Pilgrim Souls: A Collection of Spiritual Autobiography

Front Cover
Amy Mandelker, Elizabeth Powers
Simon and Schuster, 1999 M05 12 - 543 pages
What is the source of personal writing? When do we begin to consider our own lives worthy of a story? These powerful and passionate selections of spiritual autobiography do not merely represent a vital literary tradition; they bring together fifty-eight writers whose search for truth and understanding has spanned over two millennia and several continents.
From Saint Augustine and Rabi'a to T. S. Eliot and Kathleen Norris, each of these autobiographers tells the story of the inner life as a spiritual quest. Although separated culturally, historically, and linguistically, they are united by their efforts to respond to Socrates' challenge to "know thyself." In four parts this insightful collection includes works by:
* Wanderers and seekers, like Leo Tolstoy and Thomas Merton, who feverishly explore many experiences and world views
* Pilgrims and missionaries, like Anne Bradstreet and David Livingstone, who unwaveringly pursue God and holiness in lives of self-sacrifice
* Mystics and visionaries, like Julian of Norwich and Annie Dillard, who discover the ecstasy of epiphany in a life of contemplation and seclusion
* Scholars and philosophers, like Simone Weil and Blaise Pascal, who seek to ground spiritual conviction in a rational certitude.
Strong, deep, and enduring, the selections in this illuminating anthology remind us that "the unexamined life is not worth living" and speak to us with an immediacy that transcends time and space.
 

Contents

INTRODUCTION BY MADELEINE LENGLE
13
KING DAVID THE PSALMIST
25
SAINT AUGUSTINE
38
LEO TOLSTOY
48
EMILY DICKINSON
65
JOHANNES JØRGENSEN
85
SERGEI BULGAKOV
91
THOMAS MERTON
97
JULIAN OF NORWICH
279
SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS
304
BROTHER LAWRENCE
318
JEANE MARIE DE LA MOTTEGUYON
332
SAINT THÉRÈSE DE LISIEUX
350
ANNIE DILLARD
364
SOCRATES
379
ABŨ HĀMID MUHAMMAD GHAZĀLI ALGAZALI
393

MADELEINE LENGLE
117
CHARLES W COLSON
126
ELDRIDGE CLEAVER
138
MOSES
151
MARTIN LUTHER
166
ANNE BRADSTREET
185
JOHN BUNYAN
201
JOHN WESLEY
221
CHRISTINA ROSSETTI
243
ALBERT SCHWEITZER
256
DANTE ALIGHIERI
269
SOR JUANA INÉS DE LA CRUZ
408
BLAISE PASCAL
421
SAMUEL JOHNSON
432
PAUL CLAUDEL
452
S LEWIS
466
VIKTOR E FRANKL
487
SHELDON VANAUKEN
513
DENISE LEVERTOV
531
From The Autobiography
544
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