ANDREW D. MAYES
Celebrating
the Christian Centuries
A journey through two millennia, encountering classic spiritual writers. They pose their questions to our practice of discipleship today. 1999
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Spirituality of Struggle:
pathways to growth
We deepen our understanding and experience of God through our struggles. Biblical characters hearten us: Jacob struggles with identity; Ruth wrestles with change; Elijah grapples with stress; Job faces suffering. In the New Testament Mary faces shifts in her vocation; Martha rediscovers prayer; Peter deals with acceptance and Paul struggles with human nature itself! Spiritual writers through the centuries assist us as we glimpse how such struggling can be transformative and open up pathways to growth. 2002
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Spirituality
in Ministerial Formation:
the dynamic of prayer
in learning
Andrew's doctoral research is embodied in this volume. He looks at the concept of 'formation' - and how it can transform our approach to Christian and priestly development. Original research attends to the life-giving role of reflective and meditative prayer, and concludes that this is not an add-on or bolt-on to training but the very matrix of formation, crucial to all programmes of theological study. 2007
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Holy Land?
Challenging questions
from the biblical landscape
Andrew's years of ministry in Jerusalem bear fruit in this challenging read, described as 'indispensable' by Church Times. The journal Common Ground wrote ‘His guiding to the contemporary scene with all its complexity and pain, confusion and anger is courageous’. As we traverse the mountains, rivers, deserts and valleys of the Holy Land, we allow the terrain to pose demanding yet affirming questions to our life of discipleship. 2011
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Beyond the Edge:
spiritual transitions
for adventurous souls
Jesus says: 'Follow Me' - but where did he actually go? As we trace his journeys across the holy land and beyond, we realize that he was always crossing boundaries and borders and taking his disciples into 'no-go' or forbidden places. Following his gospel travels to the coast, the heights and depths of the land, across the desert and into places of risk, we allow the lens of 'liminality' to help us understand the significance of crossing thresholds. We are summoned to a riskier, venturesome spiritual journey ourselves! 2013
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Another Christ:
re-envisioning ministry
What would our ministry - lay or ordained - look like if we modelled it on Jesus the builder, the hermit, the rebel, the mystic, the reveller, the jester, the iconoclast, the trailblazer? Such images derive from the latest New Testament scholarship and discoveries in the holy land, but they have not yet been related to the practice of ministry, which is supposed to be based on a call to greater Christlikeness. This ground-breaking study will transform your approach to ministry and discipleship! 2014
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Learning
the Language of the Soul:
a spiritual lexicon
How do we find the words to communicate to others the mysteries of God's working in us? How do we express to others what is going on in the soul? This vital resource equips us in spiritual literacy, as we explore a vast range of metaphors and images from the bible and 20 centuries of christian spirituality. This is a resource for spiritual directors, evangelists and all of us who are called to bear witness of our spiritual experience to others. 2016
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Journey
to the Centre of the Soul:
a guide for explorers
In Christian spirituality, a predominant image of spiritual progress is that of climbing mountains and ascending the heights. But our God is a descending God, and this book takes us underground in search of vivid and arresting images and ideas that stimulate the spiritual quest. Each chapter begins with a description of some aspect of the holy land's subterranean landscape ( there are 40 thousand caves in the holy land, and the pilgrim is often required to go down steps to see what wonders and holy places are concealed beneath the surface). We will discover not only the treasures of prayer, but our own hidden depths in the process! 2017
Journey
to the Centre of the Soul:
a guide for explorers
In Christian spirituality, a predominant image of spiritual progress is that of climbing mountains and ascending the heights. But our God is a descending God, and this book takes us underground in search of vivid and arresting images and ideas that stimulate the spiritual quest. Each chapter begins with a description of some aspect of the holy land's subterranean landscape ( there are 40 thousand caves in the holy land, and the pilgrim is often required to go down steps to see what wonders and holy places are concealed beneath the surface). We will discover not only the treasures of prayer, but our own hidden depths in the process! 2017
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Sensing the Divine:
John's word made flesh
BRF writes: ‘This compelling, inspiring book is an invigorating rereading of the fourth gospel. Uniquely, it approaches John's gospel by exploring how he uses the senses, both physical and spiritual, in his encounter with Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh. This refreshing appreciation of the gospel will activate and stimulate our own discoveries and spiritual quest, not only of the gospel, but also of God's world, ourselves and our mission.’ (BRF, 2019)
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Gateways to the Divine
Step across the threshold and enter another spiritual world! This new resource takes as its starting point the gates of the holy city of Jerusalem, each of which is an entry point into a different world spirituality. A transformative journey opens up before us, as we encounter ancient yet fresh pathways of prayer, each of which throw up both questions and resonances, inviting us to reconsider and expand our present spiritual practice. Thirty short interviews with contemporary Jerusalemite practitioners enable us to discover first-hand how their spirituality impacts their lives. 2020
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Diving for Pearls: exploring the
depths of prayer with Isaac the Syrian
This book opens before you an itinerary for venturing forth with God, aided by the astonishing writings of seventh century Isaac the Syrian. Long lost manuscripts have recently been discovered: this book aims to make them accessible to readers who want to experience their wisdom personally and so progress in a spiritual adventure. We explore Isaac’s writings through the lens of his beloved metaphor diving for pearls, which opens to us many avenues for reflection and spiritual practice. In June 2002 the book was awarded First Prize for Mysticism by the Catholic Media Association.2021
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Voices from the Mountains:
forgotten wisdom for a hurting
world
In the shifting sands of today’s uncertain world, where traditional paradigms are fragmenting and everything seems in a state of flux, the biblical mountains endure as unshakable and steadfast. In their caves and canyons linger ancient voices that startle us into new insight and awaken in us new ways of seeing the world and ourselves. Join a quest to locate the ancient voices of those who actually lived in the mountains, who knew both the physical contours and spiritual secrets of the summits and who long pondered their mysteries. We discover wisdom strikingly relevant to the unfolding world crises. 2021
Climate of the Soul:
ecological spirituality
for anxious times
This book bears us on eagles’ wings into the vault of the heavens and plunges us into the hidden depths of the soul. As the climate crisis alerts us to the state of the planet, so we look into our soul. We see how the Bible and classic spiritual writers use arresting meteorological imagery to describe both the discovery of the Divine and the condition of humanity. We explore a rich and diverse vocabulary, archetypal, universal, and primal, enabling us to describe the movements of the soul. These images and metaphors help us express what is going on in our spiritual lives as we learn the skill of reading the climate of our soul. 2022
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Reforesting the Soul: Meditating with Trees
“I will put in the wilderness the cedar,
the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive” (Isa 41:19).
This book explores pathways to renewal through the powerful metaphor of reforesting the desert places. The soul can sometimes be an arid, thirsty, desiccated place, becoming as exhausted and denuded as land that has been ravaged and stripped of its trees. God’s promise is to reforest the wilderness and renew our fruitfulness. This book is a guided retreat, simultaneously enabling attentiveness to the soul while resonating with urgent ecological concerns. The rich symbolism of different trees both in the Bible and in the Christian tradition, including hymnody and poetry, leads us into meditation, reflection, and action. As land that is reforested holds the promise of new beginnings, so this book heartens us with pointers towards spiritual rejuvenation. 2022
Treasure in the Wilderness: Desert Spirituality for Uncertain Times
This exciting resource on desert spirituality is quite unlike any other: at once a physical journey to outstanding deserts of the planet, and an odyssey of the soul. A journey of discovery takes us across five continents as we venture to places few pilgrims reach: the Gazan desert, the Sahara, the Australian outback, the Athos wilderness and the Ordos Desert of China, the Syrian desert, among others. Evocative descriptions by early travelers and by the author immerse us into a diversity of wilderness landscapes, stimulating the senses and the imagination. Compelling spiritual writers, long-forgotten or not well-known, unearth for us the treasure we seek: the distinctive charism of each desert, offering us different and challenging ways of looking at the world and at the spiritual life. The wilderness reveals unexpected, priceless treasures of transformative wisdom which speak into our own contemporary spiritual search. We see how these gems energize and inspire our discipleship or spiritual practice. As we embark on this spiritual quest, we may never be the same again! 2023
Roads of Hurt and Hope: Transformative Journeys in the Holy Land
Become an intrepid pilgrim on an adventure of faith as you walk five biblical roads that have played such an influential role in our spiritual history. These ancient paths, their stones full of biblical memories, evoke the travels of our ancestors in the faith and Jesus himself: key Scriptures become a guidebook for an unforgettable journey. But also listen to contemporary voices: a wide range of short interviews immerses the reader in present-day realities. As readers tread these roads through mountain, valley, desert, coastland, and city, they will realize their potential to challenge and transform their perceptions--even the very course of their faith. They may never be the same again as they follow in the footsteps of Abraham, Jesus, and courageous pilgrims and hear the cries of today's residents. Roads are about enabling movement. This odyssey of the soul will help readers along in their faith journey, open up new vistas and perspectives, and stimulate a movement in the soul as insights are gained and challenges embraced. (2024)
Another Christ: Rediscovering Jesus, Francis, and Discipleship Today
This is a riveting book with bite, an exploration with edginess. Compelling and arresting images confront us with a fresh view of Jesus—and of ourselves, as we rediscover our vocation to be “Another Christ” for troubled times. Recent research into the first-century setting of the gospel and the author’s years in the Holy Land cast unexpected light on both the identity of Jesus and our present calling, while Francis of Assisi reveals how this can be creatively lived out.We have a choice. If we keep before our eyes images of Christ that are comforting, soothing, familiar, traditional—then our Christian life may turn out to be prosaic, pedestrian, and predictable, a preservative to maintain the status quo. But if we allow our discipleship today to be unsettled and inspired by images of Christ that are dynamic, risky, outrageous, brave, passionate, radical—then we open ourselves to new possibilities: we embark on a liberating adventure, an odyssey of the soul, a pilgrimage, a voyage into untested waters. What will we choose? Do we dare to take the unpredictable path? And which route will respond most courageously to the needs of today’s wounded world? (2024)