The highly acclaimed spiritual writer, Blessed Columba Marmion, wrote this classic work on the priesthood to show the great holiness that priests are called to, and how that holiness can only be attained through close union with, and imitation of, Jesus Christ. While aimed at the clergy, this profound spiritual work will also be of immense inspiration for laity in coming to a deeper understanding of the true nature and calling of the priesthood. Echoing the thought and writing of St Paul, Marmion stresses that the priestly life must be dominated by Christ and in constant dependence on His merits, His grace and His activity in the soul of the priest. In this perspective, the dignity of the priesthood and the work of the priest's santification are understood. In all his actions, in the sacred acts of worship, the adminstration of the sacraments, private prayer and devotions, and serving the various needs of his flock, Marmion says the priest must always see himself as the minister of the Saviour, as 'Alter Christus'. Blessed Columba Marmion was a Benedictine priest in the first half of the twentieth century who wrote several works that are considered spiritual classics, most notably his book 'Christ the life of the Soul', also published by Gracewing in a new translation by Alan Bancroft

In The Ascetic Ideal, Stephen Mulhall shows how areas of cultural life that seem to be either essentially unconnected to evaluative commitments (science and philosophy) or to involve non-moral values (aesthetics) are in fact deeply informed by ethico-religious commitments, for better and for worse. The book develops a reading of Nietzsche's concept of 'the ascetic ideal', which he used to track the evolution, mutation, and expansion of the system of slave moral values, associated primarily with Judaeo-Christian religious belief through diverse fields of Western European culture—not just religion and morality, but aesthetics, science, and philosophy. Mulhall also offers an interpretation of Nietzsche's genealogical method that aims to rebut standard criticisms of its nature, and to emphasize its potential for enhancing philosophical understanding more generally. The focus throughout is on developments in those fields which occurred after the end of Nietzsche's intellectual career, and in particular on influential modes of thought and practice that have a contemporary significance. The goal is not simply to argue that Nietzsche's diagnosis and critique retains considerable merit, but also to show that Nietzsche is himself significantly indebted to the ideals he criticizes, and that this opens up a possibility of synthesizing elements of his approach with those drawn from its target. Hence, the book also tracks various ways in which the object of Nietzsche's criticism has undergone further mutations (just as his genealogical method would suggest), and in doing so has generated ways of pursuing the values central to asceticism that avoid Nietzsche's criticisms, and might even further his own goals.