David Torkington – författare

When Quietism was condemned in 1687 it resulted in an antipathy, if not an open hostility to authentic mystical theology. This situation has lasted down to the present day and has been aggravated by many forms of counterfeit mysticism that are self-centred, not God-centred. The consequences have been disastrous. To restore the balance lost to Christian spirituality, the author returns to the profound mystical teaching that Jesus himself lived and handed on to the early Church through his disciples. His research has resulted in a book that details a practical daily spirituality for all, that mirrors that which was lived by our earliest Christian forebears. It emphasises the original balance between personal and communal prayer in such a way that our whole lives become the place where we continually offer our lives through Christ to the Father.

WHERE HAVE WE COME FROM? WHAT ARE WE DOING? WHERE ARE WE GOING?For people seeking depth in their spiritual lives, these are three of the most important questions we can ask ourselves and God. But so often they are forgotten or ignored as we hurry to reengage with the dash and bustle of our daily lives. In A New Beginning, David Torkington encourages each of us to take a step back from these everyday pressures and concerns to find space and time to be alone, to reflect on our lives and come to recognise some of the occasions that God has been at work to help us through.If we persevere, these moments of solitude should start to come naturally at times that we least expect them, and we can begin to encounter the presence of God more deeply than we have ever experienced it before. This, the author tells us, is the call to contemplation. As in his previous book, Inner Life, David Torkington has gathered together here many of the simple stories and reminiscences from his column in the Catholic Herald. In his popular and inspirational style, blending the humorous with the touching, he becomes our fellow traveller and guide on a journey through the mysteries of the spiritual life.'There have been moments when I have glimpsed, if all too briefly, something of the beauty, the goodness and the grandeur of God blazing out at me through the world he created or through the human endeavours that mirror it. They not only make me go forward into the future with confidence, but with a desire set alight with an other-worldly love that I know can never be fully satisfied by any other than the one who fired it.'

'If you've come to this book with a sincere desire to attain union with God in prayer - and you read Early Christian Spirituality with consideration, care, and with a working highlighter - Torkington's words might be the catalyst to take you to heaven.' - Kevin WellsA group of men who had lost hope over two thousand years ago were set afire with love, and hope was reborn within them. Three thousand onlookers were set afire by the same love that brought hope for them, too; a new Church was born. This book details more clearly than ever the God-given spirituality that Jesus Christ first lived, loved, and practised for himself before introducing it into the early Church. It details the new Mystical Spirituality that was its heart and soul and shows how it was understood and practised more widely and more deeply in those first Christian centuries than in any other century since. This profound practice is particularly true at the beginning of the twenty-first century, when the Mystical Theology that was the leitmotif of early Christianity seems not just to have been forgotten but positively rejected. This book insists that we must cast aside the wrongs and the wrongdoing that have since disfigured it and return to our long-lost spiritual heritage without delay. For without it, Christian reform, renewal, or renaissance (call it what you will) will be impossible, and the secular 'spiritualities' of our "me-me" world will continue to dominate.

'This book on Prayer, written by David Torkington, is a precious help for all who seriously desire to pray in a godly manner and to live a life of grace-filled supernatural union with God. This book does not whitewash the evidence of the real historical situation in which Catholics are currently living, and this is its merit and honest advantage. The following assertions of the author represent, in my opinion, the gist of his work: "Before Catholic tradition used the wisdom of God to change the world, but now the wisdom of the world is being used to change Catholic tradition. In this new world order there is only egality and fraternity for those who have rejected all laws, all standards, all morals and manners that once made human society possible. The rest are consigned to oblivion or modern versions of the guillotine. Unless in this, the final moments of 'injury time' the love that endlessly flows from the Sacred Heart of the Queen of heaven is received, welcomed, and assimilated, then disaster is awaiting." The core message of this book affirms that the true renewal, the true gift of Pentecost consists in the following: being God-centred, prayer-centred according to the model of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and possessing the richness of an interior life through prayer, sacrifice and love. This alone will make all pastoral activities bear lasting fruit and provide us here on earth through Our Lady's sublime teaching on prayer a foretaste of the eternal beatitude in God. I believe that this book will bring great spiritual good for the readers, for which we are grateful to David Torkington.' - Athanasius Schneider, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Mary in Astana

A chance meeting with a mother of six inspires a young American, James Robertson, who has just lost his wife in childbirth, to visit her spiritual director, Peter Calvay, who lives in the Outer Hebrides. In the first part of the book - The Hermit, the young man learns how to pray and how to meditate according to the ancient Christian tradition. In the second part of the book The Prophet, Peter is presumed lost at sea and James is invited to order his personal effects. He finds details of Peter's own spiritual journey that inspires James to deepen his own spiritual life.This part is crammed with good practical advice on prayer for the reader as well as describing the deeply human story of the young woman with whom Peter falls deeply in love. Eventually Peter turns up alive and well and in the third part of the book - The Mystic - the two meet again this time on the mainland where Peter has come to attend his mother's funeral. Peter uses the story of his own parent's love for each other as the perfect paradigm with which to explain the mystic way.The teachings of the "Cloud of Unknowing" and the great mystics St John of the Cross and St Teresa of Avila are explained with great clarity by paralleling the mystic life with married life. Deeply moving lessons are drawn for those committed to each way that can lead to the fullest possible experience of love here on earth.

David Torkington tells the story of a small group of secular Franciscans on pilgrimage in Franciscan Italy led by the hermit Peter Calvay. The book shows how the essence of Christian spirituality is restored by Francis and details the implications of the revelation of the Primacy of Love received by Francis moments before he received the Stigmata. It then explains how this is the starting point for St Bonaventure's spirituality and John Duns Scotus' Mystical Theology of love. This profound theology is detailed with consummate clarity and made practical in the lives of two of the pilgrims who commit themselves to each other for life.