Take and Read: Spiritual Reading -- An Annotated List

by Eugene H. Peterson

Publisher:

Eerdmans

, 1996

Overview

Spiritual reading has fallen on bad times. Today, reading is largely a consumer activity, done for information that may fuel ambitions or careers—and the faster the better. Take and Read represents Eugene H. Peterson’s attempt to rekindle the activity of spiritual reading, reading that considers any book that comes to hand in a spiritual way, tuned to the Spirit, alert to intimations of God.

Take and Read provides an annotated list of the books that have stood the test of time and that, for Peterson, are spiritually formative in the Christian life. The books on this list range from standard spiritual classics to novels, poems, and mysteries, and include an equally broad spectrum of authors—from Augustine and C. S. Lewis to William Faulkner and Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Annotations following each entry offer Peterson’s own significant insights into the power of each work.

Key Features

• Provides a concise introduction to the practice of Divine Reading
• Gives a thorough list of literary, theological and devotional titles
• Helps believers to grow on the discipline of Lectio Divina

Contents

• Basics
• Classics
• The Psalms
• Prayer
• Prayerbook and Hymnbooks
• Worship/Liturgy
• Spiritual Formation
• Spiritual Direction
• North American Spirituality
• Novelists
• Poets
• Pastors
• Jesus
• Mysteries
• Commentaries
• Place
• Saints
• Sin and the Devil
• History
• E. H. Peterson

Praise for Take and Read

Keep Spiritual Reading within arm's reach. Readers will consult this not only to shape personal reading lists but also for help in pondering predicaments such as what to recommend for a parish retreat.

Christian Century

For Christians who wish to deepen and broaden their understanding of their own religious tradition, this book is like a map to the best reading available to pursue this goal.

Clergy Journal

Peterson's choices range from the expected to the delightfully different. His wide-ranging definitions of what is spiritual and his book-lover's zeal encourage readers also to befriend books and enjoy their deep spiritual rewards.

Publishers Weekly

Product Details

• Title: Take and Read: Spiritual Reading: An Annotated List
• Author: Eugene H. Peterson
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Print Publication Date: 1996
• Logos Release Date: 2022
• Pages: 122
• Era: era:contemporary
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
• Subjects: Spiritual life › Christianity--Indexes; Spiritual life › Christianity--Abstracts
• ISBNs: 9780802840967, 0802840965
• Resource ID: LLS:TAKEANDREAD
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T03:16:49Z

About Eugene H. Peterson

Eugene H. Peterson (1932–2018) was a pastor, scholar, author, and poet. He wrote more than thirty books, including his widely acclaimed paraphrase of the Bible, The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language, his memoir, The Pastor, and numerous works of biblical spiritual formation, including Run with the Horses, also available in a commemorative edition. Peterson was founding pastor of Christ Our King Presbyterian Church in Bel Air, Maryland, where he served for twenty-nine years before retiring in 1991. With degrees from Seattle Pacific, New York Theological Seminary, and Johns Hopkins University, he served as professor of spiritual theology at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia, until retiring in Lakeside, Montana, in 2006.