The Pursuit of God

Resources for Application

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Norwich. Spiritual classics are tools in our toolbox that we lend to those needing a spiritual repair. We might also think about spiritual classics as a pharmacy for soul care. As we become familiar with spiritual classics, we notice which ones are antidotes for specific “soul sicknesses.” For example, James Houston recognizes Julian of Norwich’s Revelations of Divine Love as an effective “soul medicine” for victims of sexual abuse. 24 Additionally, C. S. Lewis was well known for recommending specific spiritual classics to individuals who wrote him with questions about Christian theology and spirituality. 25 “Prescribing” spiritual classics to others can be a useful way to encourage their spiritual formation, but it requires an adequate knowledge of both the person and the spiritual classic. Thus, a discipline of reading spiritual classics can perform a double duty of aiding personal soul work and informing our ministry of soul care. Where Do I Find Spiritual Classics? Eugene Peterson tells the story of a man addicted to drugs for some twenty years. One day he met several former drug dealers who were now following Jesus. The man gave his life to Christ but had a significant problem. He had experienced many terrible things from Christians and did not trust them. He went to a used bookstore and asked, “Do you have any books by dead Christians? I don’t trust living ones.” He left with a book by A. W. Tozer, and read nothing but Tozer for a year. After this experience, he was

24 James Houston, interview by Hank Voss, July 30, 2019, Vancouver, BC. 25 Walter Hooper, ed., TheCollected Letters of C. S. Lewis, Volume II: Books, Broadcasts, and the War, 1931–1949 , vol. 2, 3 vols. (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2004), 528–29, 775, 915, 993–94.