Sweet Communion: Trajectories of Spirituality from the Middle Ages Through the Further Reformation

“After carefully defining the significant but often-neglected Dutch Further Reformation and concepts such as spirituality and mysticism, Arie de Reuver expounds the spirituality of the movements divines through the lives, ministries, and writings of five premier representatives. The author shows that their secondary differences in emphasis do not thwart the spiritual basis that all of them have in common. This unified experiential spirituality is perceptively set in its medieval backdrop, highlighting the influence and spirituality of Bernard of Clairvaux and Thomas Kempis while stressing that the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Dutch divines did not abandon their Reformed theological convictions. Rather, these writers were masters at marrying Reformed orthodoxy and Reformed piety to promote a life of intimacy and discipleship with God.”

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“Dutch Reformed spirituality is a relatively unknown jewel in the history of spirituality. In this excellent study of a renewal movement in the Netherlands known as the Second or Further Reformation, Arie de Reuver introduces us to five of its leaders, as well as Bernard of Clairvaux and Thomas Kempis. Here we have a piety that is scripturally grounded, informed by the confessions, and suffused with the warmth of the Holy Spirit. The author reflects this spirit in his study, which he hopes will inspire an authentic spirituality that is contemporary. The fine translation by James A. De Jong contributes toward that end.”

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