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Places of Enchantment: Meeting God in Landscapes
Everyday Life, The Inner JourneyThere is a great and honourable tradition of finding God in landscapes. Many who have given up on church appreciate the spiritual benefits they gain from climbing a mountain or walking in nature. But how and why do we encounter God in land, forest, river, mountain, desert, garden, sea and sky? That is what Graham Usher explores in this captivating volume which takes us from the giant Redwoods of the Californian Sierra Nevada to the jagged New York skyline; from the wilds of the ancient Scottish Highlands to the rolling pastures of English Shropshire. Drawing on material from biblical and church history traditions, as well as scientific research and contemporary art, he seeks to ascertain how such encounters support our Christian pilgrimage and challenge our assumptions. More than anything, the author's desire is to encourage readers to look at the world with fresh eyes - and so be enchanted by the world all around us.£11.99 -
Advent and Christmas Wisdom with Thomas Merton
Advent & Christmas, Resources for the Christian YearAdvent and Christmas are special times for all Christians. The spiritual longing of the Advent season can only be satisfied by the joy and celebration of a Christmas focused on Jesus' birth in our hearts. Advent and Christmas Wisdom with Thomas Merton give readers the opportunity to experience Advent and Christmas in a way that unwraps the spiritual joy, allowing it to shine brighter that all the tinsel and trappings that can blind our eyes to the deeper meaning of the season. This book is arranged for use on every day of the Advent and Christmas seasons. Each day's reflection begins with a scriptural quotation, continues with a thought from the writings of Thomas Merton, and concludes with a prayer for the day. Merton's writing capture the familiar themes of the season: the Incarnation, anticipation, angels, giving, and many others - each drawing us closer to the joy of welcoming the Saviour into our lives. An appendix includes a suggested plan for using each day's meditation as part of a morning or evening prayer.£11.99 -
Listening for the Heartbeat of God
Celtic Studies, Celtic Studies & Spirituality, Influences & Suggested Reading, Spiritual Growth, The Inner JourneyListening for the Heartbeat of God presents a spirituality for today, modelled on the vital characteristics of Celtic spirituality through the centuries. there is an emphasis on the essential goodness of creation and of humanity, made in the image of God. The book traces the lines of Celtic spirituality from the British Church in the fourth century through to the twentieth century, in the founder of the Iona community, George MacLeod. Philip Newell finds Celtic spiritual roots in the New Testament, in the mysticism of St John the Evangelist. John was especially remembered as the one who lay against Jesus at the Last Supper and heard the heartbeat of God. So he becomes a Celtic image of listening to God in all of life. This fresh angle on Celtic spirituality - linking figures in the Bible and in the British Christian history - will be warmly welcomed by all who are concerned to refresh the roots of their faith. The Revd Dr J Philip Newell is a poet, scholar and teacher. Formerly Warden of Iona Abbey, he is now Companion Theologian for the American Spirituality Centre of Casa del Sol in the high desert of New Mexico. Newell has won international acclaim for his work in the field of Celtic spirituality.£9.99 -
The Christmas Creative Retreat Activity Book
Advent & Christmas, Creativity, Resources for the Christian YearThis book has been designed to be used from Christmas Day to Epiphany. It has been created to help you find moments of meaning amidst the mince pies and re-runs of old sit-coms. Be inspired by the stories of Saints and find peace with the activities. The Christmas Creative Retreat Activity Book offers a combination of meditations, prayers and activities. Some to challenge and some to help you relax and clear your mind and always to encourage you to hear the 'still, small voice'.£3.99 -
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In Touch with God: Advent Meditations on Biblical Prayers
Advent & Christmas, Resources for the Christian YearThe Archbishop of York's Lent Book for 2017. Make this Advent a time to refresh and enhance your spiritual life by reflecting on some of the greatest prayers in the Bible and the people who prayed them. Abraham, Moses, Hannah, David, Isaiah, Mary ... This sequence of twenty-five inspiring meditations looks at how our forebears in faith turned to God, both in times of trouble and time of joy and celebration.Original price was: £7.99.£6.50Current price is: £6.50. -
The Holiday Creative Retreat Activity Book
CreativityThis book has been designed to help you make the most of your holiday whether you have a long weekend or two weeks away. It offers a combination of prayers and activities. Some to challenge and some to help you relax and clear your mind and always to encourage you to hear the 'still, small voice'.£3.99 -
A Silent Action: engagements with Thomas Merton
Spiritual GrowthThomas Merton's life, especially once he had become a writer, was to a great extent one of dialogue with people who were distant, both geographically and historically. In these probing and perceptive studies, Rowan Williams looks closely at the key intellectual and spiritual relationships that emerge in Merton's writings, exploring the impact on him of thinkers as diverse as Hannah Arendt, Karl Barth, William Blake, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Olivier Clement, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Paul Evdokimov, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Vladimir Lossky, John Henry Newman, Boris Pasternak and St John of the Cross.£11.99 -
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Into the depths: A Journey of Loss and Vocation
Everyday Life, The Inner JourneyIn January 1984, Sr Mary Margaret Funk, a Benedictine nun from Indiana, paid a visit to Maryknoll missionary nuns working in Bolivia. On what should have been a routine trip to the local town for a convocation ceremony, a flash flood swept away the jeep in which she, three nuns, a priest, and a disabled boy they had adopted were travelling. Only she and the priest survived What happened that night catapulted Sr Meg into twenty-five years of prayer and self-examination. She relentlessly explored her relationship with the transcendent and immanent God, the profundities of her religious tradition, her commitment to spiritual practice, and her very human failings. It was a journey that left her spiritually naked before the terrible love of God; a journey to keep one's heart open to the transforming wounds of suffering. In the great tradition of spiritual confessions from Augustine to Thomas Merton's The Seven-Story Mountain, Into the Depths is a fearlessly honest and simply told account of one woman's struggle to engage at the deeper levels with the most profound questions of faith.Original price was: £12.99.£8.99Current price is: £8.99. -
The Way of the Heart
Desert Monasticism, Influences & Suggested ReadingThe words flee, be silent and pray summarise the spirituality of the desert. They indicate the three ways of preventing the world from shaping us in its image and are thus the three ways to life in the Spirit.' How can Christians live as God wants in today's world? Henri Nouwen seeks his answer from an unlikely source - the example of the fifth-century Egyptian Desert Fathers and Mothers. Their experience in the desert taught them that true Christian living in possible only if we find a place in our lives for solitude, silence and prayer. The Way of the Heart in a perfect book for prayerful meditation. Compassionate yet challenging, it will enable us not only to appreciate the teaching of the Desert Fathers and Mothers, but to apply it to our daily lives.£15.99 -
Silence and Honey Cakes
Desert MonasticismSilence and Honey Cakes – The Wisdom of the Desert by Rowan Williams In Silence and Honey Cakes, Rowan Williams returns to the desert fathers and mothers of the fourth and fifth centuries, revealing a spirituality that resonates strongly with aspects of the modern spiritual search. Drawing on their stories and sayings, he reflects on questions such as: How can we discover the truth about ourselves? How do we live in relationship with others? What does the desert say about our priorities? How can we create a fearless community?£7.99 -
New Seeds of Contemplation
Influences & Suggested Reading, The Inner JourneyNew Seeds of Contemplation is one of Thomas Merton’s most widely read and best-loved books. Christians and non-Christians alike have joined in praising it as a notable successor in the meditative tradition of St. John of the Cross, The Cloud of Unknowing, and the medieval mystics, and some have compared Merton’s reflections to those of Thoreau. New Seeds of Contemplation seeks to awaken the dormant inner depths of the spirit so long neglected by Western man, to nurture a deeply contemplative and mystical dimension in our lives. For Merton, ‘Every moment and every event of every man’s life on earth plants something in his soul. For just as the wind carries thousands of winged seeds, so each moment brings with it germs of spiritual vitality that come to rest imperceptibly in the minds and wills of men. Most of these unnumbered seeds perish and are lost, because men are not prepared to receive them: for such seeds as these cannot spring up anywhere except in the soil of freedom, spontaneity and love.’£16.99 -
Celtic Parables: Stories, Poems and Prayers
Celtic Prayer, Celtic Studies, Celtic Studies & Spirituality, Scripture & Prayer, Spiritual GrowthNever mock what others say. Perhaps their words are full of nonsense. Perhaps they are trying to puff themselves up. Perhaps they like hearing the sound of their voices. Perhaps they are trying to deceive their hearers. Perhaps they are foolish and dim. Perhaps they are more clever than wise. Yet amidst the useless clay You may find jewels beyond price. The word of God is in every heart, And can speak through every voice. Never mock (p.104) This collection of stories, meditations, poems and prayers evokes the authentic spirit of Celtic Christianity. Capturing the atmosphere of parables passed down through generations, it shows the human warmth, respect for the natural world and robust, down-to-earth qualities for which Celtic spirituality is so greatly valued. With its rich treasury of material – most of it previously unavailable in modern editions – Celtic Parables offers a fresh lively introduction to the Celtic world. It will appeal to all those fascinated by our Celtic heritage and the way it speaks directly to us today.£10.99 -
Hermits of the Inner Farne
Celtic Daily Prayer & Liturgy, Celtic Sites & Saints, Celtic Studies, Celtic Studies & Spirituality, Northumbria Community Resources & TeachingThis booklet has been compiled by Andy Raine, a Companion with the Northumbria Community, as a way of retelling the story of the hermits who lived and prayed on the little island of Inner Farne, just off the north Northumberland coast. It begins with a reprinting of Kathleen Parbury’s manuscript of The Hermits of the House of Farne, which she self-published in 1983, and which is contained here with the permission and blessing of her surviving relatives. It also includes relevant liturgical material taken from Celtic Daily Prayer, and other articles about the hermits.£6.00 -
A Celtic Liturgy
Celtic Prayer, Celtic Studies & Spirituality, Spiritual Growth, The Inner JourneyThis compact liturgy provides alternative services and prayers for many occasions. It includes: Prayers before Worship; Early Morning Prayer; Morning Prayer; Evening Prayer; Night Prayer; A Service of Marriage; In Praise of Creation; A Funeral Service; A Service of Healing; Prayers of Intercession; A Celtic Calendar of the Lives of the Saints; Selected Psalms, and an Historical Overview. A tried and tested prayer book in an attractive new design.£10.99 -
The Inner Experience: Notes on Contemplation
Influences & Suggested Reading, The Inner JourneyThe Inner Experience is the first complete, authorised edition of Thomas Merton's final work. It was a manuscript he always intended to revise, but did not until 1968 when he incorporated brief but important 'corrections and additions' to the text. Drawing on his own Christian experience, as well as the Eastern writings and traditions that so significantly influenced him in the last decade of his life, Merton shows the expansive nature of contemplation; that contemplation is not simply a part of life, but the entirety of it. This, his last major work to be published, is vintage and vital Merton.£12.99 -
A Retreat with Thomas Merton
The Inner JourneyThe celebrated spiritual writer Thomas Merton remains one of the most influential voices of our day. His many books have become modern spiritual classics and he opened up the riches of the monastic tradition for many. Here, Esther de Waal devises a seven day personal or group retreat programme using extracts from Thomas Merton's writings and a selection of the photography for which he was also renowned. She creates a retreat that can be made at home, at a centre or on holiday, over a week or a period of weeks. The focus of each of the seven days is: The Call; Response; The Solitary Within; Encounter With Christ; The Demands of Love; Common and Natural and Ordinary; Integration.£14.00 -
Songs of the Isles: Selections from Carmina Gadelica
Celtic Prayer, Celtic Studies & Spirituality, Scripture & Prayer, Spiritual GrowthThe isles in the title of this book are the Hebrides which lie between the west of Scotland and the north of Ireland, and the songs are the prayers an blessings which originated there between the sixth and ninth centuries. They remained a purely oral tradition until a hundred years ago when Alexander Carmichael collected and published them as Carmina Gadelica, the source book that led to the revival of Celtic spirituality today. These prayers and songs capture the remarkable spiritual vision of a people keeping faith through good and ill, ekeing out an existence in a world that was often harsh and inhospitable. They rejoice at the birth of a child o a good harvest, glory in natural beauty, lament in suffering, cry out for help or protection, and invoke God's blessing on even the most humble tasks. Until now we have only known them in the Victorian language of Carmichael's collection, bu in Kathleen Jones' fresh translation, thir poetic simplicity and power is fully revealed and we hear authentic Celtci voices speaking with conviction about life and death, hearth and home, land and sea, and the journey of the soul beneath the protecting power of heaven.£14.99 -
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The Wisdom of the Desert
Desert Monasticism, Influences & Suggested ReadingThe Wisdom of the Desert was one of Thomas Merton's favourites among his own books - surely because he had hoped to spend his last years as a hermit. The personal tone of the translations, the blend of reverence and humour so characteristic of him, show how deeply Merton identified with the legendary authors of these sayings and parables, the fourth century Christian Fathers who sought solitude and contempation in the deserts of the Near East. The hermits of Scete who turned their backs on a corrupt society remarkably like our own had much in common with the Zen Masters of China and Japan, and Father Merton made his selection from them with an eye to the kind of impact produced by the Zen mondo.£13.00 -
Advent and Christmas wisdom from GK Chesterton
Advent & Christmas, Resources for the Christian YearAdvent and Christmas Wisdom from GK Chesterton is like an invitation to laugh and think from a friend and mentor. To quote the author: 'People are losing the power to enjoy Christmas through identifying it with enjoyment. When once they lose sight of the old suggestion that it is all about something, they naturally fall into blank pauses of wondering what it is all about. To be told to rejoice on Christmas Day is reasonable and intelligible, if you understand the name, or even look at the word. To be told to rejoice on the twenty-fifth of December is like being told to rejoice at quarter-past eleven on Thursday week. You cannot suddenly be frivolous unless you believe there is a serious reason for being frivolous.'£12.50GK Chesterton The New War on Christmas December 26 1925
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Sunset on Lindisfarne: Greetings card
Creativity, Spiritual GrowthGreetings card with a beautiful photograph by Lindsay Grant of a spectacular sunset on Lindisfarne. Blank inside for your own message.£2.00 -
Hebridean Altars: The Spirit of an Island Race
Celtic Prayer, Celtic Studies, Celtic Studies & SpiritualityThis book is a beautiful and dramatic collection of Celtic praise, compiled by Church of Scotland minister and Gaelic scholar Alistair Maclean, which was first published in 1937. It comprises over 100 prayers, poems, sayings and praises from the Christian tradition of the author’s native Hebrides.£15.99 -
Ancient Paths CD
Celtic Prayer, Creativity, Music & Creativity, Spiritual GrowthAnna's first solo album includes some of her 'signature' pieces as well as some songs of her own. Some of you will recognise familiar words from the Complines in Celtic Daily Prayer drawn from Carmina Gadelica and other traditional sources. Here they are set to Anna's own music which has emerged over the years of saying and singing these night-time prayers with her children, Joel and Martha. Anna says, 'I hope you will want to play this album often and that it will capture something of the rhythm of the tides, the sounds of the island and also its stillness.'£12.00 -
The Love Is Activity Book
CreativityThis little book contains meditations, prayers and activities about Love, inspired by the verses in the book of Corinthians. In Paul's first letter to the Christians of Corinth in Greece, he spends a long time instructing, advising, challenging and encouraging the young church there. He hasn't visited for a few years and he knows of the immorality in the wealthy pagan city and the divisions that have emerged within the church. Although he aims not to diminish the message of the cross with 'wisdom and eloquence', he gave us, in chapter thirteen, some of the most powerful and well-known verses of the New Testament.£3.99 -
Multicoloured Advent
CreativityA collection of designs to colour in, with a Bible meditation for each. Use this book to guide your thoughts and meditations in the run-up to Christmas.£3.99 -
Merton’s Palace of Nowhere
Spiritual Growth, The Inner JourneySpiritual identity is the quest to know who we are, to find meaning in life and to overcome that sense of "is that all there is?" At the heart of this quest are found Thomas Meron's illuminating insights leading from an awareness of the false and illusory self as the way to a realization of the true self. For twenty-five years, Merton's Palace of Nowhere has been the standard for exploring, reflecting on, and understanding this rich vein of Merton's thought.£14.00 -
Contemplation in a World of Action
The Inner JourneyThe spiritual and psychological insights of these essays were nurtured in a monastic milieu, but their issues are universally human. Thomas Merton lays a foundation for personal growth and transformation through fidelity to "our own truth and inner being". Our desire and need to attain "a fully human and personal identity" is the focus of Merton's concern.£24.99 -
Celtic Advent: 40 days of devotions to Christmas
Advent & Christmas, Celtic Prayer, Celtic Studies, Celtic Studies & Spirituality, Resources for the Christian YearThis inspirational book takes the reader through Advent to the celebration of Christmas through the eyes and beliefs of Celtic Christianity. Starting on 15 November – the beginning of Celtic Advent – and reflecting on Jesus' coming at his birth as well as into our lives by the Holy Spirit and at the world's end, the author offers a unique approach to the season to help you gain a new sense of wonder in the birth of Jesus, the Saviour of the world.£8.99 -
The Seven Storey Mountain
Influences & Suggested Reading, Traditional MonasticismThe complete and unedited edition of Thomas Merton's famous autobiography, one of the greatest works of spiritual pilgrimage ever written. Thomas Merton (1915 - 1968) was a Trappist monk, writer, peace and civil rights activist.£21.00 -
Love The World
Celtic Sites & Saints, Everyday Life, The Inner JourneyThis beautifully written book aims to increase our love for the world through reflecting on what we have discovered about it, and using this as a basis for further meditation and spiritual enrichment. It opens by looking at the beginning of the universe and the mystery of being, then moves on to our world, its atmosphere, the miracle of water and things we often take for granted but are essential to our health and happiness. Finally, it focuses on our relationship to the earth. Each section offers a short introduction, based on scientific discovery, a meditation, and an exercise in awareness and sensitivity.£10.99 -
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One Day Creative Retreat Activity Book
Creativity, Spiritual Exercises, The Inner JourneyThis book has been designed to guide you through a day long creative retreat or quiet day whether it be at home or away. It offers a combination of prayers and activities, some to challenge and some to help you relax and clear your mind and always to encourage you to hear the 'still, small voice.'£3.99 -
Celtic Christian Spirituality
Celtic Prayer, Celtic Sites & Saints, Celtic Studies, Celtic Studies & SpiritualityThe Celtic Christians beheld the world around them and perceived the divine life of God upholding every aspect of the material universe. Their prayers and poems, their liturgies and their theological texts give Christians a sense of faith that is confident in a merciful and infinitely creative, healing God. In this introduction to Celtic Christian spirituality, Mary C. Earle presents the primary texts from the Celtic Christian tradition - selections from the writings of Pelagius, Eriugena and St Patrick, as well as prayers and poems from Wales, the Outer Hebrides and Ireland. These essential texts direct humanity to read the 'book of creation' as well as the book of scripture, and call us to remember that 'matter matters'. The author's engaging facing-page commentary explores how faithful Christians and spiritual seekers use the writings of this lively tradition as ways of embodying and living the gospel.£10.99 -
Poustinia
Influences & Suggested Reading, Orthodox TraditionThis book (fundamental to the Community) by Catherine de Hueck Doherty explores the heart of drawing apart to a meeting place with God. Poustinia, a Russian word, means 'desert'. Men and women who desire communion with God can discover how the poustinia powerfully fulfils their yearning. Readers are invited to leave the noise and harried pace of daily life to enter a place of silence and solitude. The author writes from her own experience with refreshing and startling Christian authenticity and a strong personal sense of spiritual authority.£24.99 -
The Lent Creative Retreat Activity Book
Creativity, Lent & EasterThe Lent Creative Retreat Activity book is the newest of a series of Retreat books written and illustrated by Mary & Mark Fleeson with readings, prayers and activities split into sections to help you Take time out with God. This book gives an opportunity to discover some of the things that the approach to Easter can teach us. Some of the meditations, prayers and activities are intended to challenge and some to help you relax and clear your mind. All encourage you to hear the ‘still, small voice’. It is recommended that the activities are spread over the weeks of Lent and cover 'Sharing Together', 'Prophecy Fulfilled', 'Forgiveness', 'Behold' and 'Father into Your hands'£3.99 -
The Creative Pilgrimage Activity Book
CreativityThis little book has been created to inspire the would-be pilgrim, as a companion for the travelling pilgrim and as an introduction to making a pilgrimage to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne. Included are prayers and activities to help you focus on your journey whether your pilgrimage is part of your inward journey or a physical journey to a sacred place.£3.99 -
Followers of the Way: Ancient discipleship for modern Christians
Celtic Studies, Celtic Studies & Spirituality, Desert Monasticism, New MonasticismOne of the most pressing issues in today's church is encouraging people to become true and effective disciples of Jesus Christ. If, in simple terms, discipleship is about connecting more deeply with God and connecting God with the whole of life, Simon Reed argues, we're looking at a life-long process for which we require long-term skills rather than short-term courses. The Celtic and Desert Christians, drawing on Old and New Testament practices, taught and modelled how to do this through the practice of living by a Way of Life. By drawing together today's need for disciples and Celtic Christianity, Followers of the Way inspires authentic Christian discipleship for the contemporary world.£9.99 -
Advent for Everyone: A journey through Luke
Advent & Christmas, Resources for the Christian YearJoin Tom Wright on a journey into the heart of Luke, exploring the Gospel themes of encouragement, renewal, justice and celebration. Within each of these themes, Wright offers a week of daily readings and meditations, beginning with the Sunday reading in the Revised Common Lectionary. Each day ends with stimulating questions for personal reflection or group discussion. Drawing on key passages in his popular For Everyone series of commentaries, these sparkling reflections take you on a journey of spiritual enlightenment, guiding you towards the wonder and joy of Christmas.£9.99 -
The Celtic Way of Prayer: The Recovery of the Religious Imagination
Celtic Prayer, Celtic Studies, Celtic Studies & Spirituality, Influences & Suggested ReadingWhile it may seem that everything that can be said about Celtic spirituality has been said, this outstanding book has already established itself as a classic and as essential reading. Its beauty and wisdom lingers in the mind and in the heart. First published in 1996, it has sold tens of thousands of copies throughout the world and a new edition is to be welcomed. Esther writes as a historian and as a spiritual guide, avoiding the sentimentality that is so easily associated with Celtic spirituality. She draws on its rich literary and artistic traditions and its earthy realism to make vital and life-giving connections between the Celtic Christian world and the toughness and challenges of our own world. Here is a spirituality that we can live by with honesty, commitment and truthfulness.£14.99 -
Praying with the Desert Mothers
Desert Monasticism, Scripture & PrayerThe fourth- and fifth-century desert mothers lived the earliest forms of Christian life in the Mediterranean region. Until now, their lives have been little known outside of academic circles, Praying with the Desert Mothers presents the stories and insights of these remarkable spiritual elders, who were known as ammas; that is, women of spiritual insight and direction. The book draws on the wisdom of ancient spiritual practices to provide reflection for prayer and meditation today.£17.99 -
The Forgotten Desert Mothers
Desert Monasticism, Monasticism & New MonasticismAn introduction to the sayings, lives and stories of early Christian women. "Written in clear, heartfelt language, this book does two things beautifully. It revives lost memories of women leaders in the early evolution of Christian spirituality, thus filling in one more missing piece of women's history. And it calls the reader to a path of spirituality sorely needed in today's clamorous world: slow down, be quiet, listen for the voice of God deep within your heart. The book's attractiveness is enhanced by a time line, ordination rite, glossary and calendar of feasts in addition to notes and bibliography. Altogether an appealing contribution."£15.99- Elizabeth Johnson, C.S.J. Fordham University
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Contemplative Prayer
Influences & Suggested Reading, Scripture & PrayerThomas Merton's classic study of monastic prayer and contemplation brings a tradition of spirituality alive for the present day. But, as A M Allchin points out in his Introduction to this new edition, Contemplative Prayer also shows us the present day in a new perspective, because we see it in the light of a long and living tradition. Merton stresses that in meditation we should not look for a 'method' or 'system' but cultivate an 'attitude' or 'outlook': faith, openness, attention, reverence, expectation, trust, joy. God is found in the desert of surrender, in giving up any expectation of a particular message and 'waiting on the Word of God in silence'. Merton insists on the humility of faith, which he argues 'will do far more to launch us into the full current of historical reality than the pompous rationalisation of politicians who think they are somehow the directors and manipulators of history'.£11.99