Pilgrim Souls
Description
From Saint Augustine and Rabi'a to T. S. Eliot and Kathleen Norris, each of these autobiographers tells the story of the inner life as a spiritual quest. Although separated culturally, historically, and linguistically, they are united by their efforts to respond to Socrates' challenge to "know thyself." In four parts this insightful collection includes works by:
-- Wanderers and seekers, like Leo Tolstoy and Thomas Merton, who feverishly explore many experiences and world views
-- Pilgrims and missionaries, like Anne Bradstreet and David Livingstone, who unwaveringly pursue God and holiness in lives of self-sacrifice
-- Mystics and visionaries, like Julian of Norwich and Annie Dillard, who discover the ecstasy of epiphany in a life of contemplation and seclusion
-- Scholars and philosophers, like Simone Weil and Blaise Pascal, who seek to ground spiritual conviction in a rational certitude.
Strong, deep, and enduring, the selections in this illuminating anthology remind us that "the unexamined life is not worth living" and speak to us with an immediacy that transcends time and space.
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Content
INTRODUCTION BY MADELEINE L'ENGLE
EDITORS' PREFACE
Fashioning the Soul: The Shape of Spiritual Autobiography
PART ONE: WANDERERS & SEEKERS
KING DAVID, THE PSALMIST
From the Psalms
SAINT AUGUSTINE
From The Confessions
LEO TOLSTOY
From A Confession
EMILY DICKINSON
Selected Poems
JORIS-KARL HUYSMANS
From En Route
JOHANNES JØRGENSEN
From His Autobiography
SERGEI BULGAKOV
From His Autobiography
THOMAS MERTON
From The Seven Storey Mountain
MADELEINE L'ENGLE
From A Circle of Quiet
CHARLES W. COLSON
From Born Again
ELDRIDGE CLEAVER
From Soul on Fire
KATHLEEN NORRIS
From Dakota: A Spiritual Geography
PART TWO: PILGRIMS & MISSIONARIES
MOSES
From Exodus and Deuteronomy
SAINT PAUL
From His Letters
MARTIN LUTHER
From His Writings
SAINT IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA
From Saint Ignatius's Own Story
RABBI LEON MODENA
From The Life of Judah
ANNE BRADSTREET
A Letter to My Children
ARCHPRIEST AVVAKUM
From The Life of Archpriest Avvakum by Himself
JOHN BUNYAN
From Grace Abounding
JONATHAN EDWARDS
Personal Narrative
JOHN WESLEY
From The Journal of John Wesley
DAVID LIVINGSTONE
From Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa
ANONYMOUS RUSSIAN PILGRIM
From The Way of a Pilgrim
CHRISTINA ROSSETTI
From Maude
ALBERT SCHWEITZER
From Out of My Life and Thought: An Autobiography
DAG HAMMARSKJÖLD
From Markings
PART THREE: MYSTICS & VISIONARIES
RABI'A AL-'ADAWIYA
From Her Prayers
DANTE ALIGHIERI
From La vita nuova
JULIAN OF NORWICH
From Showings
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA
From The Book of Her Life
SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS
From On a Dark Night
JOHN DONNE
From Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions, Dedication, First Meditation and Prayer, Number One
BROTHER LAWRENCE
From The Practice of the Presence of God
SAINT MARGARET MARY ALACOQUE
From Her Letters
JEANE MARIE DE LA MOTTE-GUYON
From Her Autobiography
FRANCIS THOMPSON
The Hound of Heaven
HENRIETTA GANT
Narrative of Her Baptism
SAINT THÉRÈSE DE LISIEUX
From The Story of a Soul
ANNIE DILLARD
From Holy the Firm
PART FOUR: PHILOSOPHERS & SCHOLARS
SOCRATES
From The Apology
MARCUS AURELIUS
From Meditations
ABÜ HAMID MUHAMMAD GHAZALI (ALGAZALI)
From Deliverance from Error
PETRARCH
The Ascent of Mount Ventoux
SOR JUANA INÉS DE LA CRUZ
First Dream
BLAISE PASCAL
The Memorial
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
From The Autobiography
SAMUEL JOHNSON
Prayers and Meditations
JOHN HENRY CARDINAL NEWMAN
From Apologia pro vita sua
GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS
Selected Poems
PAUL CLAUDEL
My Conversion
T. S. ELIOT
Ash-Wednesday
C. S. LEWIS
From Surprised by Joy
VIKTOR E. FRANKL
From Experiences in a Concentration Camp
SIMONE WEIL
A Spiritual Autobiography
SHELDON VANAUKEN
From A Severe Mercy
DENISE LEVERTOV
Selected Poems
FLANNERY O'CONNOR
From Her Letters