Synopses & Reviews
Hailed as "a significant addition to the spiritual writing of our time", (Publishers Weekly), this inspiring series brings together profound and lyrical writing about art, intimacy, prayer, love, meditation, and faith from some of the world's most distinguished writers. This provocative volume includes: Nobel Prize-winner Toni Morrison's elegy of love for The Dead of September 11; Bill McKibben's "The Muslim Gandhi," the moving story of the Afghan liberator Abdul Ghaffar Khan, one of the greatest nonviolent leaders of the twentieth century; "Prayer," a poem by the Nobel Prize-winner Czeslaw Milosz; Barry Lopez on the role of the modern naturalist as an emissary for nature; from The New Yorker, Philip Levine's poem "Gospel"; and Harvey Cox on a Christian appreciation of the Torah.
Review
“Fans of Zaleskis series will not be disappointed with the highly literary quality of this anthology.” Publishers Weekly
Review
“An inspiring new collection with just the right combination of truth, beauty, and goodness.” San Francisco Chronicle
About the Author
Philip Zaleski is senior editor of Parabola magazine, coauthor of Gifts of the Spirit, and author of The Recollected Heart. His writing on the subject of religion and culture appears regularly in such national publications as The New York Times Book Review and Reader's Digest. He teaches religion at Smith College.
Table of Contents
Preface /Philip Zaleski --Introduction /Natalie Goldberg --Winter music: a composer's journal /John Luther Adams --To keep alive /Marvin Barrett --All ; The fact ; The answer /Wendell Berry --Gamboling with God /Harvey Cox --The making of an American Swami /Sara Davidson --Leap /Brian Doyle --Ground zero: a journal /Vincent Druding --Writing: the interpreter of desires /Robert Eddy --What are you afraid of? /Joseph Epstein --A dream of solstice /Seamus Heaney --Where I was /Patricia Hooper --L'Chaim and its limits: why not immortality? /Leon R. Kass --Heaven and earth /Heather King --Gospel /Philip Levine --The naturalist /Barry Lopez --The ironic stance and the law of diminishing returns /Bret Lott --The Muslim Gandhi /Bill McKibben --To the words /W.S. Merwin --Prayer /Czeslaw Milosz --The dead of September 11 /Toni Morrison --The kiss of Judas /Alicia Ostriker --The wives of Gloucester /Susan Pollack --Born of a rib /Pattiann Rogers --Screwtape instructs Scrapetooth /Amy Schwartz --Higher education /Gary Smith --Of larger darkness /George Steiner --What kind of errand? /Ptolemy Tompkins --One man on a tractor far away /Walter Wangerin Jr. --The oneness of music /Wallis Wilde-Menozzi.