IN this first section of our course we compare different models of spiritual direction employed today in the Christian East and West. 

FIRST, we consider an introduction to spiritual direction by Bishop Kallistos Ware, one of the foremost exponents of Eastern Orthodox theology and spirituality: Spiritual Direction in the Christian East.

NEXT, Fr. Louis (“Thomas”) Merton, OCSO, describes the Roman Catholic understanding of Spiritual Direction.

THEN a contemporary Benedictine superior, Abbot Francis Benedict, O.S.B., suggests hallmarks of spiritual direction to which we will refer throughout this course: Implications of Spiritual Direction.

FINALLY, in the introduction to our textbook George Demacopoulos presents Five Models of Spiritual Direction in the Early Church