Introduction to the Spiritual Life
Digital Verbum Edition
Overview
A French convert to Catholicism in 1939, Louis Bouyer is a renowned theologian who was an influential presence at Vatican II. His classic work, Introduction to the Spiritual Life—first published in English in 1961 and now brought back into print—provides readers with an inspiring and comprehensive vision of Christian spirituality that is unmatched in its warmth, lucidity, and accessibility.
Introduction to the Spiritual Life is, by author Louis Bouyer’s own description, a manual for practical use. Much more than just a work of “spirituality” or “apologetics,” it is a hybrid of both, produced with an expertise and confidence borne of a lifetime of prayer and study. It aims to cultivate interior growth through a thoughtful, reasoned meditation on the spiritual meaning of the Gospel as proclaimed by the Catholic Church. Catholics who read Introduction to the Spiritual Life will better appreciate how a life of prayer can be shaped and enriched by sound Christian doctrine.
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- Presents traditional elements that go to create every Christian's spiritual life
- Teaches readers what the Church has taught about how to ascend to Mount Zion
- Describes a spiritual life that allow believers to walk upright before the face of the Lord
- The Spiritual Life According to Catholic Tradition
- The Spiritual Life and the Word of God
- Prayer
- The Sacramental Life
- The Principles of the Ascetic Life
- Christian Asceticism and Christian Humanism
- The Asceticism of the Cross and the Different Christian Vocations: Lay Spirituality
- The Asceticism of the Cross and the Different Christian Vocations: Monastic Spirituality
- The Various Apostolic Vocations: The Priestly Vocation and the "Religious" Vocations
- The Development of the Spiritual Life: Purification
- The Development and the Rhythms of the Spiritual Life: Illumination and Union
- The Mystical Life
- Conclusion: Aids in the Spiritual Life
Vatican II forcefully sounded a 'universal call to holiness' for all Christians. In Introduction to the Spiritual Life, Louis Bouyer, one of the twentieth century’s foremost theologians, anticipated that call. With clarity and wisdom Bouyer illuminates the journey to holiness as both priceless gift and challenging task. His book remains a precious guide as we seek to enter more deeply into the inexhaustible mystery of Christ.
Robert Imbelli, Associate Professor of Theology, Boston College
How should we live? This is the question that animates Bouyer's Introduction to the Spiritual Life. His answers range over the entire field of our moral and spiritual lives, rooted in God's coming to meet us personally in the mystery of Christ Jesus through the grace of the Holy Spirit. This is a book for all readers, a wondrous treasury of wisdom.
Matthew Levering, Professor of Theology, University of Dayton
Students of Catholic renewal often gravitate to the work of men like De Lubac, Congar, Chenu and Balthasar. But it's impossible to understand the richness of Catholic thought in the last century without including Louis Bouyer. The republication of his superb Introduction to the Spiritual Life by Ave Maria Press is a gift to the whole Church and a wonderful, needed addition to every believer's library.
Most Rev. Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., Archbishop of Philadelphia
Reviews
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Top8305
2/9/2022
Alleluia! Deo grátias. Away with the Kindle copy; onto Verbum’s Catholic Classics!! Finally. At last, there is a Bouyer resource in Verbum, albeit only one. When will another be available? Verbum should have ALL of Bouyer’s works in its Resource Library; he was an essential source of understanding The Faith of our Fathers and is a cogent & compelling counterbalance to the Heterodoxy of Schillebeeckx, von Balthasar, de Lubac, and Congar; Verbum has plenty of that ilk and quite a dearth of the likes of Bouyer, Garrigou-Lagrange, Dom Prosper Guéranger -- the Church Fathers Posse, so to speak. Pax Christi
