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Summarizes Christian contemplative experience into four yogic practices.
In Hindu tradition, Pantajali’s Yoga Sutras are a teaching handed on to disciples by gurus. In the Christian tradition, we have scriptures sourcing the wisdom reported by those who knew the Jesus of Galilee, but we lack a manual for training his disciples. This book by Sister Meg Funk is a sturdy introduction into the Christian yogic practices of doing (Karma), of loving (Bhakti), or Truth (Raja), or Being (Jana). She studied under a guru both in India and in Indiana for five years and then for 30 years she retrieved, reclaimed, and reappropriated from the Christian tradition the similar paths of doing, loving, truth, and being. Sister Meg was trained as a scholar at Catholic University of America and formed as a Benedictine nun since 1961, but it wasn’t until she was director of Monastic of Interreligious Dialogue that she received an immersion into becoming a contemplative practitioner alongside monastics of Hindu, Buddhist, and Sufi traditions. This book is for those who are Christian Practitioners who are guiding others into the Christian contemplative way of life.
“Sister Meg Funk, a Benedictine nun, trained for five years under a Hindu guru. She now translates the ‘four paths’ of doing, loving, truth and being for a Christian audience. Her new book is for both beginners and advanced practitioners but, more especially, will be a valued gift for those who are teaching others.” —James Martin, SJ, author of the New York Times Best-seller Learning to Pray
“To say that Sr. Meg Funk’s book is a treasure trove of monastic wisdom is a gross understatement. In her usual clear voice of teacher and formator, she walks us calmly down the four paths that lead to our hearts swelling with unspeakable love, through expositions, dialogues, portraits, personal anecdotes. This will surely be a classic by one of the preeminent spiritual ammas of our time.” —Cyprian Consiglio, OSB Cam., musician, composer, author, and teacher
“Sometimes when our spiritual life seems shrouded in routine we need to look for guidance in a different direction. Meg Funk’s lively presentation of the four paths—doing, loving, truth, being—richly illustrated by the lives of real people, will likely provide the seeker not only with the opportunity to re-orient their energies, but also with enough confidence to take the first steps.” —Michael Casey, OCSO, author of Seventy-Four Tools for Good Living and many other books
“The teaching which Sr. Meg passes on to us in this work comes from the deep place of encounter within herself. That these ancient teachings on the interior life can become practice are, in her own words, retrieved, reclaimed, and reappropriated. And this is the essential truth which she, and her co-witnesses and co-teachers whom she makes her companions in this work, expand and incarnate for us: that in all authentic and great religious traditions the human person is motivated by a natural desire for the Transcendent, and that this desire which leads to encounter can be, here and now, transfigurational—we see with brighter eyes, hear with sharper ears, and love with hearts fully open.” —Fr. Aelred Magee, ocso, Our Lady of Bethlehem Abbey, Portglenone
“Four Paths in God offers profound guidance into prayer and the contemplative life while remaining remarkably clear and practical. Sr. Meg weaves together deep theological wisdom and spiritual practices with specific examples of saints and holy persons of recent times who have walked these four paths in God’s love. This book offers nourishing refreshment to the current hunger in our world for depth, authenticity, truth, love—ultimately, for God. I recommend Four Paths in God for all who recognize this holy longing in their hearts and who seek to walk toward God.” —Chris Krall, SJ, assistant professor of theology and neuroscience, Creighton University
Mary Margaret Funk, OSB, has been a member of Our Lady of Grace Monastery in Beech Grove, Indiana since 1961. She was prioress from 1985-1993, and in 1994 became executive director of the Monastic Interreligious Dialogue Board. In that capacity she coordinated the 1996 Gethsemani Encounter and the Benedict’s Dharma interreligious dialogue conferences. She spoke at the World’s Parliament of Religions in 1993, and traveled to India and Tibet on spiritual exchange programs in 1995 and 1999. She has been in formal dialogue with people of the Hindu, Zen Buddhist, Islamic, Confucian, and Taoist traditions. She served on the boards of Thomas Keating’s Contemplative Outreach, Weston School of Theology, and St. Meinrad School of Theology. She holds graduate degrees from Catholic University and Indiana University, and is a graduate of Epiphany Certification Program of Formative Spirituality. She lives in Beech Grove, IN.