Mystical Theology and Contemporary Spiritual Practice

Mystical Theology and Contemporary Spiritual Practice PDF

Author: Christopher C. H. Cook

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-09-08

Total Pages: 128

ISBN-13: 1317066189

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In Mystical Theology and Contemporary Spiritual Practice several leading scholars explore key themes within the Christian mystical tradition, contemporary and historical. The overall aim of the book is to demonstrate the relevance of mystical theology to contemporary spiritual practice. Attention is given to the works of Baron von Hugel, Vladimir Lossky, Margery Kempe, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Thomas Merton, and Francisco de Osuna, as well as to a wide range of spiritual practices, including pilgrimage, spiritual direction, contemplative prayer and the quotidian spirituality of the New Monasticism. Christian mystical theology is shown to be a living tradition, which has vibrant and creative new expressions in contemporary spiritual practice. It is argued that mystical theology affirms something both ordinary and extraordinary which is fundamental to the Christian experience of prayer.

The Spiritual Way

The Spiritual Way PDF

Author: Philip Sheldrake

Publisher: Liturgical Press

Published: 2019-08-08

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 0814644821

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In The Spiritual Way: Classic Traditions and Contemporary Practice,Philip Sheldrake aims to make the wisdom of Christian spirituality better known to contemporary readers. After an introductory chapter on the foundations of Christian spirituality, Sheldrake describes its diverse riches through the centuries in terms of five distinctive types of Christian spiritual wisdom, illustrated by a rich selection of classical examples. The five types are “The Way of Discipline,” “The Contemplative-Mystical Way,” “The Way of Practical Action,” “The Way of Beauty,” and “The Prophetic Way.” This book also briefly explores the contemporary interest in spirituality within and beyond conventional religion and suggests how we might engage with these five types on our spiritual journeys in today’s world.

Mystical Theology

Mystical Theology PDF

Author: Mark A. McIntosh

Publisher: Blackwell Publishing

Published: 1998-06-29

Total Pages: 246

ISBN-13: 9781557869074

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MYSTICAL THEOLOGY reveals that the growing popularity of spirituality in all its forms is largely separated from theology. Through a study of exemplary writers such as Gregory of Nyssa, MYSTICAL THEOLOGY uncovers an understanding of the inner integrity of mystical consciousness and the difference between knowledge through direct experience and theological expression.

Mysticism

Mysticism PDF

Author: Evelyn Underhill

Publisher: DigiCat

Published: 2022-05-17

Total Pages: 741

ISBN-13:

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"Mysticism" is one of most celebrated books on the subject. The spirit of the book is romantic, engaged, and theoretical rather than historical or scientific. Underhill has little use for theoretical explanations and the traditional religious experience, formal classifications or analysis. She dismisses William James' pioneering study, The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902), and his "four marks of the mystic state" (ineffability, noetic quality, transcience, and passivity). _x000D_ Excerpt:_x000D_ "All men, at one time or another, have fallen in love with the veiled Isis whom they call Truth. With most, this has been a passing passion: they have early seen its hopelessness and turned to more practical things. But others remain all their lives the devout lovers of reality: though the manner of their love, the vision which they make to themselves of the beloved object varies enormously. Some see Truth as Dante saw Beatrice: an adorable yet intangible figure, found in this world yet revealing the next."

Exploring Lost Dimensions in Christian Mysticism

Exploring Lost Dimensions in Christian Mysticism PDF

Author: Louise Nelstrop

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-04-15

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 1317137353

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’Mystical theology’ has developed through a range of meanings, from the hidden dimensions of divine significance in the community’s interpretation of its scriptures to the much later ’science’ of the soul’s ascent into communion with God. The thinkers and questions addressed in this book draws us into the heart of a complicated, beautiful, and often tantalisingly unfinished conversation, continuing over centuries and often brushing allusively into parallel concerns in other religions. Raising fundamental matters of epistemology, representation, metaphysics, and divine reality, contributors approach the mystical from postmodern, feminist, sociological and historical perspectives through thinkers such as Meister Eckhart, Thomas Aquinas, Catherine of Siena, Ignatius of Loyola, William James, Evelyn Underhill, Ernst Troeltsch, Rudolf Otto, Jacques Derrida, Jean-Luc Marion and Jean-Louis Chrétien. Medieval and early modern radical prophetic approaches are also explored. This book includes new essays by Sarah Apetrei, Tina Beattie, Raphel Cadenhead, Oliver Davies, Philip Endean, Brian FitzGerald, Ann Loades, George Pattison, Simon D. Podmore, Joel D.S. Rasmussen, and Johannes Zachhuber.

An Introduction to Christian Mysticism

An Introduction to Christian Mysticism PDF

Author: Jason M. Baxter

Publisher: Baker Books

Published: 2021-03-16

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 1493429086

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This brief, accessibly written volume introduces key figures, texts, and themes of the mystical tradition and shows how and why the mystics can speak to the church today. Jason Baxter, an expert educator and storyteller, explains that the mystical tradition offers a more robust understanding of God than our current shallow conceptions. Featuring engagement with primary sources and suitable for use in a variety of courses, this book argues that the mystics have much to say to contemporary Christians searching for authentic modes of spirituality.

The Oxford Handbook of Mystical Theology

The Oxford Handbook of Mystical Theology PDF

Author: Edward Howells

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2020-02-25

Total Pages: 719

ISBN-13: 019103407X

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The Oxford Handbook of Mystical Theology provides a guide to the mystical element of Christianity as a theological phenomenon. It differs not only from psychological and anthropological studies of mysticism, but from other theological studies, such as more practical or pastorally-oriented works that examine the patterns of spiritual progress and offer counsel for deeper understanding and spiritual development. It also differs from more explicitly historical studies tracing the theological and philosophical contexts and ideas of various key figures and schools, as well as from literary studies of the linguistic tropes and expressive forms in mystical texts. None of these perspectives is absent, but the method here is more deliberately theological, working from within the fundamental interests of Christian mystical writers to the articulation of those interests in distinctively theological forms, in order, finally, to permit a critical theological engagement with them for today. Divided into four parts, the first section introduces the approach to mystical theology and offers a historical overview. Part two attends to the concrete context of sources and practices of mystical theology. Part three moves to the fundamental conceptualities of mystical thought. The final section ends with the central contributions of mystical teaching to theology and metaphysics. Students and scholars with a variety of interests will find different pathways through the Handbook.

Christian Mystics

Christian Mystics PDF

Author: Ursula King

Publisher: Paulist Press

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 277

ISBN-13: 1587680122

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"Ursula King's Christian Mystics offers a distinctive perspective on spirituality. The author presents the Christian mystical tradition through short biographies of its great figures, biographies which are highly readable without oversimplifying the ideas of these great figures. This is an outstanding entryway into the rich and deep world of Christian mysticism, recommended for readers of all backgrounds." - Michael Sells (Professor of Comparative Religions, Haverford College).

The Cambridge Companion to Christian Mysticism

The Cambridge Companion to Christian Mysticism PDF

Author: Amy Hollywood

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2012-09-17

Total Pages: 403

ISBN-13: 110749527X

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The Cambridge Companion to Christian Mysticism is a multi-authored interdisciplinary guide to the study of Christian mysticism, with an emphasis on the third through the seventeenth centuries. The book is thematically organized in terms of the central contexts, practices and concepts associated with the mystical life in early, medieval and early modern Christianity. This book looks beyond the term 'mysticism', which was an early modern invention, to explore the ways in which the ancient terms 'mystic' and 'mystical' were used in the Christian tradition: what kinds of practices, modes of life and experiences were described as 'mystical'? What understanding of Christianity and of the life of Christian perfection is articulated through mystical interpretations of scripture, mystical contemplation, mystical vision, mystical theology or mystical union? This volume both provides a clear introduction to the Christian mystical life and articulates a bold new approach to the study of mysticism.

Mysticism and Contemporary Life

Mysticism and Contemporary Life PDF

Author: John J. Markey

Publisher: Herder & Herder

Published: 2019-09

Total Pages: 350

ISBN-13: 9780824550288

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Bernard McGinn is one of the greatest living historians and interpreters of Christian mysticism. His career spans more than 50 years and he has authored innumerable books, articles and edited volumes on all dimensions of Christian mysticism. These essays by some of the most significant names in the contemporary field of spirituality seek to honor Prof. McGinn by examining the role of mysticism in contemporary life. These fifteen essays examine the fruit of McGinn's life work to contemplate the ways in which the history of mysticism is relevant to many dimensions of contemporary life. They also address the future of the study of Christian spirituality in general and mysticism in particular by evaluation the place of religious experience and spiritual practice in lives of an increasingly diverse, multi-cultural and global cultural reality. Taken together these essays paint a picture of the current state of studies in mysticism and spirituality and point to some future trajectories that scholarly research and religious practice should pursue.