Reflections

The next stop on the Virtual Book Tour is a review by Christine Sine at GodSpace: I don’t often do book reviews, but when Sorin Books contacted me about doing one on Christine Valters Paintner’s latest book Eyes of the Heart: Photography as a Christian Contemplative Practice, I was delighted. I love Christine’s contemplative books and this one did not disappoint. I am a keen photographer but this book’s appeal goes far beyond that. Its contemplative exercises adapt the contemplative practices of lectio divina and visio divina into a new form of spiritual observation. Through the lens of a camera we can

The next stop on the Virtual Book Tour is a review by Patricia Turner at A Photographic Sage:  What I find especially refreshing about Christine’s book is how it draws each individual into the experience of contemplative photography…it never lectures, it makes you a part of the on-going process. “One of the most important things I think I can teach is learning to make space to listen to your own deepest longings and begin to trust those more.” -page 31  Hers is a gentle touch and a reassuring one. Click here to read the whole review>> Click here to purchase

Next stop on the Virtual Book Tour is a review by Peg Conway at Sense of the Faithful: An inspiring new book by Christine Valters Paintner called Eyes of the Heart: Photography as a Christian Contemplative Practice provides a transformative path for the digital age.  Christine is the founder and abbess of the virtual Abbey of the Arts, where she offers online and in-person classes and other resources for contemplative living, with an emphasis on the expressive arts.  From reading her blogs and newsletter and taking her free “monk in the world” e-course, I regarded Christine as a wise and

For today’s stop on the Virtual Book Tour, I offer you a guest post at Roy Deleon’s blog Expressive Prayer and Praying with the Body on “Contemplative Photography in a Time-Obsessed Culture.” Roy and I are fellow Benedictine oblates with St Placid Priory in Lacey, WA so he has a similar contemplative vision of the world. (He is also the author of the wonderful book Praying with the Body: Bringing the Psalms to Life which I highly recommend for those who want an embodied approach to praying the Psalms): We live with a scarcity of time in our culture.  We lament how busy

Today we take a journey over to Lacy Ellman’s blog, A Sacred Journey, where I share some wisdom for planning your own personal retreat.  Lacy’s wonderful site focuses on pilgrimage as a powerful metaphor for life and she has attended live programs through the Abbey.  Read on for more: What do silence and solitude have to do with spirituality and Christian tradition? There is a long and rich tradition of seeking the gifts of silence within Christianity.  One of the earliest is the desert monks who wrote extensively about hesychia, which is a deep inner stillness and silence.  Hesychia isn’t

I am so delighted to share today’s stop on the Virtual Book Tour.  Andy Gray has a wonderful new interview project offering “inspirational stories of authenticity and happiness” at A Congruent Life, and you can listen to our conversation here. Christine Valters Paintner is a writer, contemplative, and the online Abbess of Abbey of the Arts.  In her latest book, Eyes of the Heart, she challenges us to ‘receive images’ instead of ‘take pictures.’ In this episode of A Congruent Life, Christine shares profoundly about ‘following the thread,’ pilgrimage, and vulnerability. Click here to listen to the whole interview>> Click here to purchase

Today’s stop on the Virtual Book Tour, is for an interview at Catherine Anderson Studio! Catherine is a photographer who also offers online classes in photography as a meditative practice and the author of The Creative Photographer, a lovely resource. Catherine:   Christine, I love your idea of seeing with the “eyes of the heart” and the heart being the source of true vision.   In the fast-paced world we live in, it can sometimes be hard to slow down long enough to see fully in this way.  What have you found helps you slow down so that you open to seeing

For today’s stop on the Virtual Book Tour, I am delighted to share a guest post I wrote for Brent Bill on Learning to Trust What Shimmers. Our habitual ways of perceiving the world, which help us navigate things  like stopping at a red light or stop sign, also stand in the way of  seeing the world in fresh and new ways. In my book Eyes of the Heart: Photography as a Christian Contemplative Practice, I find inspiration in the ancient practice of lectio divina, or sacred reading.  In lectio, we read scripture and listen for what word or phrase