Guterriez's emphasis on the importance of spirituality reminds us that in the past generation there has been a significant turn toward spirituality. At the same time, however, one of the most important trends in Catholic publishing has been the wide availability of spiritual classics. Not all of the volumes have been of uniform quality, but most have been more than satisfactory. Hardly a college or retreat house library is without these books today. Many of them are used in classrooms, conferences, and for personal use.
New volumes continue to appear on a regular basis.
While the Paulist Classics of Western Spirituality is the best-known resource for spirituality, it is by no means the only one. The precise merit of these various publishing enterprises is that an interested person can establish a personal library of high level books, at relatively little cost, representing the best resources of the Christian Catholic spiritual tradition. First the theologian must inquire into the human situation both actually and philosophically. Jesus Christ is the classic par excellence. Tracy then goes on to consider other classics which embed themselves in tradition giving new resonances to the Great Classic that is Jesus.