Centuries of holiness : ancient spirituality refracted for a postmodern age /
Valantasis, Richard,1946-
New York ; London : Continuum,
2005.
Conversion -- Sanctification -- Starting out -- Incarnate living -- Bodies -- Discernment -- Restoration -- The memory of God -- Vision of God, reign of God -- Divinization -- Revelation -- Living in the present -- The society of the Godly -- The detriment of idealization -- Knowing the mind of God -- Communion -- Hindrances -- Reality -- Divine indwelling -- Reading the signs -- Mortification reconsidered -- Worldview -- Confession -- Holy dying -- Disappointment -- Striving -- Oblation -- Perfection -- Ghostly converse -- Ennui and steps -- Virtues -- Union with God -- Ascetical eschatology -- Mary, the mother of God -- Progress -- Empowerment -- Thorns and impediments -- Anticipated joy -- Self-examination -- Mystic communion -- Habitual prayer -- Assembling the social body -- Cultivation and avoidance -- Baptism -- Concupiscence -- Pride and humility -- Embracing difference  -- Demons and ascetic evil -- Praying the bodies -- Sacraments and life -- Ascetic confession -- Utopia -- Withdrawal -- The divine mystery -- Charting a way -- Exercises -- Living in community -- Spiritual direction -- Sodalities -- Stages -- Generosity and hospitality -- Penance -- Renunciation and reconstruction -- The body transparent -- Passions -- Study and curiosity -- The deadly sins -- Attention -- Engaging the tradition -- Seeing double -- Sin -- Playfulness -- Emotional ecology -- Holy energy -- Holiness of resources -- Temptation -- Consolations -- Aridity -- Discerning the divine mind -- Discernment of spirits -- A living God -- Illumination -- From discourse to affection -- Affective contemplation -- Divine virtue -- Representation -- Receiving the mystery -- Singularity and integration -- World and self -- Rest -- Faith, hope, and love -- Humility -- Simultaneity -- Contemplation -- Transparency -- Visions of deification -- Prayer beyond words -- Divine energy -- Recollection, silence, and ignorance -- The final restoration.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 227-231).
Christian life.
Spiritual life.
Holiness.