Still Listening

Book Overview

Interest in the practice of spiritual direction has grown in recent years. With the increased number of people seeking direction have come a number of new issues confronting spiritual directors.

This volume of essays by seasoned spiritual directors from a variety of faith traditions addresses issues of concern to directors today such as direction with: abused persons, the poor, church drop-outs, and gays and lesbians. Other essays look at spiritual direction in new contexts, such as the congregational setting, the corporate arena, spiritual direction and generational issues, and direction at the turn of the century. The final section of the book addresses some specific circumstances: working with the addicted, with those who are dying, using art in spiritual direction, and direction and social justice.

Contributors include: Joseph D. Driskill (Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley, CA); Juan Reed (Chicago, IL); Rich Rossiter (Oak Park, IL); Sandra Lommason (Davis, CA); Howard Rice (Santa Rosa, CA); Tom Cashman (Federal Way, WA); Steven Charleston, Episcopal Divinity School; Barry Woodbridge (Rancho Cucamonga, CA); Margaret Guenther (Washington, D.C.); Betsy Caprio Hedburg (Culver City, CA) and Kenneth Leech, (London), Janet Ruffing, and Norvene Vest.

The Spiritual Directors International Series - This book is part of a special series produced by Morehouse Publishing in cooperation with Spiritual Directors International (SDI), a global network of some 6,000 spiritual directors and members.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0819218146
• ISBN13: 9780819218148
• Release Date: October 2000
• Publisher: Morehouse Publishing
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.9" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Visionary & pragmatic

While it's true that a collection of essays may be uneven in quality, the depth of insights in Still Listening makes it a must-have for my library. As a seeker and student, I find myself challenged by many of the essays, lifted to hope by others. The final essay, The Graph of Spirituality: Understanding Where We Are Going by Knowing Where We Have Been by Steven Charleston, is worth the price of the book and leaves me wishing this 56-year-old were going to be around long enough to see the new horizons in spirituality that the 21st Century will bring.

Nicely done but verbose

There's no major flaw with this book, it is just that she should have cut some the writing by one-third. Spiritual direction is one of those trendy things in spirituality right now that has actually been around a very long time. This is a good book about it with solid information. I found many of the the writing styles a little distracting, some of it seems like the writers are a little impressed with themselves.

Thought-provoking essays by seasoned spiritual directors

Norvene Vest is an experienced spiritual director, author, workshop leader, Episcopal laywoman, oblate of a Roman Catholic monastery, and graduate of a Protestant seminary, who is especially known for her books on Benedictine spirituality for the common life. In Still Listening: New Horizons In Spiritual Direction, Vest dons the role of editor to compile engaging, thought-provoking essays by seasoned spiritual directors from a variety of faith traditions to address issues of concern on the subjects of abused persons, the poor, church drop-outs, homosexualality, the congregational setting, the corporate arena, general issues, the addicted, the dying, the sue of art in spiritual directions, and social justice. Still Listening is very highly recommend reading for both the pastoral community and the non-specialist general reader with an interest in spiritual approaches to life issues, circumstances, and challenges.