Further, drawing upon the insights of Tracy and Sheldrake this retrieval is a
necessity so that Reformed Christians can be reconnected with the fullness of their
own roots and tradition. According to Tracy a “classic text” is of perennial value and
warrants retrieval for challenging and provoking contemporary readers. Moreover,
Sheldrake asserts the importance of retrieval because it recovers “aspects of the past,
long forgotten and even deliberately submerged”^211 and that this task “is important for
our present identity and desire to live more complete Christian lives.”^212 Further, this
retrieval is critical for Reformed Christians because without a greater awareness of
their contemplative roots their piety will be impoverished. Directly related to this is
the bold assertion of James Houston that Puritanism collapsed, at least in part,
because it did not give greater and sustained attention to contemplation. He contends,
Puritan spirituality “might have been a richer, more sustained spirituality if the
contemplative life had” been more fully considered.^213 Tracy also warns of the
potential “temptation to domesticate all reality” yet “any classic text[s] will resist”
this.^214 Therefore, the proper posture for reading any classic text such as Isaac
Ambrose’s writings is one of “critique and suspicion.”^215 Within this hermeneutic of
suspicion it is also important to be sensitive to the originating and receiving contexts.
Much has occurred since the seventeenth-century and the purpose of this thesis is not
(^) Peterson, Working the Angles (^) , 74 (^) - 86, Contemplative Pastor, and Eat This Book, 109-
17; Rice, Reformed Spirituality, 88-90, 110-17; Demarest, Satisfy Your Soul, 157-86;
Johnson and Dreitcer, Beyond the Ordinary, esp. 138-43. Evangelicals are also
reclaiming the richness of contemplative piety: Foster, Prayer, 155-66 and Streams
Contemplative Bible Readingof Living Water, 23-58; Huggett, ; Webber, Joy of Listening to GodDivine Embrace, 16, 20, esp. 32-1, 26, 37, 43-74; Peace, -55;
Houston, “Reflections on Mysticism”, Transforming Friendship, 115-6, 191-222,
261211 - 8, and Pursuit of Happiness, 253-66.
212 Sheldrake, Spirituality & History, 31.^
213 Sheldrake, Spirituality & History, 108.^
214 Houston, “Spirituality.” s.v., 1050.^
215 Tracy, Plurality and Ambiguity, 15.^
History Tracy, , 183Plurality and Ambiguity,-4. 79, cf. 111, 112. cf. Sheldrake, Spirituality &