Bestselling author John Kirvan understands the spiritual hunger of people forced to survive on scraps of childhood religion and greeting-card wisdom. He understands because he was hungry. His friends were hungry. Instead of starving to death, however, Kirvan created a spiritual feast in God Hunger, sharing what the great mystics sought and found-- a direct, love-driven way of knowing God. Kirvan explores the lives and writings of ten great spiritual teachers from the 4th century to today, going far beyond the ephemeral religious fashions that flit in and out of modern popular culture, explaining the techniques they used to hear the movements of God within. With 50 meditations and prayers, God Hunger builds on the words and wisdom of the mystics-- from Gregory of Nyssa to Thomas Merton, and Kabbalah to C.S. Lewis-- sending us on our own personal quest toward God. Prepare to be shocked. Prepare for spiritual risks. Even the most seasoned spiritual traveler will be surprised when and where they discover God. Kirvan emphasizes, however, that the journey has no bargain rates or shortcuts. Faith is a lifelong commitment, not a passing fad, an emotional pilgrimage that requires inspired devotion in an era when we have been offered so much and often settle for so little. Combining the best of Christian, Jewish and Islamic traditions, God Hunger keeps us honest, humble, focused on the search and joyful in the discovery of a nourishing spiritual life. At the root of all our longing is a profound hunger for God. It's a hunger that can't be satisfied with feel-good recipes or pious platitudes. It is, in reality, the same hunger that has for centuries motivated the world's great spiritual teachers, a hunger only God can fill. Here is a book that takes this God hunger seriously by providing 50 challenging experiences for the soul built around the core spiritual insights of ten great Western mystics (Christian, Jewish, and Islamic). Crossing centuries and traditions, it takes the searcher on a journey of discovery of the very best that Western spirituality has to offer. It leads the reader on an accessible path from the Islamic poet Rumi in the 13th century to the monk an mystic Thomas Merton in the 20th, from Gregory of Nyssa in the 4th century to the Kaballah in the 12th, and on to C.S. Lewis and Evelyn Underhill, mystics of our time. John Kirvan, who died in 2012, wrote primarily about classical spirituality. He conceived the 30 Days with a Great Spiritual Teacher series and edited most of its seventeen titles. Kirvan s other books include God Hunger, Silent Hope, Raw Faith, and There Is a God, There Is No God. For the first time in our adult lives many of us are freely admitting to an aching spiritual emptiness, the full depth of which we are only gradually becoming aware. The good news is that it is now possible to make this admission without being considered a religious nut -- or a psychotic. The bad news is that "spirituality" is in danger of becoming a meaningless word used to describe anything that can't be tied down, a synonym for warm-fuzziness. The world-class model hyping her book of beauty hints on TV reduces spirituality to "the big beauty tip of the decade." Others diminish spirituality to the instant, unquestioning acceptance of a pet, the after-glow of a tennis tournament, or the interior decor of a blues club. We are offered pop psychology, greeting-card wisdom, and gift-book comfort. They are not enough to satisfy the wrenching spiritual hunger that many of us are feeling. "The very best" is no longer good enough. From experience we know we need more than the "fix" of a self-help book, or even the rewards of the most responsible therapy. We know that the spiritual life we seek goes far beyond and deeper than being well adjusted. We know, too, that the spirituality for which we hunger is not the same as a renewed morality, that it goes beyond a life of good behavior, kind deeds and motivations. It goes beyond an archeological dig into childhood religion. We need more than talk of "soul" that reduces our spirit to a measure of energy. We are more than a little weary of spiritual junk food. We are beginning to realize that we hunger for God and that for far too long we have settled for far too little. This basic, primal hunger for God may be the least recognized and acknowledged aspect of today's highly publicized spiritual quest and our own personal journey. We want what the great mystics, sought and found -- not an occasional comforting word but a perspective-shattering glimpse of God, not one more promise of bliss in ten days and ten steps but a here-and-now taste of eternity. Nothing less will satisfy this hunger, too long denied. Used Book in Good Condition