Synopses & Reviews
Full of vision, hope, and inspiration, this profound and passionate manifesto provides a fascinating overview of the incredibly rich and diverse spiritual landscapes of the worldfeeding a deep longing for a life of wholeness and meaning and a society of greater peace and justice. Drawing from a wide variety of faiths and secular traditions, this book looks at cultural diversity and religious pluralism; clarifies the meaning of spirituality in different languages, faiths, and societies; and shows how numerous new approaches to spirituality have emerged. Also explored are the spiritual dimensions of nature, science, and technology; the transcending experiences of art and spirit; and the powerful expressions of ecological spirituality found around the world. New insights are provided that highlight the major differences that exist between spiritualities while also pointing out the various parallels and points of convergence.
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"Spirituality is notoriously hard to define, but King makes a bold attempt, outlining its scope and impact . . . this introduction to spiritualities not based in religious practice is thoughtful and accessible." Publishers Weekly
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"A remarkably wide-ranging book that touches briefly on many aspects of the spiritual life across the worldboth our need for spirituality and how we have sought to address that need through nature, science, and the arts." Library Journal
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"Ursula King's scholarly command of the wide range of classic and contemporary forms of spirituality is equaled only by her enormous clarity in communicating their content in this very important and interesting new book . . . a wise and illuminating guide." John F. Haught, research professor, Georgetown University, and author, God After Darwin
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"Absolutely brilliant. We have desperately needed Ursula King's kind of dispassionate overview of spirituality. . . . Thank God we have it now." Phyllis Tickle, author, The Great Emergence
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"What distinguishes Ursula King's search for a spirituality that will respond to global needs is the way she combines both depth and breadth in her search. She recognizes and taps the mystical depths that nourish all spiritualities, but she also shows how these shared depths produce a broad diversity of expressions in enabling people to both understand and transform their world." Paul F. Knitter, Union Theological Seminary, NYC
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"Beautifully written, this is an enlightening book that informs while it gently persuades. Opening many windows onto spiritual experience in our increasingly global culture, it invites the reader to partake and contribute." Elizabeth Johnson, professor of theology, Fordham University, and author, She Who Is
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"A unique, valuable, and irreplaceable addition to the literature on spirituality . . . This work will be a classic!" Mary Evelyn Tucker, visiting professor for social and policy studies, Yale University
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"[A] very important and interesting new book . . . a wise and illuminating guide." John F. Haught, research professor, Georgetown University, and author, God After Darwin
Synopsis
Full of vision, hope, and inspiration, this profound and passionate manifesto provides a fascinating overview of the incredibly rich and diverse spiritual landscapes of the world--feeding a deep longing for a life of wholeness and meaning and a society of greater peace and justice.
Synopsis
The Search for Spirituality offers a comprehensive overview of the incredibly rich and diverse spiritual landscapes of our world, and explores the global search for a spiritual life at an individual and social level, inside and outside religious traditions, and in the secular world.
About the Author
Ursula King is an internationally renowned scholar on spirituality, interfaith dialogue, women and religion, and the French thinker Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. She is professor emerita of theology and religious studies at the University of Bristol in England and author of Christian Mystics and Spirit of Fire.