Books by Samuel M. Powell

While many would argue that spirituality is a necessary component of authentic human living, there is a lot of confusion over what spirituality is. According to Powell Christian spirituality has five aspects. 1.) Christian living is inescapably corporate. It is inseparable from the Christian community. 2.) It is inescapably corporeal--it cannot be separated from specific and embodied practices. 3.) It is participation in the Trinitarian life of God. Thus Christian living reflects both upon us and God. 4.) It has an eschatological existence. 5.) It is marked by our essential finitude under the conditions of sin.

The Impassioned Life argues that theology''s task today is to rethink the nature of the emotions and their relation to human reason. The Christian tradition contains the pastorally valid intuition that moderation and self-control are necessary virtues for the Christian life. At the same time, Christian theology attends to contemporary psychological research in order to achieve a more integrated understanding of the emotions and reason. At heart, this volume offers a holistic vision of the Christian life lived passionately in its full range of feeling as life in the Spirit.