John F Thornton – författare

A landmark publication that offers Western readers a unique combination of what Buddhists worldwide consider the holiest of holy texts, The Diamond Sutra and The Heart Sutra.   The Diamond Sutra, or the Perfection of Wisdom, which cuts like a thunderbolt, is one of the cornerstone texts of Mahayana Buddhism and provides a summary of the core concepts of the Buddha. The Heart Sutra, perhaps the most important of all Buddhist texts, sets out to formulate the very heart, or essence of perfect wisdom and is studied with special reverence in Zen monasteries and the Tibetan Buddhist lamaseries.   Edward Conze, who was until his death in 1979 a powerful force for introducing Buddhism and its sacred texts to the West, has provided these translated key texts with an extensive commentary for the easiest possible appreciation phrase by phrase.  For this new edition, Judith Simmer-Brown, a well-known American scholar of Buddhism, has contributed a lively, context-setting introduction.   In the annals of spirituality, certain books stand out both for their historical importance and for their continued relevance. The Vintage Spiritual Classics series offers the greatest of these works in authoritative new editions, with specially commissioned essays by noted contemporary commentators. Filled with eloquence and fresh insight, encouragement and solace, Vintage Spiritual Classics are incomparable resources for all readers who seek a more substantive understanding of mankind’s relation to the divine.

The Essential Pope Benedict XVI is “an outstanding collection of texts that takes us straight to the heart of Benedict XVI’s thoughts” (Alister McGrath).Introduction by D. Vincent Twomey, SVDOn April 24, 2005, Cardinal Joseph Alois Ratzinger became Pope Benedict XVI, the twenty-first-century successor of the Apostle Peter and the spiritual leader of more than one billion Roman Catholics. Through John F. Thornton and Susan B. Varenne’s carefully chosen selections from his homilies, interviews, theological essays, and articles on the crises facing the church today, The Essential Pope Benedict XVI relates his thoughts and beliefs about a variety of contemporary issues, including modern culture’s abandonment of traditional religious values, social mores regarding conception and the sanctity of life, current challenges to the priesthood, and the Catholic Church’s tenuous relations with other world religions.First a brilliant peritus, or “expert advisor,” to the Second Vatican Council and then archbishop of Munich, Joseph Ratzinger was appointed head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith by Pope John Paul II in 1981. As Cardinal Ratzinger, the ex officio defender of church doctrine, he gained a reputation as a heroic guardian of the faith for conservatives and was held in suspicion by church liberals.This one volume is the best source for understanding the heart, soul, and agenda of one of the most important theological voices of the Catholic faith, a twenty-first-century successor to St. Peter.“This book is an open door, inviting the reader into the mind and heart of a great teacher of eternal truth.” —Richard John Neuhaus, author of American Babylon: Notes of a Christian Exile

With vigor, wit, learning, common sense, and urgency, twenty-three essayist—including John Simon, Cynthia Ozick, Phillip Lopate, George F. Kennan, Sven Birkerts, Joseph Epstein, and Brad Leithauser—examine aspects of our pan-cultural "dumbing down" and offer both diagnoses of and possible cures for this wasting disease.