Selling All: Commitment, Consecrated Celibacy, and Community in Catholic Religious Life (Religious Life in a New...

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 471 pages
• Published by: Paulist Press June 2001
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0809139731
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0809139736
• Book Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Weighs: 1.5 pounds

Product Review
I really like this work, and I highly recommend it. -- Patricia Wittberg, S.C., Catholic Studies

It is an amazing book. Without a doubt her work is the quintessential effort in this area. -- National Catholic Reporter

Sandra Schneiders has written a set of classics about religious life that will withstand the test of time. -- Jeanne Knoerle, Consultant, Religion Division, The Lilly Endowment

The book is refreshingly honest about the ambiguities and inconsistencies of many aspects of living that life today. -- Ethel M Bignell, R.S.M. Aotearoa, New Zealand

The final section on the challenges of living in community today is among the best I have ever written. -- The Tablet

Product Description
Does religious life still make sense today?

Author of New Wineskins, Sandra Schneiders began a brilliant yet controversial examination of modern religious life in her acclaimed book Finding the Treasure. That first title located religious life within the multiple realities of today's postmodern world and post-Vatican II Church. This new volume looks at today's post-conciliar, post-modern religious life "from the inside," looking at the make-up of religious life's specific identity and how it functions today. She does this through the three lenses of commitment, consecrated celibacy, and community.

Through the lens of commitment, Schneiders surveys the process of entering the religious life, from the first experience of a call to a final promise of perpetual profession. She also explores the theological concept of divine call, as well as the psychological and spiritual process of human discernment. And she shows how realistic commitment is possible even in today's world of kaleidoscopic change and instability. Schneiders then looks at consecrated celibacy from theological, biblical, and feminist standpoints. Last, she explores the theological and prophetic nature of community life as a Gospel imperative both shared by Christians and unique to religious. And she raises sociological and spiritual questions about the forms and lifestyles of community life.

Perhaps even more than the first volume, Selling All extends beyond its primary audience of women religious to include male religious, religious of other denominations, spiritual directors, retreat directors, and all lay Christians on a serious spiritual quest. The book is also invaluable for use by general chapters, in formation programs, and by study groups.

Reader Reviews
After spending one year in religious formation in a Roman Catholic men's order, I have found Schneiders' book to be the best treatment there is of the vowed life. Her focus on consecrated chastity as the key vow makes absolute sense--both theoretically and practically. Her description of religious life as meaning a life of self-gift to Christ also makes more sense than any other theory or argument I have heard to date. Her writing is clear even when she deals with difficult concepts. She gives many examples to elucidate what she means. Her discussion of the types of community life that can be lived "in community" is also fabulous. I cannot recommend this book enough.