Disciplines Of The Spirit Book

Disciplines of the Spirit is, yet again, one of those texts that must be read repeatedly to be mined for its riches. Thurman's disciplines are commitment, growing in wisdom and stature, suffering, prayer, and reconciliation.

Thurman's voice is very gentle (he was associated with the nonviolent movement), very personal. Disciplines read like listening to a wise person humbly explain himself. He puts personal stories to great use here. Sometimes, in spiritual books, personal stories function to explain the author's background, or add humor, or provide a break from a heavy narrative (all of which have their places). In Thurman's writing, however, I found his stories illustrating his ideas splendidly. Remembering the story becomes easy shorthand for remembering his points.

I'm eager to read more by Thurman. In his chapter on prayer, I found connections to Ignatian spirituality in particular, and I'm curious if he was aware of the Jesuit tradition. The final chapter on reconciliation was the best Christian advocation for nonviolence that I've read, and I hope he's written more on that topic. Thurman is a gentle soul and I cherish the chance to know him through his writing.

I've heard Thurman described as a mystic, and while I wouldn't have called him that based on Disciplines of the Spirit alone, he does refer to some "mystical" experiences. The basis for mysticism is present in his spirituality. I put "mystical" in scare quotes because it's such a hard term to define. He's not levitating like Teresa of Ávila. I find evangelicals are often suspicious of mysticism, but with my lengthy background in evangelicalism, I know mystical experiences are often encouraged in evangelical spirituality. Evangelicals use terms like mountaintop experience and speak of feeling (close to God, God's presence, et c.) and hearing from God directly. These are part and parcel of mysticism, though the mystical tradition has a much better track record of dealing with the valley experiences preceding and following mountaintop experiences. Evangelicals can be so unaware of the historic Christian tradition that one moment they'll say "God told me to ____" and the next moment say, "I just don't believe [insert mystic here] heard directly from God." Anyway. Thurman stands healthily in between these traditions. He offers a middle path between medieval mysticism--which is pretty intense for low church folks--and no mysticism at all.