Cloister Talks: Learning from My Friends the Monks - Softcover

Sweeney, Jon

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1587432684 ISBN 13: 9781587432682

Publisher: Brazos Press, Div of Baker Publishing Group, 2009

Synopsis

Offers a glimpse into the author's decades-long friendships with monks and shares the wisdom and insight for everyday living he has gained along the way. The author's conversations with monks engage various universal areas of life, including life, death, love, work, play, and spirituality.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

Monastic Insight for Everyday Living

Cloister Talks is a series of glimpses into Jon Sweeney's decades-long friendships with Cistercian and Benedictine monks in monasteries across the country. These communal brothers hold the keys to many of the things we all yearn for: stillness, solitude, simplicity, contemplation, and clarity of purpose. Here Sweeney shares with poignant honesty the wisdom he has gained among these holy yet still very human men. Their conversations engage a wide range of topics, including life, death, love, work, play, and spirituality, offering a deeper understanding of this ancient way of Christianity--a much-needed antidote to the hurry of contemporary life.

"In this poignant, richly nuanced book, Sweeney gives us our best record yet of the sweet tension between the cloister and the world that, like a leitmotif, sings always within those of us who yearn for both."--Phyllis Tickle, The Divine Hours

"If you ever wondered what a monk's life might be like, if you don't mind looking into a mirror to see the craziness of life in our culture, if you think you might splurge and go deeper with God, Sweeney shares his cloistered, very human, and wise friends with us as companions along the way."--James C. Howell, author of The Beautiful Work of Learning to Pray

"Cloister Talks is a contemplative conversation inviting us to know ourselves in the deep, deep love of the One by whom we're already known."--Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, author of New Monasticism

"This will be a very encouraging book for those who want to glean insights from monks for everyday life outside the cloister and need permission to fail from time to time in implementing what they have learned."--Dennis Okholm, author of Monk Habits for Everyday People

Synopsis:

Come along as author Jon Sweeney sits in the warm October sun talking with Father Luke or enjoys a December afternoon in the monastery with Father Ambrose. In "Cloister Talks", Sweeney offers a rare glimpse into his decades-long friendships with monks and shares the wisdom and insight for everyday living he has gained along the way. The contemplative monasticism Sweeney practiced with these monks has been the greatest source of guidance in his journey of faith, and here he shares it with poignant honesty. Sweeney's conversations with monks engage various universal areas of life, including life, death, love, work, play, and spirituality. Readers will emerge with a deeper understanding of this ancient way of Christianity, a much needed antidote to the hurry of contemporary life.

About this edition

• Publisher: Brazos Press, Div of Baker Publishing Group
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1587432684
• ISBN 13: 9781587432682
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 160