Ways of Imperfection

An Amazon.com reader comments: "It seems like a history of writings on spirituality in the Christian Church, which is basically about monks, would be a little dull, but this book is hard to put down. The author presents in each chapter a succinct and entertaining description of a particular time and place in the history of the Church, by presenting the teachings of its notable figures. At first glance the book seems to be overly scholarly, with pages and pages of references and footnotes, but the style with which it is written led me to imagine each of the people talking, or writing, or in some cases refusing to talk, as if they were in front of me. There is also no commentary by the author about the relation of the historical views with the current doctrine of any particular denomination, which is refreshing for a book about religion. That also allows a reader to relate his or her own views to the views of past thinkers instead of the author's, which was another reason I enjoyed reading the book so much. I would recommend this book to anybody who is interested in the history of Christian thought, even if it is only a mild interest."