For a quarter of a century, Trappist monk Fr. Thomas Keating contributed articles on centering prayer—the contemporary manifestation of the ancient Christian contemplative tradition—to the newsletter of Contemplative Outreach, the organization that he helped establish to promote this tradition.

The Thomas Keating Reader gathers for the first time thirty of those articles (some never published elsewhere) to offer a valuable overview of some of the main strands of Fr. Thomas’ thinking and practice on centering prayer, lectio divina, and interreligious dialogue. Rich with insight and humanity, The Thomas Keating Reader offers a broad introduction to the concepts that have animated Contemplative Outreach and reveals the gifts and challenges of the practice of the spiritual life.