DESCRIPTION
Other Edition: HardcoverCertain questions are common to all of us as human beings.
Why was I born? What's important in life? How do I know the right thing to do? What does it mean to "make a difference"? What's wrong with me -- why can't I change? Such questions are so deeply human that they transcend time and place, religions and cultures.
In this inviting book Joan Chittister presents the insights of others from different cultures throughout history who have grappled with the same kinds of life questions that plague us here and now. Through stories and wisdom literature from major religious traditions -- Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam -- Chittister highlights practical, universal truths and deftly shows how each spiritual tradition brings a special gift to the art of living a meaningful, spiritually aware life.
A rich exploration of spirituality,
Welcome to the Wisdom of the World addresses some of our most challenging issues -- ambition, security, romance, abandonment, failure, and more -- acknowledging the truth we can find in the wisdom of our human past and the connections we can make through our differences. This is a book for anyone who wants to grow spiritually and to become more fully human.
AWARDS and RECOGNITIONS
Catholic Press Association, First Place,
REVIEWS
Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Chittister, a Benedictine abbess, popular lecturer, and prolific spirituality author, returns with a probingly helpful guide to life's most pressing questions. . . This refreshing book will be welcomed by Chittister's many admirers and is sure to win new ones as well."
Booklist
"Exemplary inspiration from one of the foremost contemporary writers on spirituality."
Liguorian
"Chittister has a talent for writing in a clear manner that is easily grasped. This book is no exception. Her use of storytelling helps readers understand spiritual traditions foreign to our own. We learn that all religions are alike in their search for the ultimate source of spiritual awakening and an awareness of what it means to be holy. People of all ages and cultures will profit from this book."
Tikkun
"Benedictine Sister Joan Chittister. . . is a profound spiritual teacher who manages in this book to convey in very clear and easy-to-understand language the deep truths of the world's major religious traditions. She brilliantly puts forward her own unique interpretations, which not only bring the old truths to life but really reinvigorate them by showing through her own life experience how these perennial insights can give us guidance for our own lives. This book is an embodiment of the spiritual renewal our world so badly needs."
Lawrence Kushner
— author of Kabbalah: A Love Story
"Welcome to the Wisdom of the World is a bouquet of sacred texts and personal stories filled with wonder, insight, and love from seekers in the world's great religions — all refracted and refined by one of the great spiritual teachers of our generation."
Library Journal (starred review)
"Chittister, a Benedictine nun and prolific author, here turns her attention to a broad range of spiritual authorities and traditions in order to discover and present many models of what it might mean to be a holy person. She wisely avoids any easy answers: spirituality, she assures us, does not permit quick solutions. Chittister's brief chapters and easy elegant style should captivate and keep many readers."
Sandy Eisenberg Sasso
— author of God's Echo
"To the hard questions of life's purpose, Sr. Joan Chittister provides the gracious gift of story. This remarkable teacher of our generation introduces us to the seekers of other times and places and allows their faith journey to illumine and help us make meaning of our own."