One of the greatest books ever on Christian spirituality

I once dreamed of writing a book that would encapsulate much of what I’ve learned in my Christian journey. I have to admit that you should probably read John Eldredge’s Journey of Desire first, because it really opened my eyes to appreciate a lot of what I’d already read in authors like GK Chesterton and CS Lewis; they mentioned a lot of the great concepts in Eldredge, but they blew past a lot of it, assuming the reader already knew the details.




A reasonable assumption considering that said details are stone cold basic to the Christian life, but are almost universally ignored in the mountains of books and articles I’ve read (including contributions from fundamentalist Baptist, evangelical, Roman Catholic, Traditionalist Romand Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox).

The ideas contained in Eldredge are just that basic and fundamental and I think that their neglect is an almost satanic conspiracy. They are basic because they provide answers to these questions

-How do I know the right thing in my particular life, beyond general universally applicable commandments like don’t kill, etc.?
-How do I love God?
-How does sin occur?
-How does virtue occur?
-Why ought I to do the right thing?

I’ve talked about Eldredge, but back to my dream, after Eldredge I read Transformation in Christ by Dietrich von Hildebrand and he really takes it the next level. He wrote the book I wish existed and thought I ought to write. You don’t have to be Catholic to get this book, but it might help to go the Catholic Encyclopedia for help with terms. Especially read up in the articles on the practical difference between mortal and venial sin, namely that mortal is deliberate and venial is something you do without knowing the full extent of your actions (although you may know on some level that what you are doing is wrong). It helps you come to terms with your human frailty without letting it become a cause of despair or an excuse for deliberate wrong doing (including a deliberate failure to do the right thing). Doubtless, I will write more on this later.