A Language for the Soul. This item is unavailable.A Language for the Soul

This volume offers Christian spiritual instructors a language for the soul uncovered from the storehouses of Christianity’s ancient living spiritual tradition. That language describes the deep soul movements that unfold in the interior life of believers in response to the Divine invitation. It presents an accessible language of the soul for use in today’s professional, educational, ministerial, and everyday life situations.

The end product is an experiential dictionary comprised of sixty word-concepts, which name and explore the inward human reactions to the whispering of God’s Spirit. Those reactions result from inward desires that lead to the embrace of faith, the quest for consecration, and the journey of discipleship. Nurturing these intra-personal choices and commitments is the central task of Christian ministry, but many faith instructors remain unaware of these critical inner-life processes.

More than other resources available today, this experiential dictionary informs, enriches, and intensifies the spiritual journeys of genuine disciples and seekers. The volume is tailored for seminaries, churches, schools, and community settings. It has application to the training of ministry leaders, the instruction of believers, and in supporting the growing number of secular mystics who are open to merging their journeys of self-discovery with the quest for Christ-discovery.

Stuart C. Devenish is a teacher, practitioner, researcher, and consultant in the field of Christian spirituality. He holds a PhD in the meaning of religious experience, and is author of Knowing Otherwise and editor of Beyond Well-Being.

Michael C. Voigts is an Associate Professor of Spiritual Formation at Asbury Theological Seminary and a Lay Cistercian of Gethsemani Abbey. He is author of Letters of Ascent: Spiritual Direction in the Letters of Bernard of Clairvaux (2013).