Ways of Imperfection: An Exploration of Christian Spirituality

Spirituality has to do with a whole Christian vision of life, not simply with methods of prayer or contemplation. Simon Tugwell approaches the subject through the idea of “imperfection,” tracing this theme through a series of spiritual writers from different periods of Christian history. He ranges from the Apostolic and Desert Fathers through St. Francis of Assisi and Mother Julian of Norwich to St. Thérese of Lisieux. These are penetrating and illuminating studies which show how from the start and throughout its history the Christian vision is not one for an elite but for everyone, sinners all. The religion of the cross is the religion of failure turned to account, creatively.