Centuries of Holiness: Ancient Spirituality Refracted for a Postmodern Age

by Richard Valantasis

Richard Valantasis brings us a guide to the spiritual life for the smart seeker who wants to be fully attuned to God, interactive with other believers, connected to the wider world in which humans live, engaged with the physical universe, committed to service to the poor and disenfranchised, and, finally, postmodern. Adopting a literary device first used in the fourth century by the Desert Father Evagrios Pontikos, Richard Valantasis offers a "century"...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0826417051
• ISBN13: 9780826417053
• Release Date: February 2005
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.4" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Pentecostal perspective

Unbelievably insightful on over one hundred spritual questions. A thinking believer's resource. I heartily recommend this. I am purchasing several as gifts.

Jewels of wisdom

This small rich book is Lenten reading for several of my church group. The separate "essays" are stand alone focused thought filled jewels. The information is written in easy to understand language, the concepts are timeless and deeply complex. Scholarly with a human touch, Richard Valantasis is a fascinating erudite teacher and spiritually gifted priest. This elegantly shaped book is the finest bedside table reading, one essay at a time.

Demanding, but rewarding

The "centuries" of the title are not chronological centuries but designate this collection of one hundred spiritual essays, based upon Eastern Orthodox teachings but "refracted" for modern Western Christians. Valantasis envisions his readers as those who "yearn for a spiritual life that has depth and intellectual challenge." He demands a high level of concentration and commitment from his readers-- his sentences are complex, and the ideas behind them are equally so. I found much wisdom within them! The density of the essays requires that they be digested over some considerable time. The author includes suggestions for focusing on certain chapters over the course of a retreat, or throughout a season of the church year.