The meditative prayer practices known as Hesychasm and the Jesus Prayer have played an important role in the history of Eastern Orthodox Christianity. This book explores how these prayer practices have spread from a primarily monastic setting within Orthodox Christianity, into general Orthodox Christian usage, and finally into wider contemporary Western culture. As a result of this gradual geographic shift from a local to a global setting, caused mainly by immigration and dissemination of related texts, there has been a parallel shift of interpretation causing disagreement. By analyzing ongoing conversations on the practices, this book shows how such disagreements are due to differences in the way groups understand the ideas of authority and tradition. These fundamental ideas lie beneath much of the current discussion on particular aspects of the practices and also contribute to the wider academic debate over the globalization and appropriation of religious traditions.

The remarkable mystic movement of fourteenth-century Germany produced three major writers--Eckhart, Tauler, and Suso--as well as a wide audience for their voluminous works. This survey chronicles the authors' lives, critiques their works, and discusses their influence on the development of Christian spiritual expression along with that of their contemporaries, the Friends of God and the Franciscan Friars.
These works appeared at a time of crisis, unfolding against a background of calamities ranging from violent upheavals in church and state to a series of natural disasters, including pestilence, famine, earthquakes, and floods. Confronted with the insecurity of human life, readers turned to Eckhart and his contemporaries for answers. Written in the vernacular rather than Latin, these sermons, tracts, and anecdotes provided solace in troubled times, and they remain a touchstone for studies in comparative religion. This introduction to the flowering of medieval mysticism forms a perfect entree for students and lay readers alike.

This volume provides a contemporary overview of texts, images, phenomena and personalities of Christian mysticism during the Western Middle Ages. The material is primarily approached from literary, history of mentality and psychology of religion perspectives. Basic knowledge is communicated through critical analysis and is also made accessible through a glossary. Although this work clearly focuses on German mysticism, developments in other European countries are presented in a comparative manner.

Scholars of Gregory of Nyssa have long acknowledged the centrality of faith in his theory of divine union. To date, however, there has been no sustained examination of this key topic. The present study fills this gap and elucidates important auxiliary themes that accrue to Gregory's notion of faith as a faculty of apophatic union with God. The result adjusts how we understand the Cappadocian's apophaticism in general and his so-called mysticism of darkness in particular.
After a general discussion of the increasing value of faith in late Neoplatonism and an overview of important work done on Gregorian faith, this study moves on to sketch a portrait of the mind and its dynamic, varying cognitive states and how these respond to the divine pedagogy of scripture, baptism, and the presence of God. With this portrait of the mind as a backdrop we see how Gregory values faith for its ability to unite with God, who remains beyond the comprehending grasp of mind. A close examination of the relationship between faith and mind shows Gregory bestowing on faith qualities which Plotinus would have granted only to the "crest of the wave of intellect."
While Gregorian faith serves as the faculty of apophatic union with God, faith yet gives something to mind. This dimension of Gregory's apophaticism has gone largely unnoticed by scholars. At the apex of an apophatic ascent faith unites with God the Word; by virtue of this union the believer takes on the qualities of the Word, who speaks (logophasis) in the deeds and discourse of the believer. Finally this study redresses how Gregory has been identified with a "mysticism of darkness" and argues that he proposes no less a "mysticism of light."

Ever since its rediscovery in 1934, "The Book of Margery Kempe" has generally been judged to be over-emotional and its structure regarded as at worst non-existent, at best naive. Naoe Kukita Yoshikawa argues instead that the book unfolds a creative experience of memory as spiritual progress, and explores Margery's meditational experience in the context of visual and verbal iconography. She provides a comprehensive analysis of Margery's meditative experience as it is structured in the book, paying particular attention to five major meditational experiences that influence her spiritual progress and develop a coherent theology.

A biographical introduction to the spiritual psychic and his most influential readings discusses how he regarded himself as a healer and Christian mystic, introducing his major contributions to today's popular spiritual practices that draw on both eastern and western traditions. Original. 15,000 fir

The Soul as Virgin Wife presents the first book-length study to give a detailed account of the theological and mystical teachings written by women themselves, especially by those known as beguines, which have been especially neglected. Hollywood explicates the difference between the erotic and imagistic mysticism, arguing that Mechthild, Porete, and Eckhart challenge the sexual ideologies prevalent in their culture and claim a union without distinction between the soul and the divine. The beguines' emphasis in the later Middle Ages on spiritual poverty has long been recognized as an important influence on subsequent German and Flemish mystical writers, in particular the great German Dominican preacher and apophatic theologian Meister Eckhart. In The Soul as Virgin Wife, Amy Hollywood presents the first book-length study to give a detailed textual account of these debts. Through an analysis of Magdeburg's The Flowing Light of the Godhead, Marguerite Porete's Mirror of Simple Souls, and the Latin commentaries and vernacular sermons of Eckhart, Hollywood uncovers the intricate web of influence and divergence between the beguinal spiritualities and Eckhart.

The Spiritual Canticle is one of St John's greatest works. Using the simple metaphor of the spouse and the bride, he sketches a series of dialogues between God and the soul, rihc in natural imagery. The fragrant vineyards, fruitful valleys and green hills, flocks of sheep and clear streams all speak of the Object of mystical love. The imahes of the basic Spiritual Canticle are so beautiful and its music so captivating that many who first heard it begged St John to write a commentary, together with its profound reflections on the relations of the soul to God, has become one of the world's richest sources of meditation. The commentary and the sublime poetry that inspired them form what is presented here as the complete Spiritual Canticle.

The great German mystic Meister Eckhart remains one of the most fascinating figures in Western thought. Revived interest in Eckhart's mysticism has been matched, and even surpassed, by the study of the women mystics of the late13th century. This book argues that Eckhart's thought cannot be fully be understood until it is viewed against the background of the breakthroughs made by the women mystics who preceded him.

This sweeping study of mysticism by Jess Hollenback considers the writings and experiences of a broad range of traditional religious mystics, including Teresa of Avila, Black Elk, and Gopi Krishna. It also makes use of a new category of sources that more traditional scholars have almost entirely ignored, namely, the autobiographies and writings of contemporary clairvoyants, mediums, and out-of-body travelers. This study contributes to the current debate about the contextuality of mysticism by presenting evidence that not only are the mystic's interpretations of and responses to experiences culturally and historically conditioned, but historical context and cultural environment decisively shape both the perceptual and affective content of the mystic's experience as well.

Hollenback also explores the linkage between the mystic's practice of recollection and the onset of other unusual or supernormal manifestations such as photisms, the ability to see auras, telepathic sensitivity, clairvoyance, and out-of-body experiences. He demonstrates that these extraordinary phenomena can actually deepen our understanding of mysticism in unexpected ways.

A unique feature of this book is its in-depth analysis of "empowerment," an important phenomenon ignored by most scholars of mysticism. Empowerment is a peculiar enhancement of the imagination, thoughts, and desires that frequently accompanies mystical states of consciousness. Hollenback shows its cross-cultural persistence, its role in constructing the perceptual and existential environments within which the mystic dwells, and its linkage to the fundamental contextuality of mystical experience.

A distinctive feature of Western religous life in recent years has been the rediscovery of the contemplative tradition in Christianity. Within the Christian mystical tradition, England holds a unique place, with a number of major figures from the Middle Ages and later whose writings have fascinated generations of readers. This book presents seven of them, five from the medieval period, the golden age of English mysticism - Richard Rolle, Walter Hilton, the author of The Cloud of Unknowing, Julian of Norwich, and Margery Kempe; and two from later centuries - William Law and George Herbert. Each chapter consists of an introductory essay on the life and writings of each individual, followed by carefully chosen extracts from their writings. Those from the medieval period are in fresh new translations. All these writers see the spiritual life as an ongoing process, a pilgrimage. This inner pigrimage requires no outer excursions, but throughout the ages spiritual pilgrims have undertaken physical pilgrimages as well. One aim of this book is to encourage its readers to continue this tradition by visiting sites from which the writings arose. So each chapter is provided with a map of the area of immediate interest and a drawing of the place most associated with each figure, and the introductory essays contain practical information about how to get there. No other anthology of mystical and spiritual writings describes the lives and locations of these individuals in this way. Gordon L. Miller, Ph.D., is a writer and historian living near Seattle, Washington. He attended Milligan College and Christian Theological Seminary. This book developed from a period of post-graduate study at Cambridge University, when he visited the sites described in the book, a journey which, he says, "made the historical grounding of the English mystical tradition much more real to me." He is also the author of Wisdom of the Earth: Visions of an Ecological Faith.

This work presents an outline of Christian perfection from the point at which the soul first seeks to rise from the earth and soar upward towards union with God. As a poet St John of the Cross was able, in the realm of mysticism, to push the frontiers of human xpression beyond any other writer.

This study shows how Osuna uses mystical symbolism and allegory in his own writing and in the methods of meditation and contemplation he teaches.

* What is the standard view of history is completely wrong? * What if science and writing developed from an advanced prehistoric civilisation in the British Isles? * What is written evidence in the Dead Sea Scrolls records megalithic history and provides the plans for a machine that could rebuild civilisation following a global catastrophe? * And what if Jesus and his brother James were practitioners of megalithic astronomy? In URIEL'S MACHINE Knight & Lomas offer powerful new evidence that our planet was hit by seven mountain-sized lumps of comet, creating a series of giant waves that ripped across the globe. Putting together the latest findings of leading geologists with their own sensational new archaeological discoveries, they show how a civilisation emerged and was able to build an international network of sophisticated astronomical observatories which provided accurate calendars, could measure the diameter of the planet and accurately predict comet impact years in advance.

The revelation that this is the true purpose of the great megalithic sites in Western Europe, built long before the Egyptian pyramids.

This is a fresh and contemporary rendering of one of the most loved and influential spiritual texts of all time. It brings alive the message and spirituality of this great 14th-century mystic to 21st century readers. At the age of 30, Julian of Norwich, a contemporary of Chaucer, was suffering a severe illness and believed she was on her deathbed. She had a series of intense visions of Jesus and recovered. Julian wrote down the narration of the visions shortly after they occurred and expanded on them 20 to 30 years later in what became the first book written in English by a woman. Her message remains strikingly relevant today: that failure is an opportunity to learn and grow that God's love has nothing to do with retribution and everything to do with compassion in spite of appearances, all is well.

The well known and acclaimed work of Dr. Joseph Lumpkin has been enlarged to include new research on the Books of Enoch, Fallen Angels, the Watchers, and the Nephilim. After presenting extensive historical backgrounds and brilliant translations of The First, Second, and Third Books of Enoch, Lumpkin takes time to piece together a historical narrative of Fallen Angels, the Watcher, and the Nephilim, using his extensive knowledge of ancient texts. The history of the Fallen Angels is sewn tightly together using such books as Enoch, Jasher, Jubilees, The Book of Giants, The War Scrolls, and many others. The story will astonish you. - - - New information on the First Book of Enoch is greatly expanded. Lumpkin describes the Calendar of Enoch and its pivotal place in the prophecy of Daniel. He takes First Enoch apart, section-by-section to describe its history, the time frame of authorship, and its contents. Copious notes are included throughout. - - - This volume, containing The First Book of Enoch (The Ethiopic Book of Enoch), The Second Book of Enoch (The Slavonic Secrets of Enoch), The Third Book of Enoch (The Hebrew Book of Enoch), and The Book of Fallen Angels, The Watchers, and the Origins of Evil. Expanded Commentary is included for the three books of Enoch, as well as the sections on Angels, Prophecies and the Enochian Calendar. These sources are found here, all in a single source. - - - Dr. Joseph Lumpkin is the CEO of Fifth Estate Publishers and the author of over twenty books. He appears regularly of L.A. Talk Radio and the show, "Rain Making Time" as an expert guest on the subjects of religion, theology, and church history.

Apart from the introduction by Fr Steuart, The Mystical Doctrine of St John of the Cross consists wholly of passages from St John's own writings. It sets out in continous and convenient form all the essential points in his teachings. St John of the Cross was born near Avila in 1542 and dies at Ubeda in 1591. A Carmelite friar he was an enthusiastic supporter of St Teresa's campaign to restore the original and strict rule. His untiring work to spread the reform led to imprisonment, during which he wrote his first poem. He was canonized in 1726 and declared a Doctor of the Church in 1926.

Jane Leade (1624-1704) is probably the most prolific woman writer and most important female religious leader in late seventeenth-century England, yet, she still remains relatively unknown. By exploring her life and works as a prophetess and mystic, this books opens a fascinating window into the world of a remarkable woman living in a remarkable age. Born in Norfolk into a gentry family, Jane Leade enjoyed a comfortable childhood, married a distant cousin, who was a merchant, and had four children. However, she found herself totally destitute in London when he died, his fortune having been lost abroad. As a widow, she proclaimed herself to be a `Bride of Christ', and eventually became a prolific author and a respected blind, elderly leader of a religious group of well-educated men and women, known as the Philadelphian Society. The structure of this book is informed by the chronological events that happened during her life and is complemented by examining some of the material she published, including her visions of the Virgin Wisdom, or Sophia. She started writing in 1670, but published prolifically in the 1680s and 1690s, and this material offers a fascinating glimpse into the mind of an extraordinary woman. Believing herself to be living in the `End Times' she expected Sophia would return with the second coming of Christ. The Philadelphian Society grew under her charge, until they were buffeted by mobs in London. Jane Leade died in her eighty-first year and is buried in the non-conformist cemetery, Bunhill Fields, in London. By contextualising her and drawing out the nature of her devotions this new book draws attention to her as a figure in her own right. Previous studies have tended to reduce her to one example within a certain tradition, but as this work clearly demonstrates she was in fact a much more complicated character who did not conform to any one particular tradition.

In this first volume of the highly-acclaimed Presence of God series, Bernard McGinn explores the origins of Christian mysticism, from early Jewish apocalyptic writings to pre-Christian Greek contemplative thought; the New Testament witnesses; early Greek Patristic thought; and the contribution of early monastic practice. In Part 2, McGinn discusses Western Christian mysticism proper, with special attention to Augustine of Hippo. Of special interest is the now-influential appendix, which reviews various theoretical approaches to mysticism.

The early Christian monks of Egypt, Syria, and Palestine were the spiritual heroes of their age--fleeing the security of civilization for the desert, where they sought God in lives of prayer, contemplation, and radical simplicity. This book is a portable collection of their teachings, and those of their contemplative contemporaries, ranging from the fourth through the eleventh centuries. It is arranged to the traditional model of three ascending "books" "Praktikos" (practice), "Theoretikos" (theory), and "Gnosis" (knowledge). Each book consists of 100 "sentences"--aphorisms or thoughts. Each sentence is intended to be read and meditated upon for an entire day--just as the monks themselves might have done as they went about their work.

Merton defines Christian mysticism, especially as expressed by the Spanish Carmelite St. John of the Cross, and he offers the contemplative experience as an answer to the irreligion and barbarism of our times. "For those...curious about mysticism...this is an excellent book" (Catholic World).

These pages capture a thousand years of medieval women's visionary writing, from late antiquity to the 15th century. Written by hermits, recluses, wives, mothers, wandering teachers, founders of religious communities, and reformers, the selections reveal how medieval women felt about their lives, the kind of education they received, how they perceived the religion of their time, and why ascetic life attracted them.