzoni finds and follows the trail of breadcrumbs--the fraught place of food and food-writing--through the lives and works of dozens of holy women from Byzantine times to the day of Thérèse of Lisieux. For both scholars and lay readers, the implications of her gracefully stated paradoxes are enormous. (LJ 3/1/06)

Out of the Garden: Women Writers on the Bible. Ballantine. 1995. 368p. ed. by Celina Spiegel & Christina Buchmann. ISBN 0-449-91017-2. pap. $19.

This delightful and thought-provoking book draws together highly varied women's perspectives on the Bible. Editors Spiegel and Buchmann have solicited contributions from Cynthia Ozick, Fay Weldon, Barbara Grizzuti Harrison, and many others, resulting in an anthology that is at once intelligent and personal.

Seyder Tkhines: The Forgotten Book of Common Prayer for Jewish Women. Jewish Pubn. Society. 2004. 265p. ed. & tr. by Devra Kay. bibliog. index. ISBN 0-8276-0773-3. $30.

The tkhines, a tradition that seems to have begun as early as the 17th century, were prayers directed to, in the voices of, and most likely written by Jewish women. Including brief commentaries that discuss the significance of these prayers in a newly literate and keenly Messianic moment in European Jewish culture, Kay's reclamation of this nearly lost tradition is a great accomplishment.

Swan, Laura. The Forgotten Desert Mothers: Sayings, Lives, and Stories of Early Christian Women. Paulist Pr. 2001. 224p. ISBN 0-8091-4016-0. pap. $13.95.

Despite the ceaseless stream of publications by, for, and about Christian women, astonishingly little has been written about the early generations of female ascetics called the Desert Mothers, or Ammas. With this scholarly yet accessible work, Swan has helped repair the situation. Swan includes not only a good overview of the ascetic background but also a fresh translation and commentary on the known sayings of the Aromas, an account of lesser-known Aromas, and a calendar of the Ammas's feasts. [See also William Rowan's Where God Happens: Discovering Christ in One Another, p. 25.] (LJ 5/1/01)

Almost every religion publisher now contributes to the flood of titles in spiritual self-help, but the field is dominated by a relative handful of prolific publishers and authors. Nelson and Zondervan are key players here, with current Christian Booksellers Association best sellers like John Eldredge's Captivating and Rick Warren's The Purpose Driven Life, respectively. The relatively new imprint Warner Faith has claimed the likes of Joyce Meyer and Joel Osteen (who has just made a much-publicized jump to Free Press), and self-help and daily spirituality also make up the bulk of Harvest House's list, with titles such as Vicki Norris's Restoring Order, Phil Callaway's Parenting: Don't Try This at Home, and Elizabeth George's Small Changes for a Better Life.

It is not easy to evaluate works that straddle psychiatry and the spirit, sometimes uncomfortably, but librarians should rely on known publishers for works that are theologically sound if at times lighter in approach. The list that follows should point you to a few of the titles and authors that have proved popular and lasting.

AA Services. Alcoholics Anonymous "Big Book." 4th ed. Hazelden. 2002. 575p. ISBN 1-893007-17-0. pap. $12.95. Alcoholics Anonymous. Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions. Hazelden. 2002. 192p. ISBN 0-916856-01-1. pap. $12.95. Beckman, Chris. Clean: A New Generation in Recovery Speaks Out. Hazelden. 2005. 147p. ISBN 1-59285-182-7. pap. $12.95. Dick B. Bythe Power of God: A Guide to Early A.A. Groups and Forming Similar Groups Today. Paradise Research Pubns. 2000. 260p. ISBN 1-885803-30-3. pap. $16.95. Friends in Recovery. The Twelve Steps for Christians. RPI. 1994. 239p. ISBN 0-941405-57-5. pap. $12.95. The Life Recovery Bible. Tyndale. 1998. 1680p. ed. by David A. Stoop. ISBN 0-8423-3341-X. pap. $26.99. Parkhurst, L.G. Prayer Steps to Serenity. iUniverse. 2004. 223p. ISBN 0-595-31304-3. pap. $18.95.

Twelve-step programs--Alcoholics Anonymous and all its offspring--have Christian origins but have proved a congenial home for non-Christians as well. As recovering addicts will assure you, AA's "big book" and the other resources listed here will not substitute for the healing routine of 12-step meetings, but this handful of titles should make an excellent first resource for readers trying to learn about the emotional and spiritual components of recovery. "Dick B." offers an engaging history of the movement, while The Life Recovery Bible is nothing less than an extraordinary and immensely annotated reenvisioning of the Christian Scriptures themselves for use by those in recovery. The Twelve Steps for Christians and Prayer Steps are much-beloved handbooks that deal explicitly with the Christian implications of 12-step recovery. Among writers extending the recovery message to a larger audience, Melodie Beattie and John Bradshaw have been perhaps the most successful; now Beckman reaches out to the under-thirty set with a memoir of addiction and recovery.

Canfield, Jack & Mark Victor Hansen. Chicken Soup for the Soul: 101 Stories To Open the Heart and Rekindle the Spirit. rev. ed. Health Communications. 1993. 328p. ISBN 1-55874-262-X. pap. $12.95.

No self-help title or series has made a deeper impression than this best-selling book, which has given rise to countless sequels (e.g., Dog-Lover's Soul, Mother & Daughter Soul, Pre-Teen Soul, and Nurse's Soul). All of them are based on the notion that brief, shared narratives both illuminate and uplift readers faced with similar predilections or predicaments. The first in the series is probably essential for most collections; librarians should allow reader interest to suggest which of the related titles to acquire.

Lucado, Max. Cure for the Common Life. Nelson. 2006. 212p. ISBN 0-8499-0008-5. $15.99. Lucado, Max. Come Thirsty: No Heart Too Dry for His Touch. Nelson. 2004. 240p. ISBN 0-8499-1761-1. $22.99.

Lucado, pastor of a church in Texas and the author of more than 50 titles, is one of Nelson's great success stories. His books include works for children as well as titles on the development of the self. His latest book, Cure for the Common Life, addresses self-actualization in the career and the workplace as the gradual realization of God's plan for each of us.

Omartian, Stormie. The Power of a Praying Wife. Harvest House. 1997. 240p. ISBN 1-56507-572-2. pap. $10.99.

This book was Omartian's first great success, and she has followed it with more than a dozen sequels (e.g., The Power of a Praying Husband, The Power of a Praying Nation). While some readers may entertain reservations about the effectiveness of her message--prayers being, to Omartian, more efficacious than speech or action--her observations are clear, intelligently written, and grounded in her own life.

Farrel, Bill & Pam Farrel. Red-Hot Monogamy. Harvest House. 2006. 219p. ISBN 0-7369-1608-3. pap. $11.99. Hammond, Michelle McKinney. What To Do Until Love Finds You. Harvest House. 2006. 220p. ISBN 0-7369-1718-7. pap. $11.99. Wilson, P. B. Your Knight in Shining Armor. Harvest House. 1995. 172p. ISBN 0-7369-1685-7. pap. $10.99. Yates, Cynthia. Living Well as a Single Morn. Harvest House. 2006. 240p. ISBN 0-7369-1651-2. pap. $10.99.

Harvest House offers a number of titles notable for their utility for Christians in matters of everyday life, with coverage that ranges widely. The Farrels, for instance, have authored numerous relationship books focusing on keeping that marriage sizzling, while Yates takes on the problems of being a single mother (she points out that the church can be one's family). Like her other titles, e.g., The DIVA Principle and A Sassy Gid's Guide to Loving God, Hammond's What To Do empowers contemporary women while keeping them connected to God. A best seller for ten years and now appearing in a nicely reformatted edition, marriage counselor Wilson's title will put women of any religious persuasion on the path to the right man.

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By Graham Christian

Graham Christian is LJ's spiritual reading columnist and formerly with Andover-Harvard Theological Library, Cambridge, MA