Written in the 12th century in Arabic by a faithful Jewish man, “The Guide for the Perplexed” is a work that explores the contradiction a very intelligent mind clearly saw between the tradition in which he was raised to believe and the growing philosophy of Arabian and Western culture. In Maimonides’ time, there was an emerging disparity between the Law and a new level of philosophical sophistication, which he attempts to bridge in this work, pr ...
Blaise Pascal was a 17th century French scientist, author, and Christian philosopher who is best known for his work, “Pensees” or “Thoughts.” First published posthumously in 1670, “Thoughts” is an edited compilation of the notes that Pascal had prepared for a planned work that scholars refer to as an “Apology for the Christian Religion.” Given its incompleteness when Pascal died, the order and composition of the work has been debated and as a re ...
First published in 1609 “An Introduction to the Devout Life” is Saint Francis de Sales work which belongs to the Christian tradition of “Lectio Divina” or “Divine Reading”. Like Thomas a Kempis’ “The Imitation of Christ” it is a work intended to provide guidance to the individual desiring spiritual direction in order to lead a more devout life. Based on a series of letters between Francis and his cousin, Madame Marie de Charmoisy, who as the wif ...
An early English Protestant, John Foxe fled from England to Strasbourg, France, when Mary Tudor became queen. There, he occupied himself with a Latin history of the Christian persecutions and he printed, in Latin, the first part of his history of the persecution of Protestant reformers. First published under the title “Actes and Monuments” in 1563, “Foxe’s Book of Martyrs” is an account of Christian martyrs throughout Western history, emphasizin ...
Written by Eusebius, the bishop of Caesarea, “The History of the Church” is the pioneering 4th century work which details the chronological history of early Christianity from the time of Christ to Constantine. This monumental work of Christian history stands apart from other contemporary histories as the first full-length record of early Christianity from a Christian point of view. A fierce advocate for the Christian religion, Eusebius lived in ...
A classic of Christian apologetics, the branch of Christian theology which seeks to offer reasoned defenses for Christianity against its objectors, G. K. Chesterton’s “Orthodoxy” is one of the author’s most enduring works. A self-described pagan and agnostic in his youth, Chesterton describes in this work how he came to believe in the importance of his own personal belief in Christianity. As he describes in his preface to the book, “It is the pu ...
Originally published anonymously in 1914, “The Impersonal Life” is Joseph Benner’s classic work of Christian spiritualism which was influenced by the New Thought movement, a religious movement of the later part of the 19th century and early part of the 20th century. Central to the New Thought movement is the idea that God resides in all things and that through the power of positive thinking one can attract the success and contentment that one de ...
A part of the “Vedas”, a collection of ancient manuscripts which form the basis for the Hindu religion, the “Upanishads” are ancient Sanskrit texts which contain arguably the most important spiritual aspects of the Hindu faith. Of the more than two hundred «Upanishads», the ones of principal importance, Chandogya, Kena, Aitareya, Kaushitaki, Isa, Katha, Mundaka, Taittiriyaka, Brhadaranyaka, Svetasvatara, Prasna, and Maitriyana, are presented her ...
First published in the first part of the 5th century A.D., “The City of God” is Saint Augustine’s highly influential work of Christian philosophy. This expansive theological work provided an articulate defense of Christianity against the claims that it lead to the downfall of Rome in the years preceding its publication. It outlines a citizenship that goes beyond the worldly, the political, and the self-centered, instead focusing on a place where ...
