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Selections from the world’s greatest spiritual writers provide inspiration for the most widely celebrated holiday of the year.

Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS


Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt: Action in Waiting


Sylvia Plath: Black Rook in Rainy Weather


J. B. Phillips: The Dangers of Advent


Friedrich Wilhelm Foerster: Meditation


Henri Nouwen: Waiting for God


Bernard of Clairvaux: In Defense of Humility


Kathleen Norris: Annunciation


Meister Eckhart: Where God Enters


St. Thomas Aquinas / Karl Rahner: The Divine Dawning


Isaac Penington: Concerning the Light


Madeleine L'Engle: A Sky Full of Children


Alfred Delp: The Shaking Reality of Advent


Loretta Ross-Gotta: To be Virgin


William Stringfellow: The Penitential Season


J. Heinrich Arnold / Edith Stein: From the Stable to the Cross


Philip Britts: Yielding to God


Jane Kenyon: Mosaic of the Nativity


John Howard Yoder: The Original Revolution


Emmy Arnold: Christmas Joy


Karl Barth: To Believe


Óscar Romero / William Willimon: The God We Hardly Knew


Johann Christoph Arnold: Be Not Afraid


Gail Godwin: Genealogy and Grace


Leonardo Boff: The Man Who Is God


Gerard Manley Hopkins / Evelyn Underhill: The Light of the World


Dorothy Day: Room for Christ


Brennan Manning: Shipwrecked at the Stable


Dietrich Bonhoeffer: The Coming of Jesus in Our Midst


Romano Guardini: The Holy Mother


Annie Dillard: Bethlehem


Martin Luther: To You Christ is Born


St. John Chrysostom: The Mystery


Giovanni Papini: Ox and Ass


Dorothee Soelle: The Christmas Gospel


C. S. Lewis: The Grand Miracle


Gustavo Gutiérrez: Christ's History, and Ours


Philip Yancey: The Visited Planet


Jane Tyson Clement / Thomas Merton: The Time of No Room


Eberhard Arnold: When the Time Was Fulfilled


Søren Kierkegaard: Only a Rumor


Ernesto Cardinal: The Wise Men


T. S. Eliot: The Journey of the Magi


John Donne: The Showing Forth of Christ


Gian Carlo Menotti: Love Alone


Jürgen Moltmann: The Disarming Child

Reviews

It's hard to go wrong with 40 essays and poems from theological writers such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Dorothy Day, Madeleine L'Engle, Martin Luther, Kathleen Norris, Henri Nouwen, Philip Yancey, Karl Barth and Síren Kierkegaard. These are not frivolous, feel-good Advent readings; they are deep, sometimes jarring reflections, many with a strong orientation toward social justice… This collection, born of obvious passion and graced with superb writing, is a welcome even necessary addition to the glutted holiday bookshelves.
*Publishers Weekly (starred review)*

This stunning collection of some of the best spiritual writers of all time comes from Plough, the exceptionally thoughtful, high-quality publishing house founded by a simple-living community. What a delight to have seasonal readings from theological voices like Jürgen Moltmann, mystics like Bernard of Clairvaux, poets — from Sylvia Plath to T.S. Eliot to Jane Kenyon — contemplatives such as Henri Nouwen, and storytelling writers like the late Brennan Manning.
*Hearts and Minds Books*