"Essential reading.... This book brings clarity, rigor and an historical sense to the emerging field of spirituality. Highly recommended."

Lawrence A. Cunningham, University of Notre Dame

"Challenges traditional approaches, takes an alternative perspective, introduces readers to relevant contemporary literature, and begins to recover some of the hitherto neglected strands of spirituality .... Required reading for all theological students everywhere."

Theological Book Review

"Philip Sheldrake is a master of lucid exposition .... I cannot remember when I last read through so much serious and carefully nuanced material, so digestibly arranged in so short a space."

The Month

"For anyone wrestling with the much-used and little-defined concept of spirituality this book is a must. By setting spiritualities in their historical context Philip Sheldrake helps us to grasp the intensity of past religious lives while recognizing their distances from our own. He therefore enables us to dust off and demystify the term, drawing inspiration from the past without being enslaved by it."

Shap Working Party on World Religions

Philip Sheldrake is vice-principal of Sarum College, Salisbury, England. He is an associate editor of The Way, and editor of the Traditions of Christian Spirituality series (Orbis Books). His many books include Living Between Worlds: Place and Journey in Celtic Spirituality (Darton, Longman, Todd).