Thornton's classic text surveying the English pastoral tradition answers basic questions: How does an Anglican spiritual guide go about the job? and What body of knowledge is required for competent guidance and how should it be applied? Thornton's survey moves from the New Testament to St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, and the English tradition's Celtic roots. Concludes with a comprehensive guide for spiritual directors.

This wide-ranging historical survey provides an indispensable resource for those interested in exploring, teaching, or studying English spirituality. In two stand-alone volumes, it traces the history from Roman times until the year 2000. The main Christian traditions and a vast range of writers and spiritual themes, from Anglo-Saxon poems to late-modern feminist spirituality, are included. These volumes present the astonishing richness and variety of responses made by English Christians to the call of the divine during the past two thousand years.

This wide-ranging historical survey provides an indispensable resource for those interested in exploring, teaching, or studying English spirituality. In two stand-alone volumes, it traces history from Roman times until the year 2000. The main Christian traditions and a vast range of writers and spiritual themes, from Anglo-Saxon poems to late-modern feminist spirituality, are included. These volumes present the astonishing richness and variety of responses made by English Christians to the call of the divine during the past two thousand years.

"The republication of this definitive text is long overdue and a must for all those who are concerned for the maintenance of a sound, optimistic spirituality." Alan Jones "Skillfully uses Bible and history to good advantage in this long look at English Spirituality's roots." Christian Century "I know of no other book that rivals Thornton's work as a clear and well written compilation of so much valuable material." Review Of Books & Religion "Will provide both Protestant and Catholic readers with an exceptionally readable and thorough treatment of a shared tradition." Spiritual Live

Medieval English sermons teem with examples of quantitative reasoning, ranging from the arithmetical to the numerological, and regularly engage with numerical concepts. Examining sermons written in Middle English and Latin, this book reveals that popular English-speaking audiences were encouraged to engage in a wide range of numerate operations in their daily religious practices. Medieval sermonists promoted numeracy as a way for audiences to appreciate divine truth. Their sermons educated audiences in a hybrid form of numerate practice—one that relied on individuals’ pragmatic quantitative reasoning, which, when combined with spiritual interpretations of numbers provided by the preacher, created a deep and rich sense in which number was the best way to approach the sacred mysteries of the world as well as to learn how one could best live as a Christian. Analyzing both published and previously unpublished sermons and sermon cycles, Christine Cooper-Rompato explores the use of numbers, arithmetic, and other mathematical operations to better understand how medieval laypeople used math as a means to connect with God. Spiritual Calculations enhances our understanding of medieval sermons and sheds new light on how receptive audiences were to this sophisticated rhetorical form. It will be welcomed by scholars of Middle English literature, medieval sermon studies, religious experience, and the history of mathematics.

How is it possible to live a spiritual life? What should the kernel of this spirituality be, in this world of crises, challenges, and change? From his immersion in the violent and struggle-filled reality of Central America, Jon Sobrino articulates a way to imbue the practice of liberation with spirituality--a dimension that critics often charge is lacking in liberation theology.