Wise and enduring spiritual guidelines for everyday living –– as relevant today as when The Rule was originally conceived by St. Benedict in fifth century Rome.

Wisdom distilled from the daily: Living the Rule of St. Benedict today

Religion & Spirituality

Chittister, Joan D.

Christian Books & Bibles

Harper&Row

In the Heart of the Temple

S.P.C.K. Publishing

Everyone goes through times of pain and sorrow, depression and darkness, stress and suffering. It is in the necessary struggles of life, however, that we stretch our souls and gain new insights enabling us to go on. Building on the biblical story of Jacob wrestling with God and on the story of her own battle with life-changing disappointment, Sister Joan Chittister deftly explores the landscape of suffering and hope, considering along the way such wide-ranging topics as consumerism, technology, grief, the role of women in the Catholic Church, and the events of September 11, 2001. We struggle, she says, against change, isolation, darkness, fear, powerlessness, vulnerability, exhaustion, and scarring; and while these struggles sometimes seem insurmountable, we can emerge from them with the gifts of conversion, detachment, faith, courage, surrender, limitations, endurance, transformation, and (perhaps most important) hope. Each of these struggles and gifts is discussed in a chapter of its own. Meant to help readers cope with their own suffering and disappointment, Scarred by Struggle, Transformed by Hope is, in Chittister's words, "an anatomy of struggle and an account of the way hope grows in us, despite our moments of darkness, regardless of our regular bouts of depression. It is an invitation to look again at the struggles of life in order that we might remember how to recognize new life in our souls the next time our hearts turn again to clay." Neither a self-help manual nor a book offering pat answers, but supremely practical and relevant, Chittister's Scarred by Struggle, Transformed by Hope will richly reward those readers seeking solace in the empathic, wise, and accessible meditations of a fellow struggler.

Scarred by Struggle, Transformed by Hope

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Psychology & Counseling

Eerdmans Pub.Co.

The biblical story of Ruth is a woman's story about a woman's life. Though written thousands of years ago, it is nonetheless perennial. It calls us to reflect in every generation on what it means to be a whole woman, a spiritual woman. In THE STORY OF RUTH Joan Chittister and John August Swanson reclaim this powerful biblical story as a model for contemporary women seeking a fully spiritual life. 
Through complementary texts and illustrations, Chittister and Swanson explore a series of twelve defining moments in every woman's life--moments of loss, change, transformation, aging, independence, respect, recognition, insight, empowerment, self-definition, invisibility, and fulfillment. Each chapter and each piece of artwork together illuminate the faithful life of Ruth in relation to these formative moments and lend insights into what it means to be a woman of God today. 
A lovely combination of art and text, THE STORY OF RUTH provides valuable help for women seeking wholeness in a world still struggling with issues of faith and gender.

The Story of Ruth: Twelve Moments in Every Woman's Life

Swanson, John August

Faith and Ferment: An Interdisciplinary Study of Christian Beliefs and Practices

Marty, Martin E.

Augsburg Fortress Pub

Faith and Ferment: A Study of Interdisciplinary Beliefs

Liturgical Pr

Building on the biblical story of Jacob wrestling with God and on the story of her own battle with life-changing disappointment, Sister Joan explores the landscape of suffering and hope. Meant to help readers cope with their own suffering and disappointment, this book is, in Chittister's words, "an anatomy of struggle and an account of the way hope grows in us, despite our moments of darkness, regardless of our regular bouts of depression. It is an invitation to look again at the struggles of life in order that we might remember how to recognize new life in our souls the next time our hearts turn again to clay." 

St. Anthony Messenger Press

What makes a saint? Why do we need them? For Joan Chittister, saints are "people like ourselves, reachable figures, who have lived well through situations similar to our own as proof that we too, in all of our smallness, can stretch ourselves to the limits of the best in us. We call them saints, but maybe we should call them "heroes" or stars or icons." In them are reflected the many facets of the face of God. In A Passion for Life the icons are male and female, Christian and non-Christian, married and single, religious and lay, from different times and diverse cultures. They are activists and mystics, their holiness recognized by due process, or acclaimed by those who lived in the shadow of their lives. Like us, they are not without flaws, but so luminous in their virtues as to be a light for the ages. Joan Chittister presents some of these men and women to us, reveals their special gifts, encourages us to identify with them, and to follow their example. Robert Lentz's many stunning icons provide a third dimension for the reader, to feast the eye as well as the soul. A Passion for Life is a book of saints for our own time, and for all time.

A Passion for Life: Fragments of the Face of God

Biographies & Memoirs

Lentz, Robert

Leaders & Notable People

Orbis Books

Bestselling spiritual writer Joan Chittister joins here with a prophetic artist, Robert Lentz, to depict a range of saints, prophets, and spiritual witnesses whose lives reflect the many facets of the divine.

Called to Question is Sr. Joan Chittister's most personal and intense writing to date. Centered around a series of conversations with spiritual writers featured in her private journal, Sr. Joan looks at the common questions or dimensions of life as we know them in our daily lives-not answers as we've been given them-in an attempt to unravel their many meanings, to give them flesh, to honor their spiritual import now and here, in our time and in our own lives. By sharing the questions, doubts, and convictions in her own heart, Chittister explores the heart of faith itself and nurtures a spirituality that pushes readers beyond superficial questioning and unexamined faith. The paperback edition includes a new Prologue about the power of questions in today's society. Following a moving prologue on the nature of faith, Called to Question is broken into six parts that explore key themes- the inward life, immersion in life, resistance, feminist spirituality, ecology, dailiness. Within each theme is a wide array of topics that embody Sr. Joan's life's work as a sociologist, theologian, Benedictine nun, rights activist, and spiritual guide to countless people throughout the world. Alive with the raw energy of a journal and polished with the skill of a master storyteller, each chapter is an engaging dialogue between Sr. Joan and many different wisdom sources about such topics as God's existence and call, experience, struggle, justice, the role of women and men in society and church, living through doubt, and celebrating life. Called to Question is a rare and powerful invitation to look into the center of our own souls, name our questions about God and life, admit the worst, and pursue the best―even when we are unsure where that pursuit will take us.

Called to Question: A Spiritual Memoir

Community & Culture

Sheed Ward

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Books by Chittister, Joan D.