Words and Wonderings is a celebration of gratitude, kindness, mindfulness, truth and the love of beauty through the gifts and giftedness of poets, artists, musicians, gardeners, bakers and many more, who discover their creativity in communion with others. Through conversations and connections Joy Mead explores the true meaning of community - beyond the jargon of 'community cohesion' and the 'Big Society'. But what matters most and is central to this book is wonder - be it at the sunrise or the food on our plates, the intricacy of a grain of wheat or the diversity of people, bread baked and broken, gardens, orchards, kitchens, poetry, painting, music - or simply being a part of the way good communities make themselves and value their distinctiveness. The words of this book all begin a process towards what can't be told but can be shared, towards recovering that sense of wonder at our earth and one another, which is what justifies our being alive.

This is the first comprehensive interdisciplinary study of the cult of St Margaret of Antioch in medieval England. Margaret was one of the most famous female saints of both the Catholic world and of Eastern Christianity (where she was known as St Marina). Her legend is remembered for her confrontation with a dragon-shaped devil, who allegedly swallowed Margaret and then burst asunder. This episode became firmly established in iconography, making her one of the most frequently represented saints. Margaret was supposedly martyred in the late 3rd century, but apart from the historically problematic legend there is no evidence concerning her in other contemporary sources. The sudden appearance of her name in liturgical manuscripts in the late 8th century is connected with the dispersal of her relics at that time. The cult grew in England from Anglo-Saxon times, with over 200 churches dedicated to Margaret (second only to Mary among female saints), and hundreds of images and copies of her life known to have been made. The book examines Greek, Latin, Old English, Middle English and Anglo-Norman versions of Margaret's live, their mouvance and cultural context, providing editions of the hitherto unpublished texts. By considering these versions, the iconographic evidence, their patronage and audience, the monograph traces the changes of St Margaret's story through the eight centuries before the Reformation. The book also considers the further trajectory of the legend as reflected in popular fairy-tales and contemporary cultural stereotypes. Special attention is given to the interpretation of St Margaret's demonic encounter, central to the legend's iconography and theology.

Angels have fascinated people for millennia because they point to an invisible dimension that parallels our own. This book examines the different ways that angels have been portrayed at certain key points in biblical and theological history. By tracing patterns in the appearance of higher-order beings from their ancient Near Eastern origins, the Hebrew Scriptures, the writings of Pseudo-Dionysius, Thomas Aquinas, Karl Barth, and even modern New Age writers, Angelology demonstrates that angels allow various authors to emphasise divine transcendence, immanence, and creativity. Identifying the theological purpose underlying the depiction of angels at certain key points in the history of their use raises new questions about how angels are to be understood by people today.

The life and many afterlives of one of the most enduring mystical testaments ever written The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila is among the most remarkable accounts ever written of the human encounter with the divine. The Life is not really an autobiography at all, but rather a confession written for inquisitors by a nun whose raptures and mystical claims had aroused suspicion. Despite its troubled origins, the book has had a profound impact on Christian spirituality for five centuries, attracting admiration from readers as diverse as mystics, philosophers, artists, psychoanalysts, and neurologists. How did a manuscript once kept under lock and key by the Spanish Inquisition become one of the most inspiring religious books of all time? National Book Award winner Carlos Eire tells the story of this incomparable spiritual masterpiece, examining its composition and reception in the sixteenth century, the various ways its mystical teachings have been interpreted and reinterpreted across time, and its enduring influence in our own secular age. The Life became an iconic text of the Counter-Reformation, was revered in Franco's Spain, and has gone on to be read as a feminist manifesto, a literary work, and even as a secular text. But as Eire demonstrates in this vibrant and evocative book, Teresa's confession is a cry from the heart to God and an audacious portrayal of mystical theology as a search for love. Here is the essential companion to the Life, one woman's testimony to the reality of mystical experience and a timeless affirmation of the ultimate triumph of good over evil.

The question of the 'structure' of the human person is central to many mystical authors in the Christian tradition. This book focuses on the specific anthropology of a series of key authors in the mystical tradition in the medieval and early modern Low Countries. Their view is fundamentally different from the anthropology that has commonly been accepted since the rise of Modernity. This book explores the most important mystical authors and texts from the Low Countries including: William of Saint-Thierry, Hadewijch, Pseudo-Hadewijch, John of Ruusbroec, Jan van Leeuwen, Hendrik Herp, and the Arnhem Mystical Sermons. The most important aspects of mystical anthropology are discussed: the spiritual nature of the soul, the inner-most being of the soul, the faculties, the senses, and crucial metaphors which were used to explain the relationship of God and the human person. Two contributions explicitly connect the anthropology of the mystics to contemporary thought. This book offers a solid and yet accessible overview for those interested in theology, philosophy, history, and medieval literature.

The visions of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich are the world\'s greatest source of detail on the life of St. Mary Magdalen -- great sinner and penitent. Fully referenced to The Life of Jesus Christ (their source), these pages agree completely with Sacred Scripture, but also tell of Mary Magdalen\'s sinful life from age 9, her extravagant attire, her second repentence after falling back into sin, her exorcism by Our Lord, His defense of her against the self-righteous, her relationship with Martha and Lazarus, her external appearance, her role at Calvary and much more. Impr. 176 pgs, PB

The Mystical Science of the Soul explores the unexamined influence of medieval discourses of science and spirituality on recogimiento, the unique Spanish genre of recollection mysticism that served as the driving force behind the principal developments in Golden Age mysticism. Building on recent research in medieval optics, physiology, and memory in relation to the devotional practices of the late Middle Ages, Jessica A. Boon probes the implications of an 'embodied soul' for the intellectual history of Spanish mysticism.

Boon proposes a fundamental rereading of the key recogimiento text Subida del Monte Sion (1535/1538), which melds the traditionally distinct spiritual techniques of moral self-examination, Passion meditation, and negative theology into one cognitively adept path towards mystical union. She is also the first English-language scholar to treat the author of this influential work - the Renaissance physician Bernardino de Laredo, a pivotal figure in the transition from medieval to early modern spirituality on the Iberian peninsula and a source for Teresa of Avila's mystical language.

An important addition to the Classics of Western Spirituality (TM) series is this volume of the writings of Nil Sorsky (+1508), an influential spiritual writer whose major contribution to Eastern Christianity was his bringing to ancient Russia the spirituality of the early Fathers and Mothers of the Desert. This is called the hesychasm spirituality of the heart, which finds the perfection of the human person in union with God through continuous prayer. This first-time translation from Russian into English of Nil's complete writings includes: The Tradition, The Rule, his letters (only four of which have actually been attributed to him) and his last will and testament. The Tradition is his earliest attempt to give his disciples a written but very simplified rule of skete monasticism, which he practiced on Mt. Athos. The Rule is an extended ascetical treatise on what Nil calls "mental activity" or, in today's terms, perpetual or continuous prayer. An informative introduction examines the significance of Nil's spirituality and places it within the historical setting of 15th century Russia.

From the visual and textual art of Anglo-Saxon England onwards, images held a surprising power in the Western Christian tradition. Not only did these artistic representations provide images through which to find God, they also held mystical potential, and likewise mystical writing, from the early medieval period onwards, is also filled with images of God that likewise refracts and reflects His glory. This collection of essays introduces the currents of thought and practice that underpin this artistic engagement with Western Christian mysticism, and explores the continued link between art and theology. The book features contributions from an international panel of leading academics, and is divided into four sections. The first section offers theoretical and philosophical considerations of mystical aesthetics and the interplay between mysticism and art. The final three sections investigate this interplay between the arts and mysticism from three key vantage points. The purpose of the volume is to explore this rarely considered yet crucial interface between art and mysticism. It is therefore an important and illuminating collection of scholarship that will appeal to scholars of theology and Christian mysticism as much as those who study literature, the arts and art history.

And all shall be well and all manner of things shall be well...In 1373, when she was thirty years old, Julian of Norwich received a series of sixteen visions. Pondering in prayer their meaning for twenty years, she gradually came to realise their full significance.Written from the heart and borne from experience, Julian's REVELATIONS OF DIVINE LOVE is inspiring reading for all who seek to live their lives in close union with God. Her reflections are steeped in the Bible, contain many profound insights into contemplative prayer and are as relevant today as when they were originally written. The greatest of the female mystics and a spiritual guide for today, Julian additionally holds the distinction of being the first woman to write a book in the English language.This new edition includes an introduction that sets Julian in the context of her time, and a foreword by Jeremy Begbie.

In much of the scholarship on Paul, activities such as speaking in tongues, prophecy, and miracle healings are either ignored or treated as singular occurrences. Typically, these practices are categorized in such a way that shields Paul and his followers from the influence of so-called paganism. In Signs, Wonders, and Gifts, Jennifer Eyl masterfully argues that Paul did, in fact, engage in range of divinatory and wonder-working practices that were widely recognized and accepted across the ancient Mediterranean. Eyl redescribes, reclassifies, and recontextualizes Paul's repertoire vis-a-vis such widespread, similar practices. Situating these activities within the larger framework of reciprocity that dominated human-divine relationships in antiquity, she demonstrates that divine powers and divine communication were bestowed as benefactions toward Paul and his gentile followers in proportion to their faithfulness and loyalty.

Situated on the bank of the Seine, the Victorines followed the rule of St Augustine, upholding the monastic ideal of a contemplative life dedicated to study. It was here, in the second half of the twelfth century, that Richard of St Victor wrote one of the most significant medieval works on the dogma of the Trinity, De Trinitate, printed here in English for the first time. Studies of Richard's theology are few in number, yet his model of the central - and arguably most contentious - doctrine of Christianity was influential up until the end of the sixteenth century and widely sought after by religious houses. Following Augustine's own treatise on the trinity, 'De Trinitate' explores the mediating concepts on which to base faith, founded on personal experience. Comprising six books, each of twenty-five chapters, Richard develops a model to account for the three components of the Trinity, using a typical blend of reason and spirituality Angelici provides a translation faithful to the original intent and style of the medieval author, alongside rich commentary. This edition affords fascinating insight into the Augustinian-Anselmian position of the Victorines and the dogmatics of one of the most important medieval theologians. Richard of St Victor was one of the most important spiritual writers of the twelfth century and, together with Adam of St Victor, represents the second generation of Victorine spirituality. He joined the abbey of St Victor at Paris in the early 1150s and held the position of prior from 1162 until his death in 1173. Apart from De Trinitate, his major works are 'De XII patriarchis' and 'De arca mystica'. Ruben Angelici is a Graduate of the University of Manchester. He holds degrees and expertise in theology, philosophy, biology, and music. He has been a sessional lecturer in dogmatic and historical theology at Nazarene Theological College, University of Manchester.

<div>The culmination of de Certeau's lifelong engagement with the human sciences, this volume is both an analysis of Christian mysticism during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and an application of this influential scholar's transdisciplinary historiography.</div>

The early Christian writer Tertullian first applied the epithet "bride of Christ" to the uppity virgins of Carthage as a means of enforcing female obedience. Henceforth, the virgin as Christ's spouse was expected to manifest matronly modesty and due submission, hobbling virginity's ancient capacity to destabilize gender roles. In the early Middle Ages, the focus on virginity and the attendant anxiety over its possible loss reinforced the emphasis on claustration in female religious communities, while also profoundly disparaging the nonvirginal members of a given community. With the rising importance of intentionality in determining a person's spiritual profile in the high Middle Ages, the title of bride could be applied and appropriated to laywomen who were nonvirgins as well. Such instances of democratization coincided with the rise of bridal mysticism and a progressive somatization of female spirituality. These factors helped cultivate an increasingly literal and eroticized discourse: women began to undergo mystical enactments of their union with Christ, including ecstatic consummations and vivid phantom pregnancies. Female mystics also became increasingly intimate with their confessors and other clerical confidants, who were sometimes represented as stand-ins for the celestial bridegroom. The dramatic merging of the spiritual and physical in female expressions of religiosity made church authorities fearful, an anxiety that would coalesce around the figure of the witch and her carnal induction into the Sabbath.

All Lando Cooper wants is to be a stand-up comedian and marry his girlfriend in peace. But when you're the human incarnation of God, The Most High, The Burning Bush etc., life isn't always that simple. His abdication of the throne has led to an uprising from desperate deities forgotten in Earth's history, all looking for the absolute power Lando has given up. Forced to defend Himself from an army of forgotten immortals, Lando must also figure out how to navigate life as a powerless human with a whole host of heavenly problems. Not to mention that there's a mysterious godeater on the loose whose powers are growing stronger with every devoured victim. ...And where the hell is Lucifer? File Under: Fantasy [ Gods Behaving Badly | Power Struggle | The Way He Tells 'Em | Simply Devine ]

'If this is not heaven, I do not know what heaven is, for all the suffering that can ever be put into words, could not enable anyone to earn such a reward and for ever possess it.' A central figure in Christian mystical literature, the Dominican Prior Henry Suso was the author of the seminal work The Life of the Servant. Transcribed by an enlightened amanuensis without his explicit consent, Suso began burning the manuscript until a heavenly missive from God decreed that the text should be spared further desecration. The remaining fragments of that conflagration are vividly resurrected in this volume, elegantly translated by James M. Clark. Suso's subjective account of the spiritual and invisible world, told in prose of unsurpassed poetic beauty, is reflective of the ardent spirituality of his devotion. Informed by severe mortifications, visions, ecstasies and revelations, this canonical text endures as a sublime cultural artefact. Resonating profoundly with contemporary concerns about austerity and materialism, this classic text of mysticism is once again accessible to a new generation of readers and to those existing admirers seeking to re-evaluate its many virtues.

Douceline de Digne, founder of the beguine community of the Ladies of Roubaud in Provence, was an important woman mystic of her time; contextual material includes comparison with the beguines of northern Europe. The Life of Douceline de Digne introduces to an English-speaking audience a 13th-century woman mystic [d.1274] of great significance in the study of female spirituality in the middle ages. Douceline combined an active life of community service [as Mother of the beguine community the Ladies of Roubaud] with vigorous mysticism, and was the focus of an intense cult in Provence after her death. The Life, probably written by Philippa de Porcellet, a member of Douceline's community in Marseilles, is complemented by a study of Douceline's importance in terms of her own spiritual experience, and also as founder and leader of the community, dedicated followers of Franciscan spirituality; she is also compared to other holy women of the later middle ages, especially the beguines of northern Europe.

Lossky's great work on Eastern Orthodoxy covers the whole range of its spirituality and theology. Combining careful theology with the warmth of the deep personal devotion of the author, 'The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church' is the best introduction to Orthodox teaching and theology available. It provides a reliable and informative presentation of the theological spirit of the Eastern Church. His account makes clear the profound theological differences underlying the practices of the East and West, and yet it is also an important contribution to ecumenism and to the life of Christian devotion. It brings together subjects that are more usually separated, asserting that there is no true mysticism that is not firmly rooted in theology, and no true theology that is not experienced, and therefore mystical. The tradition of the Eastern Church is presented as a mystical theology with doctrine and experience mutually conditioning each other.

William Law is best remembered today for his Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life. To those interested in his spirituality, however, other works have greater impact, in particular The Spirit of Prayer and The Spirit of Love, which are considered the finest and most appealing. In the years in which they were written, his vision had reached its fullest and most characteristic development, and his literary power was at its height. It is in these books that the profound influence of Jacob Boehme can be most clearly seen. His great synthesis of the mystical outpourings and orthodox Christian theology, provide an English spiritual classic. Law's understanding and interpretation of mysticism was more original than traditional, being dynamic and creative. He believed in the life of God working from within, and the flame of divine love being a link with and an understanding of God. He conceived that mysticism was a matter of life, that relied on willing rather than knowing, and that ultimately rested on trust in God. Despite holding no official position he was widely regarded in his own time and later as a spiritual guide, and his trilogy The Spirit of Prayer, The Spirit of Love and The Way to Divine Knowledge was the mature expression of his theology and religion.

In 1902 Steiner wrote Christianity as Mystical Fact and the Mysteries of Antiquity, showing the evolutionary development from the ancient mysteries, through the great Greek philosophers, to the events portrayed in the gospels. Steiner saw the Christ event as the turning point in the world's spiritual history -- an incarnation whose significance he saw as transcending all religions. Charles Kovacs brings his deep knowledge of esoteric writings, mythology and Steiner's lectures to give more background and to show how the way for Christianity was prepared in the ancient pre-Christian mysteries of Egypt and Greece. He discusses the symbolic and real events of the gospels, as well as looking at some of the understandings and disputes of the early Christians. The book is illustrated with Kovacs' own colour paintings.

The powerful voice of major Italian medieval woman mystic, translated with commentary. Angela of Foligno is considered by many as the greatest mystical voice among Italian medieval women. She devoted herself to a relentless pursuit of God when as a middle-aged woman she lost her mother, husband and children; illiterate herself, she dictated her experiences to her confessor, who transcribed her words into Latin as the Memorial. In a direct and vigorous style, it tells of her suffering, visions, joy, identification with Christ, and finally her mystical union with God. However, her book has always been viewed with suspicion, indeed even bordering on heresy; her spirituality goes beyond conventional language as well as beyond accepted doctrines and modes of prayer. This annotated selection from the Memorial is preceded by a biographical introduction which places Angela's text in its historical, cultural, and spiritual context; the accompanying interpretive essay which follows compares Angela's experience with that of twentieth-century Christian feminist theologians. The volume is completed with an annotated bibliography. CRISTINA MAZZONI is Professor and Chair, Department of Romance Languagesand Linguistics at the University of Vermont.

A noted scholar examines the work of the English mystic Julian of Norwich Julian of Norwich is the late fourteenth-century and early fifteenth-century English woman theologian. With her mystical writings, she has become one of the most popular and influential spiritual figures of our times. In Julian of Norwich: In God's Sight, the eminent scholar Philip Sheldrake offers a study of the theology that Julian expresses in her writings. The author examines what is known about Julian's mystical experience or mystical consciousness, discusses what can be surmised about Julian's likely identity and places her writings in historical, cultural and spiritual contexts. Julian of Norwich: In God's Sight is based on a faithful reading of Julian's texts, especially the Long Text, as well as on her own declared theological-spiritual purpose. This compelling book: Presents a contextually-grounded and text-related study of the key elements of Julian's theology Offers a scholarly work by a well-known expert in the field Unlocks an ever-richer understanding of Julian's writings Includes an examination of the key texts attributed to Julian Written for students of theology and those interested in learning more about this popular mystic, Julian of Norwich: In God's Sight offers ascholarly review of Julian's most important writings.

Daughter of a mayor of King's Lynn, wife of a burgess there and mother of fourteen children, Margery Kempe (c. 1373-post 1438) was also a religious mystic and hysteric, who dictated her 'autobiography' to a scribe at the end of her life. In this history of her life, Anthony Goodman examines "The Book", to reconstruct as much of her conventional biography as the materials allow. Including her spiritual experiences, but focusing most particularly on her day-to-day life, he builds an intriguing picture of bourgeois society in late medieval Lynn, and the wider world of late medieval towns in England and Europe more generally.

For many people prayer is difficult. This collection helps us to be less bothered with our uncertainties about what we should be saying when we pray. We can read a prayer and then sit quietly for a few minutes, allowing the particular words and thoughts to meet with our inner self, with our soul, which is linked to the energies and wisdom of the Creator of all things. The prayers here are not to be read in a rush. They are not about a small God, but about One who at every moment is at the very heart of both our personal lives and the life of the world. A God whose goodness, healing and tender grace are at the core of humanity. In the reading of them may our hearts become more loving and aware, for each prayer invites us into a reality much wider than ourselves - the whole world in its contradiction and promise - and brings us close to our sisters and brothers who, like us, are on a journey in which both light and shadow, sadness and joy are regular companions. Living God, like leaves that turn to the sun so we turn to you, the source of all life, for your love to sustain us, your will to strengthen us and your wisdom to guide us. Amen - Chris Polhill

The mystical vision of the German Dominican Meister Eckhart (c. 1260 - 1329) has fascinated German thinkers from Hegel to Heidegger. Central to his writings were a belief in divine 'Oneness' and self-reproduction. Eckhart argued God was both the ultimate source of the universe and the element inherent in all His creatures. He was also preoccupied with the nature of 'intellect' which he called the 'ground of the soul'; the image of God inside us offering all the possibility of redemption through a return to the Trinity. This Neo-platonic 'Oneness' was boldly reconciled with the Christian Trinity by stressing God's reproduction through His son and the human individual. Whilst this unorthodox approach led to charges of preaching beyond the confines of his faith, Eckhart's radical synthesis of Greek thought and Christian doctrine has remained complex, challenging and frequently misunderstood. These Selected Writings, some translated into English for the first time, illustrate the rhetorical flourish and metaphysical drama of Eckhart's evangelical style and confirm his critical position in the evolution of European intellectual life.