S&P Awards

The Best Spiritual Books of 2008
A Commuter's Guide to Enlightenment By Stewart Bitkoff Spiritual practices and meditations on turning commuting into an opportunity for enlightenment.
A Life at Work By Thomas Moore The bestselling writer's advice on how to dig deeper and discover the soulful meanings of your life's work.
A Monk in the Inner City By Mary Lou Kownacki A spiritual primer on applying Benedictine values to life in the inner city where poverty, injustice and violence hold sway.
Acedia & Me By Kathleen Norris An incisive and edifying memoir and meditation on acedia, a debilitating condition of the soul.
Being with Dying By Joan Halifax An extraordinary collection of teachings, personal stories, meditations and spiritual practices on being with dying.
Between Earth and Sky By Nalini M. Nadkarni A capacious and enlightening book about the importance of trees in our lives.
Building Emotional Intelligence By Daniel Goleman, Linda Lantieri Ways for parents to foster emotional intelligence in children.
Bulletproof Faith By Candace Chellew-Hodge Sane and sagacious spiritual advice on surviving in a homophobic culture.
Comfort and Joy By Colette Lafia A treasure trove of comforts that bring pleasure, satisfaction, and meaning into our lives.
Common Sense Spirituality By David Steindl-Rast Essays covering 30 years in the development of Brother David's mystical, everyday spirituality based on the practices of gratitude, faith, and hope.
Feeding Your Demons By Tsultrim Allione A wise and healing work on dealing with our demons and coping with inner conflict.
Final Journeys By Maggie Callanan Wise advice on death, dying, and grief from a hospice nurse who has worked with patients and their loved ones since 1981.
Finding Beauty in a Broken World By Terry Tempest Williams Explores beauty, community, and brokenness in Italy, in the lives of a prairie dog clan in Bryce Canyon in Utah, and in a village in Rwanda.
Finding Our Way Again By Brian D. McLaren A dramatic and adventuresome emergent form of everyday Christian spirituality based on seven ancient practices.
Giving - The Sacred Art By Lauren Tyler Wright A rich multifaith guidebook on a lifestyle of generosity.
Great Peacemakers By Heather Chase, Ken Beller Presents 20 peacemakers from around the world and their messages of hope, meaning and transformation.
Haiku Mind By Patricia Donegan A wonderful collection that serves as a springboard to the spiritual practices of being present, attention, wonder, beauty and compassion.
Holy Simplicity By Joel Schorn Explores the importance of the little way in the lives of three saintly Catholic women.
In Constant Prayer By Robert Benson An irresistible affirmation of the ancient Christian practice of the daily office as a devotional expression of prayer without ceasing.
In the Eye of the Storm By Gene Robinson Explains his understanding and vision of Christianity as a religion of liberation
Integral Life Practice By Adam Leonard, Ken Wilber, Marco Morelli, Terry Patten An overview of the practices and perspectives that can transform your life, promote inner work, and keep you fully alive every day.
Interactive Faith By Bud Heckman, Rori Picker Neiss A handy resource on the growing interfaith movement filled with practical ideas and an abundance of resources.
Jewish Dharma By Brenda Shoshanna An extraordinary book on the relevance of the teachings and spiritual practices of Judaism and Zen to every dimension of our lives.
Leap Before You Look By Arjuna Ardagh Practical and accessible spiritual practices for deepening and enriching everyday life.
Learning from the Heart By Daniel Gottlieb Inspiring essays on lessons learned about empathy, dealing with challenges, and caregiving discerned by the author from living as a quadriplegic for 30 years.
Light Comes Through By Dzigar Kongtrul Profound insights into the power of five self-centered emotions, working with others, and emptiness.
Living Deeply By Cassandra Vieten, Marilyn Schlitz, Tina Amorok Provides a wide-ranging and inspiring map of the spiritual practice of transformation.
Love & Death By Forrest Church A courageous and wise work about death and dying.
Love as a Way of Life By Gary Chapman Presents seven steps on the spiritual practice of love in everyday life.
Love's Ripening By Ahmad Rezwani, Kabir Helminski New translations of poems by Rumi about love and the opening and softening of the heart.
Mindfully Green By Stephanie Kaza The principles and practices of green living and whole Earth thinking.
Open the Door By Joyce Rupp An immensely creative and spiritually refreshing six-week retreat on opening the door of your heart to the true self.
Prayers for Hope and Comfort By Maggie Oman Shannon A fine collection of inspirational quotations, prayers and reflections designed to spur hope and personal renewal.
Progressive & Religious By Robert P. Jones Maps an emerging left-center coalition of authentically religious voices working for social justice and the healing of the planet.
Seven Sacred Pauses By Macrina Wiederkehr A wonderful devotional resource that makes the practice of the Divine Hours relevant to our movement through the sacred rhythms of the day.
Sin Boldly By Cathleen Falsani Models for us an adventuresome search for grace in all departments of our lives.
Spiritual Liberation By Michael Bernard Beckwith A rousing primer on the path of spiritual maturity and the practice that accompany it.
Stoking the Creative Fires By Phil Cousineau A soulful examination of all the depths and riches of the process of creativity.
The Gift of Years By Joan Chittister An inspiring and encouraging salute to the great spiritual adventure of aging and being an elder.
The Great Awakening By Jim Wallis Charts the spiritual revival and zeal for social change and justice in America that has been sparked by some unusual religious coalitions.
The Hidden Spirituality of Men By Matthew Fox An ambitious and wide-ranging overview of the Sacred Masculine.
The Power of Forgiveness By Kenneth Briggs A companion volume to the documentary by Martin Doblmeier that sheds light on the elusive, mysterious and powerful spiritual practice of forgiveness.
The Search for Spirituality By Ursula King An expansive and adventuresome survey to global spirituality and the uncharted territories it is opening up for people.
The Third Jesus By Deepak Chopra Presents The Third Jesus as an enlightened teacher of God-consciousness and personal transformation.
The Wise Heart By Jack Kornfield An exploration and explanation of the riches, breadth, and depth of Buddhist psychology.
Thrift By David Blankenhorn A timely and illuminating overview of the value of thrift as a way of thriving.
To Bless the Space Between Us By John O'Donohue A salute to blessings as a way of life and a source of meaning, beauty, wonder, grace, healing and transformation.
Why Good People Do Bad Things By Debbie Ford Examines the wants, needs and habit energies that animate us to self-sabotage and self-destructiveness and then provides some spiritual solutions and practices as antidotes.
Why the Dalai Lama Matters By Robert Thurman A bold and visionary book about the peaceful and hopeful role that the Dalai Lama can play in resolving the conflict between China and Tibet.
Zen Heart By Ezra Bayda Understandings and practices needed to build a life of awareness, appreciation, and kindness.