The Best Spiritual Books of 2006

By Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

We are pleased to announce our choices of the 50 books that have most impressed and inspired us in 2006. We have made this selection from the more than 300 books we have reviewed during the year. Since we only review books that we want to recommend to you for your spiritual journey, this selection actually represents the best of the best.

We have organized this list by a major theme or spiritual practice covered in the book. (These are not subcategories of the awards.) Through diverse approaches, drawing upon the wisdom and practices of the world's religions, these titles explore the quest for meaning and purpose, wholeness and healing, commitment and community, contemplation and social activism.

We congratulate the authors and publishers of these exceptional contributions to today's spiritual renaissance. Click on the title link to read the full review.

ART
Blue Arabesque: A Search for the Sublime by Patricia Hampl (Harcourt, paperback) is a wonderfully written spiritual memoir about the divine nonchalance in art, creativity, travel, pilgrimage, and the lives of those who fill our days with their light.

ATTENTION
CrazyBusy: Overstretched, Overbooked, and About to Snap! Strategies for Coping in a World Gone ADD by Edward M. Hallowell (Ballantine Books, hardcover) is a top-notch guide to dealing with brain overload and the resulting stress of our ultra-fast, ultra-competitive, attention-deficit society.

BEAUTY
The Hidden Beauty of Everyday Life by Kent Nerburn (New World Library, hardcover) contains a graceful, heartfelt, and imaginative collection of stories and spiritual teachings by a gifted writer who believes that beauty nourishes the soul.

BUDDHISM
Waking Up to What You Do: A Zen Practice for Meeting Every Situation With Intelligence and Compassion by Diane Eshin Rizzetto (Shambhala, paperback) sees the Buddhist precepts as spiritual teachers that propel us to act honestly in a world of many complexities..

CHILDREN'S BOOK
Butterflies Under Our Hats by Sandy Eisenberg Sasso (Paraclete Press, hardcover) is a new children's book, based on a Jewish folktale, that challenges us to find hope in the world.

CHRISTIANITY
On Your Mark: Reading Mark in the Shadow of the Cross by Megan McKenna (Orbis Books, paperback) presents a rigorous and deeply spiritual commentary on the Gospel of Mark.

COACHING
A Generous Presence: Spiritual Leadership and the Art of Coaching by Rochelle Melander (The Alban Institute, paperback) offers an impressive overview of the art of coaching — its philosophy, tools, and interpersonal dynamic.

COMPASSION
Cultivating a Compassionate Heart: The Yoga Method of Chenrezig by Thubten Chodron (Snow Lion Publications, paperback) contains helpful meditations, visualizations, and mantras for Buddhists who want to cultivate a compassionate heart in everyday life.

CROSS CULTURAL
Digging to America by Anne Tyler (Alfred A. Knopf, hardcover, novel) is a delightful romp through the friendships of two very different American couples adopting Korean daughters.

CULTURAL CRITICISM
Voices of Time: A Life in Stories by Eduardo Galeano (Metropolitan Books, hardcover) presents innovative and imaginative glimpses of the violent, wild, and crazy world we live in by one of Latin America's finest and most perceptive writers.

DEVOTION
Pearls of Life by Martin Lonnebo, Carolina Welin, and Carolina Johansson (Augsburg Books, hardcover) reveals how Christian prayer beads can be catalysts to prayer, silence, love, mystery, connections, and transformation.

DISAPPOINTMENTS
Overcoming Life's Disappointments by Harold Kushner (Alfred A. Knopf, hardcover) offers edifying religious counsel on resilience and overcoming life's difficulties and setbacks.

ECOLOGICAL ETHICS
Learning the Language of the Fields: Tilling and Keeping as Christian Vocation by Daniel G. Deffenbaugh (Cowley Publications, paperback) brings ecology down to earth and challenges the Christian community to develop a new spirituality of place.

FRIENDSHIP
The Fabric of Friendship: Celebrating the Joys, Mending the Tears in Women's Relationships by Joy Carol (Sorin Books, paperback) celebrates the abiding spiritual underpinnings of friendship among women.

GATHAS
201 Little Buddhist Reminders: Gathas for Your Daily Life by Barbara Ann Kipfer (Ulysses Press, paperback) offers a wonderful collection of Buddhist gathas to bring you back to the present moment in everyday activities.

GRACE
Grace on the Go: 101 Quick Ways to Pray by Barbara Bartucci (Morehouse, paperback) includes nifty cues to prayer based on everyday situations and encounters.

HAPPINESS
Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life's Most Important Skill by Matthieu Ricard (Little, Brown and Company, hardcover) presents a Buddhist monk's understanding of happiness as the deep sense of flourishing that arises from a healthy mind as well as a a way of interpreting the world.

HEALTH
The Extraordinary Healing Power of Ordinary Things: Fourteen Natural Steps to Health and Happiness by Larry Dossey (Harmony Books, hardcover) offers wonder-filled essays that explore the interface between medicine, consciousness, and spirituality.

IMAGINATION
Shamanic Christianity: The Direct Experience of Mystical Communion by Bradford Keeney (Destiny Books, paperback) is a bold and playful look at what a shamanic Christianity would look like.

INSPIRATIONAL WRITINGS
Firstlight: The Early Inspirational Writings of Sue Monk Kidd by Sue Monk Kidd (GuidepostsBooks, hardcover) includes early essays and stories from one of our best writers of spiritual nonfiction and fiction; it opens our hearts to light and love.

JESUS
Jesus Today: A Spirituality of Radical Freedom by Albert Nolan (Orbis Books, paperback) is an extraordinary book about the radical freedom of Jesus' spirituality which leads to unity with God, ourselves, others, and the universe.

JESUS
The Secret Message of Jesus: Uncovering the Truth That Could Change Everything by Brian D. McLaren (Group W Publishing, hardcover) is the right book at the right time with its call to a new form of Christianity that can appeal to evangelicals, mainliners, and spiritual seekers.

JUDAISM
A Code of Jewish Ethics: Vol.1: You Shall Be Holy by Joseph Telushkin (Bell Tower, hardcover) presents a treasure trove of ways to improve your character from Jewish tradition.

JUDAISM
The Sacred Art of Lovingkindness: Preparing to Practice by Rami Shapiro (Skylight Paths, paperback) is a beautiful and profound book, packed with concrete practices, on lovingkindness in Judaism and other religions.

KABBALAH
Kabbalah: A Love Story by Lawrence Kushner (Morgan Road Books, hardcover, novel) is an imaginative and enchanting mystical novel about love, time, creativity, reverence, and the questions that matter in life.

NATIVE AMERICAN SPIRITUALITY
Keep Going: The Art of Perseverance by Marshall III (Sterling Publishing, hardcover) offers inspiring Native American wisdom about staying the course and finding the treasures hidden within obstacles and tragedies.

PEACE
The Buddha and the Terrorist by Satish Kumar (Algonquin Books, paperback) presents a poignant Buddhist parable that salutes loving one's enemies and practicing nonviolence.

PEACE
Rabble-rouser for Peace: The Authorized Biography of Desmond Tutu by John Allen (Free Press, hardcover) is a rousing authorized biography of Nobel Laureate Desmond Tutu, a crusader for racial justice, peace, and communal reconciliation.

POLITICS
The Left Hand of God: Taking Back Our Country from the Religious Right by Michael Lerner (HarperSanFrancisco, hardcover) offers a bold and inspiring progressive spiritual vision to animate the hopes and dreams of those who desire a country where peace, freedom, and justice prevail.

POVERTY
Dispossessed: Life in Our World's Urban Slums by Mark Kramer (Orbis Books, paperback) provides intimate portraits of families living in appalling urban slums in Manila, Nairobi, Mexico City, Bangkok, and Cairo.

PRAYER
Talking to God: Portrait of a World at Prayer edited by John Gattuso (Stone Creek Publications, hardcover) is a global album of 100 stunning photographs shwoing individuals talking to God in their own ways in diverse settings..

PRISONS
Beyond Prisons: A New Interfaith Paradigm for Our Failed Prison System by Laura Magnani and Harmon L. Wray (Fortress Press, paperback) is a hard-hitting and ethically provocative call for prison reform.

PSYCHOLOGY
Milton H. Erickson, M.D.: An American Healer edited by Betty Alice Erickson and Bradford Keeney (Ringing Rocks Press in association with Leete's Island Books, paperback) pays tribute to the life and work of psychotherapist Milton Erickson.

QUESTING
Your Daily Life Is Your Temple by Anne Rowthorn (Seabury Books, paperback) presents a fine examination of the importance of openness and hospitality to the forging of an everyday spirituality.

RELIGION
The Great Transformation: The Beginning of Our Religious Traditions by Karen Armstrong (Alfred A. Knopf, hardcover) offers a solid and substantial case for compassion as a spiritual practice that can save the world.

REVERENCE
A Private History of Awe by Scott Russell Sanders (North Point Press, hardcover) is a poignant and beautifully written spiritual memoir that salutes awe and the remarkable ways it enriches and deepens life.

RITUALS
Opening the Doors of Wonder: Reflections on Religious Rites of Passage by Arthur. J. Magida (University of California Press, hardcover) presents a fascinating overview of religious rites of passage among Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, and Muslims.

RULE OF LIFE
At Home in the World: A Rule of Life for the Rest of Us by Margaret Guenther (Seabury Books, paperback) offers illuminating suggestions for creating a rich and flexible rule of life for these tense times.

SACRED FEMININE
The Passion of Mary Magdalen: A Novel (The Maeve Chronciles) by Elizabeth Cunningham (Monkfish, hardcover) presents a raucous, inspired treatment of Mary Magdalen as an embodiment of the Divine Feminine.

SPIRITUAL DIRECTION
Spiritual Direction: Wisdom for the Long Walk of Faith by Henri J. M. Nouwen, edited by Rebecca Laird (HarperSanFrancisco, hardcover) presents key insights into Christian spiritual direction and the importance of listening, devotion, and the quest for meaning.

SPIRITUAL MEMOIR
Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert (Viking, hardcover) is a spiritual memoir that is a delightful romp filled with delicious adventures and many keen insights.

SPIRITUALITY
Integral Spirituality: A Startling New Role for Religion in the Modern and Postmodern World by Ken Wilber (Shambhala, hardcover) is a visionary work that presents a thought-provoking overview of integral spirituality.

SOCIALLY ENGAGED BUDDHISM
The Engaged Spiritual Life: A Buddhist Approach to Transforming Ourselves and the World by Donald Rothberg (Beacon Press, paperback) offers a substantive guidebook to wedding spiritual practice with social justice as a path of inner and outer transformation.

TEACHERS
A Rare and Precious Thing: The Possibilities and Pitfalls of Working with a Spiritual Teacher by John Kain (Bell Tower, hardcover) contains an edifying and rich collection of essays on spiritual teachers from many different traditions.

TEN COMMANDMENTS
God's Top 10: Blowing the Lid Off the Commandments by Anne Robertson (Morehouse Publishing, paperback) provides a substantive Christian examination of the broad issues addressed by the Ten Commandments and the ethical riches activated by them.

TEN COMMANDMENTS
The Ten Commandments: Laws of the Heart by Joan Chittister (Orbis Books, paperback) makes a good case for measuring our spiritual development in terms of the Ten Commandments as laws of the heart.

VOCATION
A Sacred Voice Is Calling: Personal Vocation and Social Conscience by John Neafsey (Orbis Books, paperback) offers a robust assessment of the spiritual dimensions of calling and vocation in times of great injustice and inequality.

WISDOM
On the Road with Rabbi Steinsaltz: 25 Years of Pre-Dawn Car Trips, Mind-Blowing Encounters, and Inspiring Conversations with a Man of Wisdom by Arthur Kurzwell (Jossey-Bass, hardcover) presents a celebration of the wisdom and stories of one of the most respected rabbis of our time.

WONDER
The Play of Light: Observations and Epiphanies in the Everyday World by Louis Masson (Cowley Publications, paperback) presents elegant essays that tutor us in the art of seeing epiphanies and relishing sacramental showings in everyday life.

YEARNING
Yearnings: Embracing the Sacred Messiness of Life by Irwin Kula (Hyperion, hardcover) is a sagacious book on the blessings and the bounties of spiritual yearning.