Building on the acclaim of their book The Faces of Forgiveness, winner of the Narramore Award from the Christian Association for Psychological Studies, LeRon Shults and Steven Sandage continue the dialog between theology and psychology with Transforming Spirituality: Integrating Theology and Psychology.

In this collaborative work the authors closely explore the growing academic and cultural interest in spirituality and spiritual transformation. They argue that "we are witnessing a new horizon of converging interest in the intersections between science, religion, and spirituality." Organized in three parts–transforming spirituality in psychology, transforming spirituality in theology, and modeling spiritual transformation–Transforming Spirituality fills a void in the current literature. In turn, its nine chapters discuss spirituality in relation to health, human development, the biblical tradition, philosophy, and the natural sciences.

Not only does this work examine the positive aspects of spiritual experience, but it also discusses negative phases in spiritual development, such as the reality of suffering and the "dark night of the soul." The book concludes with case studies that model and illustrate how to apply the authors’ interdisciplinary approach. Transforming Spirituality is essential for classes in psychology, human development, theology, pastoral counseling, and spiritual formation at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

We are spiritual beings attempting to become mature, healthy, and whole human beings. Why is this so difficult and how do both theology and psychology assist us in this process? Shults and Sandage provide the answer by integrating reforming theology with transforming spirituality in a stunning interdisciplinary project that will immediately become the lodestar for a whole new generation of integrative studies. We have already seen the turn to relationality in philosophical anthropology as well as in interpersonal psychology. We are relational beings created in the divine image. Taking seriously the darker side of human spirituality as the sin that isolates and alienates us from the grace of divine presence and healthy human relationships, the authors describe and demonstrate a transforming spirituality that is biblically sound and therapeutically effective. Hurting humanity, wounded in spirit, needs pastors, counselors, and therapists who are equipped to understand the deep spiritual dimensions of that hurt and to become agents of transformation, change, and growth. This is the book that I should have read twenty years ago and should have had my students who were preparing to be pastors and therapists read. Here it is. Read it!–Ray S. Anderson, senior professor of theology and ministry, Fuller Theological Seminary

Transforming Spirituality takes the recent discussion of spirituality to an entirely new level. Theological depth and interdisciplinary sophistication combine in a book deeply committed to the church. An outstanding contribution.–Richard R. Osmer, Thomas W. Synnott Professor of Christian Education, Princeton Theological Seminary