fall 2007 - Seton Hall University

10
ROAMING THE HALL | GREGORY YURI GLAZOV, PH.D.
Classics
for the Spirit
F R O M D I C K E N S T O DA N T E , T H I S BO O K L I S T
I S BO U N D T O E N R I C H Y O U R M I N D A N D H E A R T.
It would be a shame to leave certain spiritual books unread.
They are a gateway to a world of friendship and exploration
with God, working much as the magical wardrobe in C. S.
Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia did. The wardrobe allowed
the series’ young English children to enter a parallel world,
meet Christ in the form of a powerful lion named Aslan,
grow spiritually through friendship and adventure with
Him and bring the lessons learned back
home.They gained fresh eyes to recognize
His presence in this world and could continue
the life of friendship and adventure
with Him in the here and now.
The first three books I include here have
been constants on my “top-five” list for
years. The last two I added this summer.
All of them figure in the Great Spiritual
Gregory Yuri Glazov, Ph.D.
Books certificate program offered by the
Institute for Christian Spirituality. The program trains
people to relate classic spiritual books to their
lives. (Starting in January, the course will be
offered online.)
Love and Responsibility by Karol Wojtyla
It is amazing how enthusiastically students praise
Karol Wojtyla’s Love and Responsibility for explaining
what distinguishes human beings from animals,
endows human life with spiritual meaning and
makes self-giving love the key to fulfillment. If you
believe that “all you need is love” but know that not
all is gold that glitters, here is a key to discerning
what is truly gold, i.e., what differentiates true love
from all that masquerades itself as such.
The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri
In this classic medieval trilogy, Italy’s greatest poet
records his journey to God through Hell, Purgatory and
Heaven. He is guided through the first two realms by one
of pagan antiquity’s noblest representatives — the poet
Virgil — and through the third by the love of his youth,
Beatrice, as well as by the saint reputed to have had a direct,
unmediated vision of God in this world: St. Bernard. When
I am asked by students whether they should take a course
on The Divine Comedy or opt for something eminently
less challenging, I joke that unless they study this trilogy
formally, they are likely to die without ever reading it. Can
the value of this book be summarized in a few words? I hope
that Dante’s literature and history-centered examples of
traveling to God with the help of classic literature (Virgil)
and concrete people he loved and who loved him from childhood
onward (Beatrice), as well as the Church’s saints
(St. Bernard), can motivate and inspire us to do the same.
The Celestial Rose with Trinity by Giovanni di Paolo. © All Rights Reserved. The British Library Board.
License Number SETHAL01