A List of Silence Titles

Resources Related to the Encountering Silence Podcast

As you may know, I’m a co-host of the Encountering Silence podcast along with Cassidy Hall and Kevin Johnson. We haven’t released any new episodes lately, but we all want to do more, so stay tuned in that department.

The Encountering Silence website is currently off line, although you can still find the podcast at Spotify, Amazon and  Podcasts — check it out if you’re not familiar with it, we’ve interviewed some amazing folks over the years.

Recently, we’ve had a request for the resource page that used to be featured on our website: a list of books and other media titles that we have liked and endorsed for their relevance to the encounter with silence. We called it the “Silence Store,” and since the website is currently on hiatus, I’m re-posting that resource list here.

This list was last updated in 2022, so it’s missing more recent treasures (for example, Cassidy’s vital book Queering Contemplation — please leave a comment if you’d like to suggest some more recent silence resources. Maybe we’ll post an updated version sometime in the future. But for now, check out the list, there are plenty of treasures here!

The Silence Store

Here are some products we like — books, movies, and music that we or our guests have mentioned on the podcast. Please click on the links to visit Amazon.com where you can purchase these items. If you make a purchase after following one of these links, we receive a small commission from Amazon (at no extra cost to you).

Books

• Anthony De Mello, Selected Writings

• Audre Lorde, Your Silence Will Not Protect You

• Augustine, The Confessions of Saint Augustine

• Barbara A. Holmes, Joy Unspeakable

• Bede Griffiths, Essential Writings

• Bernard McGinn, ed., The Essential Writings of Christian Mysticism

• Bieke Vandekerckhove, A Taste of Silence: How I Came to be at Home With Myself

• Carl Jung, The Portable Jung

• Carl McColman, Answering the Contemplative Call

• Carl McColman, The Aspiring Mystic

• Carl McColman, Befriending Silence

• Carl McColman, The Big Book of Christian Mysticism

• Carl McColman, The Little Book of Christian Mysticism

• Carl McColman, Christian Mystics

• Carl McColman, An Invitation to Celtic Wisdom

• Carl McColman, The Lion, the Mouse and the Dawn Treader

• Carl McColman, Spirituality

• Caryll Houselander, The Reed of God

• Cassidy Hall and Patrick Shen, Notes on Silence

• Catherine Doherty, Poustinia

• Cathering Meeks (ed.), Living Into God’s Dream

• Catholic Church, The Liturgy of the Hours

• Christian Bobin, The Eighth Day: Selected Writings

• Christian Wiman, My Bright Abyss

• Coleman Barks, tr., The Essential Rumi

• Cynthia Bourgeault, Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening

• The Dalai Lama, Stages of Meditation

• David Bentley Hart, The Experience of God

• The Desert Fathers and Mothers, Early Christian Wisdom Sayings

• The Desert Fathers and Mothers, The Wisdom of the Desert (edited by Thomas Merton)

• e. e. cummings, A Miscellany (Revised)

• Elias Marechal, Tears of An Innocent God

• Ernest Becker, The Denial of Death

• Ernest Wood, A Zen Dictionary

• Evagrius Ponticus, The Praktikos & Chapters on Prayer

• Desert Mothers and Fathers, Early Christian Wisdom Sayings

• Francis X. Clooney, Comparative Theology

• Gerald G. May, Addiction and Grace

• Gerald G. May, Will and Spirit: A Contemplative Psychology

• Hans Urs Von Balthazar, The Glory of the Lord

• Helen Lees, Silence in Schools

• Henri Nouwen, Reaching Out

• Henry David Thoreau, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers

• Henry David Thoreau, Walden and Other Writings

• Howard Thurman, Essential Writings

• Howard Thurman, Jesus and the Disinherited

• Howard Thurman, The Living Wisdom of Howard Thurman: A Visionary for Our Time (6-CD set)

• Howard Thurman, Meditations of the Heart

• Howard Thurman, The Centering Moment

• Howard Thurman, Disciplines of the Spirit

• Howard Thurman, With Head and Heart: The Autobiography of Howard Thurman

• Hugo Enomiya-Lassalle, Living in the New Consciousness

• Irene Zimmerman, Incarnation

• Isaac of Stella, Sermons on the Christian Year

• James Martin, Between Heaven and Mirth

• James Martin, The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything

• James Martin, Becoming Who You Are

• Jan Richardson, Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons

• Jan Willis, Dreaming Me: Black, Baptist and Buddhist

• Jean-Luc Marion, God Without Being

• John Cage, Silence: Lectures and Writings

• John Cassian, Conferences

• John of the Cross, Collected Works

• Joyce Rupp, Fragments of Your Ancient Name

• Julian of Norwich, Showings

• Karl Rahner, Encounters with Silence

• Kathleen Dowling Singh, The Grace in Dying

• Lao Tzu, Tao te Ching

• Maggie Ross, Seasons of Death and Life: A Wilderness Memoir

• Maggie Ross, Silence, A User’s Guide Volume 1: Process

• Maggie Ross, Silence: A User’s Guide Volume 2: Application

• Maggie Ross, Writing the Icon of the Heart

• Martin Buber, I and Thou

• Martin Laird, Into the Silent Land

• Martin Thornton, Christian Proficiency

• Marvin C. Shaw, The Paradox of Intention

• Mary Margaret Funk, Thoughts Matter

• Mary Oliver, A Poetry Handbook

• Mary Oliver, Devotions: The Selected Poems

• Max Picard, The World of Silence

• Meister Eckhart, The Complete Mystical Works

• Meister Eckhart, Selected Writings

• Michael Casey, Sacred Reading: the Ancient Art of Lectio Divina

• Monica Furlong, Contemplating Now

• Mother Teresa, Come Be My Light

• Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom

• Nicholas of Cusa, Selected Spiritual Writings

• Pablo Picasso, Living in Art

• Paramahansa Yogananda, Autobiography of a Yogi

• Parker Palmer, The Courage to Teach

• Paul Tillich, The Courage to Be

• Pema Chödrön, Pure Meditation (the Audio Collection)

• Pico Iyer, The Art of Stillness

• Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters of Rainer Maria Rilke, 1892-1910

• Richard Rohr, The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics See

• Richard Rohr, Yes, And…

• Robert Kennedy, Zen Spirit, Christian Spirit

• Rowan Williams, Silence and Honey Cakes

• Rufus Jones, Finding the Trail of Life

• Rumi, The Essential Rumi

• Saint Benedict, The Rule of Saint Benedict

• Sara Maitland, A Book of Silence

• Sherry Bryant-Johnson (ed.), Embodied Spirits: Stories of Spiritual Directors of Color

• T. S. Eliot, “Ash Wednesday”

• Teresa of Ávila, The Book of My Life

• Therese Taylor-Stinson (ed.), Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around — Stories of Contemplation and Justice

• Thomas G. Hand, Always a Pilgrim

• Thomas Keating, Open Mind, Open Heart: The Contemplative Dimension of the Gospel

• Thomas Merton, The Asian Journal

• Thomas Merton, Collected Poems of Thomas Merton

• Thomas Merton, Day of a Stranger

• Thomas Merton, Dialogues with Silence

• Thomas Merton, Emblems of a Season of Fury

• Thomas Merton, Essential Writings

• Thomas Merton, In the Dark Before Dawn

• Thomas Merton, Literary Essays

• Thomas Merton, Love and Living

• Thomas Merton, No Man is an Island

• Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation

• Thomas Merton, Raids on the Unspeakable

• Thomas Merton, Selected Essays

• Tilden Edwards, Embracing the Call to Spiritual Depth

• Walt Whitman, The Complete Poems

• William Johnston, Mystical Theology: The Science of Love

• William Johnston, Silent Music: The Science of Meditation

• William Johnston, The Still Point

Movies

• Philip Gröning, dir., Into Great Silence

• Patrick Shen (dir.), In Pursuit of Silence

• Martin Scorses (Dir.), Silence

Music

• Ambient One by Brian Eno

• Liquid Mind VII: Reflection by Liquid Mind

• Soundtrack for In Pursuit of Silence by Alex Lu