The Best American Spiritual Writing 2008 by Philip Zaleski, Jimmy Carter (Introduction)

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Synopsis

In his introduction to this volume, President Jimmy Carter writes that The Best American Spiritual Writing “approaches the writing of both poetry and prose as a spiritual discipline, a way to explore the mysteries of the soul and the soul’s relationship with God.” As always, editor Philip Zaleski has assembled a wide-ranging and wonderfully eclectic collection that delves headlong into that spiritual discipline, looking to inspire, provoke, and offer insight into modern spirituality and religion.
Here you will find Walter Isaacson’s brilliant and provocative portrait of Einstein’s religious life—a cross between his parents’ secularism, his native Judaism, and his Catholic grade-school education. Drawing from his own experience of trying to inhabit multiple worlds, Noah Feldman examines the difficulties facing faith communities as they adhere to tradition yet also strive to be modern, in “Orthodox Paradox.” When “Meeting the Chinese in St. Paul,” Natalie Goldberg, with the help of a broken rhinoceros fan, grapples with this question: how should I live, knowing the world is a confusing place? Pico Iyer weighs in on his tranquil retreat, the holiest place in Japan; Oliver Sacks gives a moving account of a man with retrograde amnesia, striving for a meaningful life devoid of memory; and Ursula K. Le Guin passionately explains, as only she can, the appeal and subtle morality of A. E. Housman’s “A Shropshire Lad: XXXII.”

Committed to literary excellence, this “invaluable collection” (Library Journal) also features poetry from distinguished voices such as Wendell Berry, MaxineKumin, John Updike, and Charles Wright. As Zaleski writes in his foreword, The Best American Spiritual Writing 2008 proves that the writing in this edition is a stirring “medium for contemplating, via the things of the flesh, the things of the spirit.”

Graham Christian - Library Journal

This annual (formerly Best Spiritual Writing) is always cause for rejoicing. Zaleski, coauthor with wife Carol Zaleski of the justly acclaimed Prayer: A History, has assembled a remarkable constellation of penetratingly thoughtful pieces that range from memoir to diatribe to travel essay to reflection on the Holocaust. The authors, e.g., Wendell Berry, Pico Iyer, Maxine Kumin, Robert Pinsky, Oliver Sacks, and John Updike, signify not only the quality of this year's anthology but the temper of our times. Highly recommended.

Biography

JIMMY CARTER served as the thirty-ninth president of the United States. He and his wife, Rosalynn, founded the Carter Center and he is the author of numerous books, including An Hour Before Daylight and Our Endangered Values.

PHILIP ZALESKI, editor of The Best American Spiritual Writing, is the author of many acclaimed books on religion, including The Recollected Heart, Gifts of the Spirit, and The Book of Heaven. His most recent book is Prayer: A History, written with Carol Zaleski. He is a senior editor at Parabola as well as a research associate in religion at Smith College.