Spirituality Of Saint Paul The

Recognizing that we can’t actually imitate Christ, St. Paul calls us to use him as a model and imitate him in his conformity to the paschal mystery.

Rodney Reeves contrasts easy spiritualities of serenity and retreat with the apostle Paul's vision: a cross-shaped spirituality for fools making their way through life's trials. Responding to Paul's invitation "follow me as I follow Christ," Reeves discovers an ancient spiritual path in the letters of Paul.

The traditional venues for making sense of the complicated apostle Paul are history and theology. Indeed, one cannot understand him apart from either. However, something is still missing from our portrait of Paul. Rather than thinking of Paul as a theologian and an apostle, Leslie Hardin argues there is great benefit in approaching him as a disciple, a Spirit-filled man who wanted to pass vibrant spirituality on to those he encountered. In The Spirituality of Paul, Hardin uncovers the things Paul practiced in his own life, and those he taught his followers, in order to attempt to live an authentic, Spirit-filled Christian life. Hardin points out that in order to foster the power of the Spirit, Paul, like each of us, had to dedicate himself to everyday routines and practices. What were those spiritual disciplines? How did they help him? And how might they be applied in our modern lives to bring us closer to Christ? Whether a general reader or mature believer, the reader of this book will find Paul to be a true brother, a fellow sinner receiving grace.

In recent years much has been written on spiritual direction. However, confusion and at times outright contradiction exist between the aims and methodologies of various models of Christian spiritual direction. In order to develop solid criteria for evaluating and critiquing these models it is necessary to root the practice of spiritual direction in the biblical record. The intention of this study is to provide such biblical moorings by examining the Apostle Paul as a case study in his function as a spiritual director--with respect to his aims and praxis of spiritually forming the members of the congregations he founded.

In Saint Paul, Elliott C. Maloney explores what the great saint says about the spiritual life, the “how to” in the day-to-day activities and concerns of Christians. How should people live in covenant relationship with God, committed to seeking God’s will in every aspect of their lives? Spirituality is a popular topic, but it is regarded as merely one part of life, some “higher level” of living when compared to ordinary living. Even Catholic scholarship, Maloney argues, notable as it is in Pauline exegesis and theology, seems to lack a feel for the overall kind of living that Paul wanted for his communities, not to mention how we might appropriate such wisdom for today. For Paul, all of a believer’s life is spiritual life. The alternative is a life “according to the flesh,” a self-centered life without God, a continual spiritual death. Based on over forty years of teaching and study of the Pauline letters, Maloney’s Saint Paul offers a rich vision of Christianity and the spiritual life “in Christ.”

A perfect compendium for the Year of Saint Paul recently announced by Pope Benedict XVI, St. Paul the Apostle for Every Day is arranged into twelve thematic chapters, one for each month. From "Coming to Know God" to "The Hope of Resurrection," Fr. Kerrigan has arranged a type of "walk" with Saint Paul from his days as a persecutor of the incipient Christian faith, to his famous conversion, to his many travels and travails around the Mediterranean to his final imprisonment and execution in Rome. The book is also the perfect introduction to Saint Paul's thought and prose style, as well as his theology. Always spiritually charged, St. Paul brings the light of Christ that blinded him and shares it with us so that we, too, may see.