Recent Books
JUST RELEASED!
Spirituality and the Awakening Self: The Sacred Journey of Transformation (Brazos, 2012)
This book provides a profound yet very practical synthesis of the psychology and spirituality of human growth and development, focusing in particular on the possibilities of deep change that come in response to the call of Spirit. It offers thoughtful guidance for journey of human awakening, including a comprehensive psychospiritual model of authentic transformation. Others have described it as David’s magnum opus. He prefers to simply call it the most complete statement he has offered to this point of the possibilities of human becoming.
Stories from the author’s therapeutic and spiritual direction practices illustrate the content and provide plenty of identification points for readers. Q&A sections at the end of each chapter invite dialogue with readers and unpack key insights for greater understanding and practical value. The book also contains special sections at the end for those interested in dreamwork and meditation as paths to personal and spiritual growth. Throughout, lucid insights are presented in a voice that is intelligent, compassionate, and highly attentive to the reader.
Dr. Benner writes: “Life is like breath. It isn’t meant to be held, but to be expended and then drawn in with a fresh inhalation.” Whether literally in the act of meditation or metaphorically in the act of renewing our inner lives, this “inhalation” is what Dr. Benner invites readers to do in the awakening of the self. However, this process is not simply a diversion for those who seek the flavor of the week in spiritual practice. It is an earnest commitment to becoming a deeper, truer, more spiritually alive human being on the path of encountering God. And it always involves the activity of transformation. Settling for anything less leads to stagnation and frustration: “Settling for where one is on the journey of becoming isn’t contentment. It is saying ‘No’ to the invitation of the unceasing invitation of the Spirit of God to become more than we are. And any persistent rejection of becoming more than we are eventually becomes a choice that leads to becoming less. Ultimately, it is as stark a choice as that which Moses gave the ancient Israelites – the choice between life and death (Deuteronomy 30:19).” We say we want personal and spiritual growth, but do we understand how deep and lasting change actually takes place in our body, mind, soul, and spirit? This is the region Dr. Benner masterfully explores: a progressive opening of self to the Spirit of God, a deepening awareness of what St. Paul described as the recognition that “in him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).
"Being able to work with people who seek to become all they can be has been one of the great gifts of my life,” writes Dr. Benner. “This has been particularly true in recent years as I have shifted my work from psychotherapy to guiding those who seek personal transformation through spiritual openness and awareness.” In The Awakening Self, he offers readers a relationship with him through his writing that can prove truly transformational. They will move from “the isolation of individuality to deeper belonging and union.” They will sense “an at-oneness” within the self and between the self and everything that still feels beyond it. And they will feel “an increasing sense of being at peace with life, with the world and with all that is.” This book will appeal to readers who are serious about spiritual growth and therefore looking for deeper substance and original thinking in the writers who mentor them. Fans of the intersect of psychology and spirituality will find Benner a worthy companion alongside such writers as James Hillman, Gerald May, Thomas Moore, M. Scott Peck, Richard Rohr, and Ken Wilber. Spiritual formation networks will discover a unique resource for understanding the context of and reasons for spiritual practices. Benner’s approach in this book is grounded in scholarly study yet adapted for a popular readership. This double-edged benefit opens up the book to foundational use for teaching and training in areas such as chaplaincy and pastoral education, therapeutic contexts, counseling, and spiritual direction.
Reviews & Endorsements
“In this book David Benner shows himself to be one of the most mature and needed spiritual elders of our time. He offers us a profound synthesis of the human journey toward ever-widening consciousness and mutual indwelling with God in Christ. He rightly draws on the concrete experience of great Christian mystics as those who provide us with the fullest framework for understanding and nurturing the Spirit-led unfolding self over a lifetime. He also draws on his long experience as a psychologist and on other areas of learning and Scripture that show the integral connections between all the dimensions of our evolving humanness. His personal quest for the deepest awareness and truth of human life as it is lived in relation to the transcendent feeds the authenticity and insights of this book. I could not recommend it more highly as a framework for understanding the transformative levels of our journey into the way, the truth, and the life.”
Tilden Edwards, founder and senior fellow, Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation
“In a challenging multidisciplinary analysis of psychological change and spiritual development, psychologist Benner (Soulful Spirituality) leads off by arguing that “full personhood comes only from a lifelong journey of becoming that, as we shall see, must be lived in a posture of openness, trust, willingness and surrender.” Blending insights from psychology, theology, anthropology, his own clinical practice, and other disciplines, the author suggests that the adventurous journey of the “awakening self” is one of experiencing the possibility of “radical” transformation leading to oneness with God. Throughout the book, stories from the Christian mystics and other spiritual tutors provide a rich array of examples of communion with the divine as the writer presents his vision of the self as it moves from one stage of consciousness to the next. Benner’s generous use of examples from outside the framework of traditional Christian thought . . . may make some readers uncomfortable. But if they persist, they will find this profound journey into spiritual and psychological growth provocative, enriching, and full of insights that will stay with them after they have put down the book.”
Publishers Weekly
In Spirituality and the Awakening Self David Benner offers deep insight about the sacred journey of transformation of the unfolding self, emphasizing learning from the Christian mystics and the essential nature of contemplative stillness. There are also helpful appendixes on dreamwork, meditation, prayer, and awakening.”
Siang-Yang Tan, professor of psychology, Fuller Theological Seminary
“Benner offers us a highly readable book—grounded in historic Christology and developmental psychology—in which he develops a psycho-theology of growth. He charts our development from the primitive awakenings of childhood to mystical participation in the Divine Spirit in maturity through repeated awakenings to our authentic selves and to God. Sell your bed and buy this best of Benner’s books!”
J. Harold Ellens, author of numerous books including The Healing Power of Spirituality, and Christian Perspectives on Human Development
“Spirituality and the Awakening Self is a deeply thoughtful book to be kept and savored. Once again David Benner has seamlessly woven together his gifts and skills as psychotherapist and spiritual guide. As one of the wise voices of our time, his words deserve to be kept and savored.”
Margaret Guenther, professor emerita of ascetical theology and former director of the Center for Christian Spirituality, General Theological Seminary
“David Benner is a trusted companion who helps us navigate the complex possibilities of personal awakening, of becoming more than we are, of movement beyond changed behaviors into changed being. This book guides us into life as truer persons and communities immersed in God.”
John Kiemele, founder and executive director,
“Threaded through the ever busy life of Western Christian tradition are certain voices that have always had some difficulty in being heard. They are those voices that try to tell us about ‘being’ rather than ‘doing’ and they are called—sometimes alas dismissed—as mystics. We meet them in these pages, men and women remarkably like us yet remarkably different, people rich with the presence of God yet very aware of being as poor in their humanity as the rest of us. The great worth of this book is that it is offered to us at a time in Western Christian experience when we can no longer afford to be cavalier about our rich mystical tradition. Among the many voices in these pages is that of Karl Rahner who tells us ‘Tomorrow’s devout person will either be a mystic—someone who has experienced something—or else they will not be devout at all.’”
Herbert O’Driscoll, Anglican priest, author, preacher
RECENTLY RELEASED!
Soulful Spirituality: Becoming Fully Alive and Deeply Human (Brazos Press, 2011)
This book presents a profound yet practical examination of the way in which Christian spirituality, or any other spirituality, either undermines or nurtures the fullest development and expression of our humanity. It also explains why many people feel frustrated by the fact that beliefs do not automatically translate into authentic experience. As the author probes the contrasts between soulful and soulless spirituality, deep and shallow religion, healthy and unhealthy relationships with God, he shows how the spiritual journey must be grounded in human development—and vice versa—in order for us to become fully alive and deeply human.
Once again, Dr. Benner provides us with an integration of spirituality and psychology that is penetrating and yet readily accessible and immediately practical. He explains how soulful practices (such as awareness, wonder, hospitality to otherness, an embrace of reality, presence, and surrender) can lead us into a life that is both fully Christian and deeply human. Practices such as these are ways of deepening our willing response “to the deep stirring of Spirit within our own spirit,” he writes. In this thoughtful book, he invites readers to participate in “the great adventure and deep joy of becoming fully human.” Lucid insights are presented in a voice that is intelligent, compassionate, and highly attentive to the reader. Read it soulfully and be prepared to become more than you are.
Reviews & Endorsements
“David Benner offers us a masterpiece of understanding and guidance for mature, fully alive human living. The profound and fiercely honest human and spiritual wisdom found here will leave the reader more in touch with both the impediments to full human aliveness and the possibilities of such aliveness, which are aided by the many concrete spiritual practices that he offers. He challenges our settling for a narrow, repressed way of life and spirituality and calls us to become more truly alive in every dimension of our being: body, soul, and spirit.”
“David Benner has done it again! In this profound, highly readable book that plumbs the depths, he integrates his impressive gifts in psychology and theology with his own lived spirituality as a lifelong seeker. To immerse oneself in Soulful Spirituality is the next best thing to sitting down with him for a transforming, intimate, and enlivening conversation.”
Margaret Guenther, professor emerita of ascetical theology and former director of the Center for Christian Spirituality, General Theological Seminary
“Soulful Spirituality is a feast of encouraging wisdom that nourishes soul and spirit. In inviting language, images, and narratives, David Benner describes a way of living that is integrating and inspiring—a hearty blend of psychology, theology, and spirituality for all of us who seek to mature and thrive.”
Susan S. Phillips, executive director and professor of sociology and Christianity, New College Berkeley; author, Candlelight: Illuminating the Art of Spiritual Direction
“Soulful Spirituality needs to be read, dialogued with, and then used to overhaul our weak and anemic engagement with the real world. In a culture full of escape-this-world spiritualities on the one hand and narcissistic spiritualities on the other, David Benner says, ‘absolutely not!’ and then loudly and powerfully links our spirituality to the exciting lifelong task of becoming more fully and deeply human. David’s identification of things like toxic spirituality will provide welcome hope to the growing number of people in ‘religious recovery’ who are on the spiritual and human journey but are simply worn out with the narrow approaches so common today. He has a deep commitment to us as embodied beings and as such helps us attend to an embodied spirituality. He gets at tough concepts like desire, longing, and restlessness, and few have dealt with the issue of ego, its role, and its limits as well as he does in this book. If you are ready to dig in, ready to really change and experience transformation, then by all means get this book. And then buy nine more copies to pass out to friends for a dialogue group!”
Ron Martoia, author, speaker, and founder of velocityculture.com and ttTribe.com
"This book . . . will appeal to a Christian audience, but Benner's scope is universal enough that people of any spiritual tradition will benefit from the insights included in these pages. . . His suggestions in the section on surrender alone are worth the price of the book. ‘Watch for the next small, un-chosen, and instinctively unwelcome event that enters your life. Notice your initial response to this event. Notice the emotions that quickly arise, and notice the way you experience these in your body. Don’t try to change anything. Just stay with those feelings and body reactions until they are clearly in your focus. Name them. Welcome them. And then release them.’ Serious study of this book has the potential to deeply renew our practice of the spiritual life. Study of this book by groups could contribute profoundly to the vitality and vision of any parish.”
The Venerable Christopher Page - Rector, author, and contemplative retreat leader.
Opening to God (InterVarsity Press, 2010)
In this long awaited new book, David G. Benner distinguishes between prayer and praying, presenting a broad, fresh and very practical understanding of prayer - not as something we do, but as something God does in and through us. Prayer is, he suggests, the act of breathing in the love of God and then breathing this same love back out into the world. It is opening our selves to God and allowing the life of God to flow through us. And when words are involved, it is listening in on God’s conversation with God as it passes through us.
Organizing prayer around the four movements of the ancient monastic practice of lectio divina, Dr. Benner describes four major prayer pathways – prayer as attending, prayer as pondering, prayer as responding and prayer as being. Describing the components of lectio divina as movements in a divine dance, the author leads readers through each movement as a path to communion with God. In this gentle but deeply moving book, he offers seekers and long-time practitioners alike a way to a more intimate experience of God’s loving presence - and a way of allowing that presence to be transformational in one’s self and in the world. Once again, he proves a worthy companion and a skillful guide to this life-giving, life-changing practice.
Reviews & Endorsements
"This book represents a new maturity in spiritual thinking and teaching. David Benner is wise, broad and deep all at the same time. And you will be too after you finish this wonderful book."
Richard Rohr, O.F.M., Center for Action and Contemplation, Albuquerque, New Mexico
"In Opening to God, David Benner has gifted us with a thoughtful and comprehensive guide to Christian prayer. The intimacy with which Benner writes about prayer betrays a deep and abiding knowledge of the subject, thus this book is destined to be valued by individuals and groups alike in their quest for more intimacy with God."
Tony Jones (http://tonyj.net), author of The Sacred Way: Spiritual Practices in Everyday Life
"David Benner's Opening to God should become a classic! It is warm, wise, gentle and challenging. For the beginner or the experienced it offers guidance in the Christian prayer practice of lectio divina, making this ancient monastic approach to prayer wonderfully accessible to the contemporary seeker. By no means is it a rigid or opaque 'how to' book, but rather an invitation to go ever deeper in the life of prayer. Reading it is like a conversation with a trusted friend."
"Opening to God is an invitation to prayer--not just a book about prayer, but a guide for daily practice. Like an intimate retreat with a spiritual master, it brings centuries of wisdom close enough to speak to our lives. I've never met David Benner, but I felt like I was reading someone who'd listened to my prayers."
Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove (www.jonathanwilsonhartgrove.com), coauthor, Becoming the Answer to Our Prayers
"One of the great blessings of my life is to have experienced scores of warm and insightful conversations with David Benner. I have walked away from almost every one with a deeper openness to the transforming love of God. And that is exactly how I was impacted while reading this wonderful book. What a gift! Life as lectio; life as prayer."
"In Opening to God David Benner comes alongside our lives as a wise and discerning companion. His words water our desire for God, encourage us in our spiritual practice and widen our lenses through which we view the landscape of prayer. They will speak to any heart that longs for a deeper, closer and more intimate walk with God."
"David Benner has given us another great gift with Opening to God. A tremendous book on prayer for people at all stages of their relationship with God. Practical, devotional and rich. This is a book I will go back to again and again."
"In Opening to God, David Benner has given us a generous, comprehensive and very pastoral guide not only to the myriad types of prayer open to us as Christians, but also to the informing attitudes and physical nuances which can enable a rich prayer life in all of us."
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