The Carmelite Tradition: (Spirituality In History)

Eight hundred years ago, Albert of Jerusalem gave the hermit-penitents of Mount Carmel a way of life to follow. Since then, this rule has inspired and formed mystics and scholars, men and women, lay and ordained to seek the living God. In The Carmelite Tradition Steven Payne, OCD, brings together representative voices to demonstrate the richness and depth of Carmelite spirituality. As he writes, Carmelite spirituality seeks nothing more nor less than to 'stand before the face of the living God' and prophesy with Elijah, to 'hear the word of God and keep it' with Mary, to grow in friendship with God through unceasing prayer with Teresa, to 'become by participation what Christ is by nature' as John of the Cross puts it, and thereby to be made, like Therase of Lisieux, into instruments of God's transforming merciful love in the church and society." The lives and writings in The Carmelite Tradition invite readers to stand with these holy men and women and seek God in the hermitage of the heart. Steven Payne, OCD, of the Washington Province of Discalced Carmelite Friars, is a member of the Carmelite Friars' formation team at the Monastery of St. John of the Cross near Nairobi, Kenya, and director of the Institute of Spirituality and Religious Formation (ISRF) at Tangaza College, a constituent college of the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA) in Nairobi. He is the past editor of ICS Publications and of Spiritual Life magazine and the author of several works in philosophy of religion, theology, and Carmelite spirituality. He is a member of the Carmelite Forum and of the Carmelite Institute in Washington DC, of which he is a past president. "

Table of Contents:
Contents
Acknowledgments   vii
Preface   xi
Introduction   xiii
The Carmelite Tradition   xxi
The Carmelite Rule (ca. 1207)   1
Ignea Sagitta (The Flaming Arrow) (ca. 1270)   10
The Book of the Institution of the First Monks (ca. 1380)   21
Teresa of Avila (1515–1582)   26
John of the Cross (1542–1591)   42
Jerome Gracián (1545–1614)   64
Mary Magdalen de’ Pazzi (1566–1607)   72
John of St. Samson (1571–1636)   78
Lawrence of the Resurrection (1614–1691)  86
Michael of St. Augustine (1621–1684) and Maria Petyt (1623–1677)   97
Martyrs of Compiègne (d. 1794)   104
Thérèse of Lisieux (1873–1897)   115
Elizabeth of the Trinity (1880–1906)   127 
Titus Brandsma (1881–1942)   135
Edith Stein (1891–1942)   147
Jessica Powers (1905–1988)   158
Recent Voices   170
Notes   180
Selected Bibliography   185

About the Author :
Steven Payne, OCD, of the Washington Province of Discalced Carmelite Friars, is a member of the Carmelite Friars' formation team at the Monastery of St. John of the Cross near Nairobi, Kenya, and director of the Institute of Spirituality and Religious Formation (ISRF) at Tangaza College, a constituent college of the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA) in Nairobi. He is the past editor of ICS Publications and of Spiritual Life magazine and the author of several works in philosophy of religion, theology, and Carmelite spirituality. He is a member of the Carmelite Forum and of the Carmelite Institute in Washington DC, of which he is a past president. Phyllis Zagano is senior research associate-in-residence and adjunct professor of religion at Hofstra University and founding co-chair of the Roman Catholic Studies Group of the American Academy of Religion. The author or editor of sixteen books in religious studies, including Catholic Press Association and College Theology Society book award winners, Zagano is also the series editor of the Spirituality in History Series published by Liturgical Press.

Review :
Explore The Carmelite Tradition with the expert guidance of Fr. Steven Payne who has composed a clear, elegant and insightful guide to the extraordinary riches of the Carmelite charism. You will be profoundly enriched by your time with Fr. Payne's beautifully written text.Dr. Keith J. Egan, President, Carmelite Institute, Aquinas Chair Emeritus, St. Mary's College, Adjunct Professor of Theology, Notre Dame University