New Book On Orthodoxy and Psychotherapy

Father Alexis Trader is a priestmonk and spiritual father of Karakallou Monastery on the Holy Mountain, and author of In Peace Let Us Pray to the Lord: An Orthodox Interpretation of the Gifts of the Spirit. Fr. Alexis has recently released a new book, Ancient Christian Wisdom and Aaron Beck’s Cognitive Therapy: A Meeting of Minds.

Rather than a traditional advertising campaign, modern technology allows Father Alexis to address readers directly and explain what the book is about and how it may be of benefit to them. Recently a number of A-list Orthodox bloggers have featured a series of guest articles by Father Alexis: I highly recommend checking out all four of his posts:

• Post #1 – March 23rd:
  http://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2011/03/following-is-first-in-series-of-four.html
• Post #2 – March 25th:
  http://janotec.typepad.com/terrace/2011/03/fr-alexis-trader-being-christian-in-a-post-christian-world.html
• Post #3 – March 28th:
  http://voxstefani.wordpress.com/2011/03/27/ancient-christian-wisdom-and-aaron-becks-cognitive-therapy-the-importance-of-thoughts-part-3-of-4/
• Post #4 – March 31st:
  http://www.bombaxo.com/blog/?p=3169

If you’d like to learn more about Fr. Alexis’s book, read excerpts here:

• Reason and Speech: Timeless Truth and Secular Echoes
• Cultivating the Garden of the Heart: Patristic Counsel and Cognitive Techniques for Schema Reconstruction

Based on Father Alexis’ previous writing, and on these excerpts, I’m looking forward to making a gift of this book to my own priest.

For those unfamiliar with academic presses that produce a limited number of monographs for university libraries, the book will unfortunately seem rather expensive. I would encourage those who wish to read the book, but find it outside their budget, to approach their local college or public library about the possibility of purchasing it. Perhaps, groups of five could purchase it as a donation for their parish library or the pastor’s library. If the hard copies sell well, then a less expensive paperback may be on the way.