Are you a thinker, a doer, or a lover? In Three Irish Saints: A Guide to Finding Your Spiritual Style, Dr. Kevin Vost mines ancient and modern sources to reveal what Saints Kevin of Glendalough, Patrick of Ireland, and Brigid of Kildare can teach us about the joys of contemplation, evangelization, and charitable living. Thinking, doing, and loving! Included is a a simple self-test to find out which spiritual master you are most like. Would you rather: plop down in your easy chair and enjoy a good book? Celebrate life and the company of others? Engage in long conversations with your close friends? Vost examines the lives of these three great saints, unearthing the gifts and virtues that made one a thinker, one a doer, and one a lover. So which one are you? Read the book. Take the test. And find out.

Three Irish Saints: A Guide to Finding Your Spiritual Style

Biographies & Memoirs

Vost, Kevin

Leaders & Notable People

TAN Books

Even while he was still alive, Dominican friar Albert of Cologne was widely called Magnus the Great. His contemporaries said St. Albert simply knew all there was to know; he was a scientist, theologian, and philosopher; a teacher, preacher, and negotiator; a shrewd shepherd and an unflinching defender of the Faith. The time has come to re-discover St. Albert's greatness, and to profit from his prodigious wisdom and virtue as did his famous student, St. Thomas Aquinas. Author Kevin Vost presents St. Albert's brilliant scholarly career at the height of the Church's intellectual renewal in the thirteenth century. St. Albert was tireless (and courageous) in his leadership and works of reform as a Dominican provincial and diocesan bishop. Desperate popes pressed him into diplomatic missions, hoping that Magnus might succeed in making peace where lesser men had failed. These pages not only tell St. Albert's story they share his lessons. Each chapter uses Albertine teachings, and the witness of the saint's life, to instruct, edify, and inspire us to greater holiness and more ardent love. Read St. Albert and see why the greatest man of his age has great things to offer our age as well.

St. Albert the Great: Champion of Faith and Reason

God was dead to Kevin Vost for most of his adult life. Baptized, confirmed, and raised Catholic, at age 17 Vost left it all behind as he immersed himself in atheism for a period that lasted over two decades.
Paralleling a successful career as a psychologist and professor, Vost allowed his clinical perspective to drive his faith perspective as well, falling into a common trap for many Catholics.
This timely book's unique approach gives credit where credit is due, as Vost describes the good elements in the thinking of several famous atheists. But then, from experience and logic, he shows how each of these thinkers falls short.
From there, Vost opens the doors to the philosophers and psychologists whose work, implicitly or explicitly, has paved the way toward belief in God, and even in Jesus Christ.
And finally, from the perspective of a clinical psychologist, Vost unveils how theologians, popes, and Catholic philosophers persuaded him to abandon this atheism and embrace faith in Christ and the Church.
Each chapter ends with a "Truth Box" that spotlights a chink in atheism's armor, adds a cautionary perspective, or highlights an important argument foundational to faith. With patience and perspective, Vost will lead you on a journey that reveals how reason, science, and faith work together to find the truth.

From Atheism to Catholicism: How Scientists and Philosophers Led Me to the Truth

Religion & Spirituality

Christian Books & Bibles

Our Sunday Visitor

The Porch and the Cross: Ancient Stoic Wisdom for Modern Christian Living

Regardless of their sometimes ambiguous concepts of God, the Roman Stoic philosophers did acknowledge Him, but on the basis of reason alone, because they had not met Christ. Nonetheless, they did deduce from God’s existence our need to live lives of virtue, honor, tranquility, and self-control--and they developed effective techniques to help us achieve this. Musonius Rufus the teacher, Epictetus the slave, Seneca the adviser to emperors, and Marcus Aurelius, the emperor himself, produced a practical technology we can use to integrate Christian ethics into our own daily practice. As Kevin Vost so wonderfully illustrates in his new book, The Porch and the Cross, the Stoics can help us learn--and remember--what is up to us, and what is up to God alone.
 In medieval times, Christian monks copied the Stoics’ handbooks, and scholastic theologians mined their works for gems of natural moral wisdom. In the 1960s, cognitive psychotherapists turned to the Stoics to discover methods to conquer depression and anxiety. And there is still today much that Christians can learn from these “teachers on the porch” of antiquity.
 “Kevin Vost has done his readers a tremendous service once again! The Porch and the Cross is suffused with wisdom that is relevant, timely, and brilliantly articulated. Read and be inspired.”--KEVIN LOWRY, author of Faith at Work
 “The complementarity of reason and faith is beautifully evidenced in this gem of a book. The Porch and the Cross offers a fascinating and insightful glimpse into the love of wisdom and the wisdom of the cross!”--FR. DONALD CALLOWAY, MIC, author of No Turning Back
 “Just as did St. Thomas Aquinas in the past, Kevin Vost does a superb job of showing us how human reason, in the form of Stoic philosophy, supports Christian revelation. This excellent reminder is providential in our day, where so many people desperately need to reconnect with the Western intellectual tradition.”--SCOTT M. SULLIVAN, President and CEO, Classical Theist Productions
 “The Porch and the Cross takes the reader back to the Stoic thinkers as a complement to natural law and Christian faith.”--KENNETH J. HOWELL, Theologian in Residence, The Coming Home Network (from the Foreword)
 “Kevin Vost, in his uniquely personable writing style, does a remarkable job bringing to life the instructions of men who lived nearly 2000 years ago!”--JARED ZIMMERER, author of Man Up! (from the Preface)

Politics & Social Sciences

Philosophy

Angelico Press

Regardless of their sometimes ambiguous concepts of God, the Roman Stoic philosophers did acknowledge Him, but on the basis of reason alone, because they had not met Christ. Nonetheless, they did deduce from God's existence our need to live lives of virtue, honor, tranquility, and self-control--and they developed effective techniques to help us achieve this. Musonius Rufus the teacher, Epictetus the slave, Seneca the adviser to emperors, and Marcus Aurelius, the emperor himself, produced a practical technology we can use to integrate Christian ethics into our own daily practice. As Kevin Vost so wonderfully illustrates in his new book, The Porch and the Cross, the Stoics can help us learn--and remember--what is up to us, and what is up to God alone. 
In medieval times, Christian monks copied the Stoics' handbooks, and scholastic theologians mined their works for gems of natural moral wisdom. In the 1960s, cognitive psychotherapists turned to the Stoics to discover methods to conquer depression and anxiety. And there is still today much that Christians can learn from these "teachers on the porch" of antiquity. 
"Kevin Vost has done his readers a tremendous service once again! The Porch and the Cross is suffused with wisdom that is relevant, timely, and brilliantly articulated. Read and be inspired."--KEVIN LOWRY, author of Faith at Work 
"The complementarity of reason and faith is beautifully evidenced in this gem of a book. The Porch and the Cross offers a fascinating and insightful glimpse into the love of wisdom and the wisdom of the cross!"--FR. DONALD CALLOWAY, MIC, author of No Turning Back 
"Just as did St. Thomas Aquinas in the past, Kevin Vost does a superb job of showing us how human reason, in the form of Stoic philosophy, supports Christian revelation. This excellent reminder is providential in our day, where so many people desperately need to reconnect with the Western intellectual tradition."--SCOTT M. SULLIVAN, President and CEO, Classical Theist Productions 
"The Porch and the Cross takes the reader back to the Stoic thinkers as a complement to natural law and Christian faith."--KENNETH J. HOWELL, Theologian in Residence, The Coming Home Network (from the Foreword) 
"Kevin Vost, in his uniquely personable writing style, does a remarkable job bringing to life the instructions of men who lived nearly 2000 years ago!"--JARED ZIMMERER, author of Man Up! (from the Preface) 
Kevin Vost holds a Doctor of Psychology in Clinical Psychology (Psy.D.) degree from the Adler School of Professional Psychology in Chicago. He has taught psychology and gerontology at Aquinas College in Nashville, the University of Illinois at Springfield, MacMurray College, and Lincoln Land Community College. He has served as a research review committee member for American Mensa, a society promoting the scientific study of human intelligence, and as an advisory board member for the International Association of Resistance Trainers, an organization that certifies personal fitness trainers.

Angelico PR

The Four Friendships: From Aristotle to Aquinas

Twenty-three centuries ago, the great Greek philosopher Aristotle gave us profound insights into the nature and nourishment of friendship in all its forms, foremost among them the intimate, virtuous friendships in which friends become "as one soul in two bodies." Two centuries later, Roman statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero left us a literary masterpiece of his own on the glories, benefits, and duties of friendships based on harmonious goodwill and benevolence. Thirteen centuries later, a young man, St. Aelred of Rievaulx, became enthralled with Cicero's writings on friendship, and later, as a Cistercian abbot, wrote his own treatise on friendship, building upon Cicero's sturdy treatment, but raising it to new, supernatural heights through the sweet exemplar of the spiritual friendship of Jesus Christ. Quite independently of St. Aelred, a century later the sublime Dominican philosopher and Doctor of the Church, St. Thomas Aquinas, in his treatise on charity, Christianized and elevated to heaven Aristotle's teaching of the friendship of virtue as man's friendship with God.In The Four Friendships: From Aristotle to Aquinas we undertake to glean the lasting lessons of these four great friends of friendship. Aristotle wrote in his Nicomachean Ethics that "the object of our inquiry is not to know what virtue is but how to become good..." To this end we too will examine these four writings on friendship not merely as works of literature or historical curiosities, but as practical guides to help us build, maintain, and enjoy noble friendships of our own--today. The object of our inquiry, then, is not to know what friendship is but how to become good friends.

Parenting & Relationships

Twenty-three centuries ago, the great Greek philosopher Aristotle gave us profound insights into the nature and nourishment of friendship in all its forms, foremost among them the intimate, virtuous friendships in which friends become “as one soul in two bodies.” Two centuries later, Roman statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero left us a literary masterpiece of his own on the glories, benefits, and duties of friendships based on harmonious goodwill and benevolence. Thirteen centuries later, a young man, St. Aelred of Rievaulx, became enthralled with Cicero’s writings on friendship, and later, as a Cistercian abbot, wrote his own treatise on friendship, building upon Cicero’s sturdy treatment, but raising it to new, supernatural heights through the sweet exemplar of the spiritual friendship of Jesus Christ. Quite independently of St. Aelred, a century later the sublime Dominican philosopher and Doctor of the Church, St. Thomas Aquinas, in his treatise on charity, Christianized and elevated to heaven Aristotle’s teaching of the friendship of virtue as man’s friendship with God. In The Four Friendships: From Aristotle to Aquinas we undertake to glean the lasting lessons of these four great friends of friendship. Aristotle wrote in his Nicomachean Ethics that “the object of our inquiry is not to know what virtue is but how to become good…” To this end we too will examine these four writings on friendship not merely as works of literature or historical curiosities, but as practical guides to help us build, maintain, and enjoy noble friendships of our own—today. The object of our inquiry, then, is not to know what friendship is but how to become good friends. “C. S. Lewis wrote his famous book, The Four Loves. Kevin Vost has now furthered the discussion by writing The Four Friendships. Like Lewis’s classic, it encourages us to reflect on what is most important in our daily lives.”—CHRISTOPHER S. MORRISSEY, Seminary of Christ the King, British Columbia “Kevin Vost’s joyful reflections follow pagan and Christian pioneers along their itinerary of friendship in this feast for mind and heart. He reminds us that contrary to many modern prejudices, ancient philosophers were sages of a high spiritual order, and medieval spiritual masters could be insightful guides and artists in the logic of love. Vost dives deep into the waters of friendship and offers us what is most precious, virtuous, and enduring.”—HEATHER ERB, moderator in the Great Books Program of the Angelicum Academy “If you want to build good friendships, Kevin Vost’s The Four Friendships will serve you well. Read the book slowly, taking time to reflect deeply on how the four classic authors he presents may help you choose friends wisely, and love others with more Christian charity.”—BERT GHEZZI, author of Voices of the Saints “This concise volume brings together key texts of four great thinkers from pagan antiquity and the Christian Middle Ages on the ever-timely topic of friendship. Kevin Vost provides helpful and insightful commentaries on the reflections of Aristotle, Cicero, Aelred of Rievaulx, and Thomas Aquinas on what friendship is, how it works, what it requires, and even when it is time to call it quits. A most useful book for understanding important dimensions of all manner of relationships.”—GREGORY SADLER, President and Founder, ReasonIO “Kevin Vost’s The Four Friendships is a compendium on the nature of friendship, and especially what it means for us today to befriend and be a friend. It is a timely reminder of our true nature as persons destined for communion in an age in which many of our friendships are based increasingly on mere utility.”—SEBASTIAN MAHFOOD, OP, author of The Narrative Spirituality of Dante’s Divine Comedy

Memorize the Stoics!: The Ancient Art of Memory Meets the Timeless Art of Living

Memorize the Stoics!The Ancient Art of Memory Meets the Timeless Art of Living. The title says it all! Extolling the powers of God-given human reason, Stoic philosophers such as Roman knight Musonius Rufus and his student, the former slave, Epictetus, developed powerful practical lessons for living tranquil, virtuous, loving lives. These lessons were praised by such early Church Fathers as Justin Martyr and Origen. Epictetus’s Handbook was later adapted as a moral guidebook for monks. A millennium later, Thomas Aquinas mined the Stoic Seneca’s lessons on anger, gratitude, patience, and more for use in his Summa Theologiae. And in our own day, the psychological and moral teachings of the Stoics constitute an “art of living” that fairly cries out to act as compass for the nearly rudderless boat of our disordered contemporary world. 
But still, it is hard to live out important life lessons if you cannot remember them! In those same early centuries before and after Christ, Greeks like Simonides and Romans like Cicero championed a specialized “art of memory.” Early Church Fathers such as Augustine and Jerome championed this also, as did, centuries later, Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas. 
The unique virtue of Kevin Vost’s book is its wedding of the ancient art of memory to the timeless art of living. In his Handbook, Epictetus exhorts us to “remember” his lessons a full dozen times, and in his own book Vost shows us how to do just this, thereby opening our eyes to unrecognized powers of imagination and memory, and to unrecognized capacities for controlling thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. Even so, the Stoics would not mind at all if you found this exercise of imagination and intellect a rather fun thing to do. Enjoy!

Self-Help

Memory Improvement

Memorize the Stoics! The Ancient Art of Memory Meets the Timeless Art of Living. The title says it all! Extolling the powers of God-given human reason, Stoic philosophers such as Roman knight Musonius Rufus and his student, the former slave, Epictetus, developed powerful practical lessons for living tranquil, virtuous, loving lives. These lessons were praised by such early Church Fathers as Justin Martyr and Origen. Epictetus's Handbook was later adapted as a moral guidebook for monks. A millennium later, Thomas Aquinas mined the Stoic Seneca's lessons on anger, gratitude, patience, and more for use in his Summa Theologiae. And in our own day, the psychological and moral teachings of the Stoics constitute an "art of living" that fairly cries out to act as compass for the nearly rudderless boat of our disordered contemporary world. But still, it is hard to live out important life lessons if you cannot remember them! In those same early centuries before and after Christ, Greeks like Simonides and Romans like Cicero championed a specialized "art of memory." Early Church Fathers such as Augustine and Jerome championed this also, as did, centuries later, Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas. The unique virtue of Kevin Vost's book is its wedding of the ancient art of memory to the timeless art of living. In his Handbook, Epictetus exhorts us to "remember" his lessons a full dozen times, and in his own book Vost shows us how to do just this, thereby opening our eyes to unrecognized powers of imagination and memory, and to unrecognized capacities for controlling thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. Even so, the Stoics would not mind at all if you found this exercise of imagination and intellect a rather fun thing to do. Enjoy!

Many of us fail to recognize that obtaining the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential to getting to heaven. We often block their reception through our own faults. We fail to see how they are passed on or strengthened in the sacraments. And, sadly, we forget to petition God in prayer to bestow these gifts upon us. In these pages, Dr. Kevin Vost best-selling author of The One-Minute Aquinas provides us with a substantive yet readable introduction to the seven gifts and how we can humbly submit our wills to the stirrings of the Holy Spirit. As Dr. Vost explains, these God-given gifts help us to conform our lives to His image, intellect and will. They prevent us from being drawn into frustration and possibly self-destruction by following our own sensual appetites. Indeed, the gifts of the Holy Spirit are the only path to being fully happy on earth and in the life to come.

Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit

Sophia Institute Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Vost, Kevin. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Vost, Kevin

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Vost, Kevin. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Three Irish Saints: A Guide to Finding Your Spiritual Style

St. Albert the Great: Champion of Faith and Reason

From Atheism to Catholicism: How Scientists and Philosophers Led Me to the Truth

The Porch and the Cross: Ancient Stoic Wisdom for Modern Christian Living

The Porch and the Cross: Ancient Stoic Wisdom for Modern Christian Living

The Four Friendships: From Aristotle to Aquinas

The Four Friendships: From Aristotle to Aquinas

Memorize the Stoics!: The Ancient Art of Memory Meets the Timeless Art of Living

Memorize the Stoics!: The Ancient Art of Memory Meets the Timeless Art of Living

Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit