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Gordon Mursell, General Editor. Fortress Press, 2001, 384 pages
Review by Jeffrey L. Bessler Covering the vast sweep of two thousand years of Christian spirituality in one volume is quite an undertaking. Yet this volume succeeds admirably in many ways. Starting with the roots of Christianity in the Jewish tradition the Jewish Scriptures and of Jesus, the authors portray the development of Christian spirituality century by century until various streams become independent rivers such as Eastern Orthodox spirituality and Protestant spiritualities in the West. The book ends with an almost encyclopedic review of Twentieth Century spiritualities. The book is lavishly illustrated with many sidebars on highlighted personalities and movements. Written as a comprehensive overview, it is not meant to give detailed explanations of various spiritualities. For instance, there are two paragraphs on the Flemish mystic Jan van Ruusbroec. While these two paragraphs are an admirable condensation of the salient points of Ruusbroec’s mystical teachings, it cannot begin to give the reader the spiritual flavor of his life and work. Perhaps that is too much to expect. At the same time, the authors include an array of writers and traditions often overlooked or ignored or given short shrift. The ample inclusion of Orthodox spirituality is a good example of the attempt to be comprehensive. Given that each chapter is written by a different author, the overall editing has evened the style of the volume so that it reads as one book. The authors are heavily weighted to the British side of the "pond" as six are from England, three from the U.S., and one from the Netherlands. This may have contributed to the one significant flaw in the book. The section on "Further Reading" is completely inadequate to the scale and scope of the book and is heavily weighted toward English publications. Moreover, the author for the Twentieth Century chapter actually apologizes at the end of his selections noting, ". . . it is not the choice of those of highest quality as judged by the author." It would have been much better to include a much more complete list of reading choices to match the breadth of the book. There is an ample index. Recommended for lay people and those teaching the history of Christian spirituality.
Jeffrey L. Bessler earned his Master of Divinity degree from Christ Seminary-Seminex (now Lutheran School of Theology-Chicago). He studied Spirituality at St. Louis University and is presently earning a Certificate in Anglican Theological Studies from Seabury-Western Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois.
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