Sheila Pritchard offers a few thoughts on Martin Laird’s wonderful trilogy of books about the contemplative life: Into the Silent Land: A Guide to the Christian Practice of Contemplation (OUP, 2006); A Sunlit Absence: Silence, Awareness, and Contemplation (OUP, 2011), and most recently, An Ocean of Light: Contemplation, Transformation, and Liberation (OUP, 2019).
I’ve purchased each book as they’ve been published, but I must confess I’m still only halfway through Into the Silent Land, not because its not a wonderful book, but because of where I’m at, and what’s most alive or needful for me at particular times in my life. In other words, I have a strong tendency to read where I “itch”. I try and read my longing, desire and hope, which is why having a richly diverse reference library, has always been important to me.
That said, I want to strongly commend each of Laird’s books to you. They’re destined to be classics; books you’ll return to, and read again and again, in whole or in part.
Martin Laird is an Augustinian priest (hence the acronym OSA following his name) and Associate Professor of early Christian studies at Villanova University.
You’ll find a great (online) 8 min, 29 sec section of a PBS programme (from Mt. Desert Island off the coast of Maine) featuring Laird here (circa, 2011). “…Love brings us into union with God, not knowledge…”
Most recently, you can listen to this 2-part conversation with Laird with the team from the podcast Encountering Silence, which I highly recommend – both these two episodes, but also the podcast more generally. Part 1 of the Laird conversation (aired 14th March 2019), Part 2 of the Laird conversation (aired 19th March 2019), and the final part here.
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