The New Wine of Dominican Spirituality: A Drink Called Happiness

This lively and compelling book by Paul Murray OP names and celebrates aspects of the Dominican tradition which are at the very core of its spirituality. This tradition has often been described in the past, and for good reason, as scholarly and intellectual. But the lives of the Dominicans whose voices we hear in this book were also, and to an extraordinary degree, apostolic, exuberant, evangelical, risk-taking, mystical, and robust. One of the things which has characterized the Dominican spirit from the beginning is a sense of openness to the world. Dominicans such as Thomas Aquinas, Jordan of Saxony, and Catherine of Siena, were not only impressive celebrants of grace. They were also defenders of nature. After the example of St Dominic himself, they learned to drink deep from the wine of God's Word, and became witnesses not only of certain great moral and doctrinal truths but witnesses also of an unimaginable joy. One reason, in society today, why so many feel unfulfilled and are not happy is because the vision of life offered is one that is restricted to a pragmatic, one-dimensional view of the world. The Dominican vision of life we find presented in this book is one that is truly broad and joyous. It is a path of spirituality - a way - open to people of all kinds and conditions.

Table of Contents:
Foreword by The Most Reverend Timothy Radcliffe OP Introduction 1. What is Dominican Spirituality? 2. Dominicans and Happiness 3. Eat the Book 4. Dominicans Drinking

About the Author :
Paul Murray is an Irish Dominican and a poet. He works in Rome, Italy, where he teaches the literature of the mystical tradition at the Angelicum University.

Review :
While most of us wouldn't associate Dominic's Order with the love of learning or with mystical experience, Dominican spirituality has, in fact, been congenial to the work of the likes of St. Thomas Aquinas, Meister Eckhart, and Mechthild of Magdeburg. Murray's charming book urges readers to make use of Dominican spirituality by drinking the experience of the world while remaining rooted in God's word. Through his rich knowledge of Dominic, Thomas, Catherine of Siena and modern-day Dominicans, Murray draws his readers through compelling narrative and poignant use of anecdote into exploring a tradition that has produced some of the sharpest minds and some of the most passionate preachers of Christian History.' Sit back, relax and drink in this book: you are in the hands of an enthusiast! ... I can't recall reading as lucid account of the balance between action and contemplation anywhere as in the section The World Within God's Hand in the first chapter. What a joy, too, to read some genuinely exuberant writing on the importance of happiness for Dominicans. ...combines impeccable scholarship, profound wisdom, accessible clarity and a wonderful sense of fun, bringing admirably to life the captivating humanity of early Dominicans.