Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange

The author dispels the common misconception that ascetical and mystical theology is for a select few. Basing his work on the teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas, St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila, he proves that Christian perfection consists especially in charity, and that infused contemplation of the mysteries of faith is in the normal way of sanctity.

Fr. Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P., explains why Thomism is the solution to the present crisis of Modernism in the Church.

When one defines ""order"" as a sorting of priorities, it becomes beautifully clear as to what Foucault is doing here. With virtuoso showmanship, he weaves an intensely complex history of thought. He dips into literature, art, economics and even biology in The Order of Things, possibly one of the most significant, yet most overlooked, works of the twentieth century. Eclipsed by his later work on power and discourse, nonetheless it was The Order of Things that established Foucault's reputation as an intellectual giant.

"This little book, presented in a form accessible to all spiritual souls, is in reality a synopsis of two larger works, which, however, it is not necessary to have read in order easily to understand what we have written here...Requests have reached us from several quarters for a brief outline of these two works, to set in clear relief the main principles of ascentical and mystical theology. We have not wished, however, simply to repeat what we had written elsewhere. Accordingly we intend to consider the whole subject from a point of view which is at once more simple and more subline, and to speak here of the three periods of the spiritual life, and in particular of the three conversions which constitute the beginning of each." [Foreword].