English Spirituality: An Outline of Ascetical Theology According to the English Pastoral Tradition

Rating:
Summary: Reclaiming a Forgotten Perspective
Review: This book is written out of the English experience and for that reason should be read by American theologians and clergy. Thornton lives up to his promise and presents a practical pastoral approach to matters spiritual without an inordinate emphasis on the influence of psychology as is often present in American publications about spirituality and pastoral practice . Martin is honest and says that his book "contains nothing very new, but I think it contains a good deal that is old enough to have been forgotten..." (P. xiii). His claim arises after years of personal experience. This is important because he notes that the science-religion relationship, that developed in favour of the dominance of science, seems to be reversing. He writes that " theology looks like becoming the only frame of reference into which current questions can be fitted" (p. 7). He fits spiritual questions into a framework of an English School of spirituality within the diversity of Catholic Christianity. To address the spiritual needs of the twentieth century he pays attention to the biblical roots and early theological interpreters, especially English, of the Christian experience. It is a great help to the reader that Thornton explains how and why his interpretations depart from other authors who have written in this field. These have been addressed by other authors. Written, not as an academic text, but as a resource for the contemporary spiritual director, the books fulfils its purpose admirably. Finally, this is the same author who later, in 'Prayer: A New Encounter' (1972), criticizes and alters his original perspective from an academic theologian to embrace a pastoral-theological stance. His reasons for this are well worth knowing.