This is the most important book for the spiritual practice of questing that we’ve found in many years. John Philip Newell is not new to us; you’ll find him in our Living Spiritual Teachers Project.

His previous books have focused more on peace and being present, and this one offers wisdom on those topics too. But Newell’s focus here is most of all on the quest: the “Great Search” of his book title. He explains: “Something new is emerging. We need to listen to the stirrings of the Spirit within us and within the body of Earth, and change.”

Newell understands himself as post-religious. In fact, the marketing copy for the book compares Newell’s work here to Barbara Brown Taylor and Rob Bell, two other bestselling authors who were once pillars of Christian churches, and are now Spiritual But Not Religious. As Newell writes in his introduction, “The Great Search is happening in the realm of Christianity and beyond it. And its equivalent is happening in all the great spiritual traditions of humanity.”

The book is organized into three parts. Within each part Newell draws on the wisdom of great teachers from the past, some of whom “anticipated the Great Search that we are in the middle of today. Others are simply shining light for us from afar.”

Part one focuses on vision, Earth, and presence with Thomas Berry, Nan Shepherd, and Martin Buber. Part two focuses on awareness, wellness, and love with Carl Jung, Julian of Norwich, and Jalaluddin Rumi. And part three addresses wisdom, meaning, and faith with Rabindranath Tagore, Etty Hillesum, and Edwin Muir.

An original meditative practice, inspired by one of these nine teachers, concludes each of the nine chapters. See the excerpt accompanying this review for the last of these — a meditative practice for seeking faith.

Highly recommended.

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