The life of the black religious servant Ursula de Jesus (1604-1666) has remained one of the best-kept historical secrets of the New World. This English language translation of the diary she began in 1650 allows us to hear the voice of the former slave turned spiritualist.

Born into slavery in Lima, Peru, Ursula entered a convent at the age of thirteen to serve a nun, and spent the next twenty-eight years as one of hundreds of slaves whose exhausting daily work afforded little time to contemplate religious matters. After surviving a potentially fatal accident, she chose a spiritual path, though remained a slave until one of the nuns purchased her freedom. Ursula began to see visions and communicate more frequently with God. Dead souls eager to diminish their stay in Purgatory approached her, and it was then that she assumed the role of intercessor on their behalf.

Ursula's diary conveys the innuendos of convent life, but above all it offers a direct experience of baroque Catholic spirituality from the perspective of a woman of color. Nancy E. van Deusen selected approximately fifty pages from Ursula's diary to appear here as Ursula wrote them, in Spanish. Van Deusen's introduction situates Ursula's text within the milieu of medieval and early modern female spirituality, addresses the complexities of racial inequality, and explores the power of the written word. "

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.

Enlightening biography of an early feminist and religious entrepreneur who championed ""the innate spirituality of women."" Emma Curtis Hopkins led a life of extraordinary diversity and achievement. Here at last is a study that salutes her remarkable life as it explores the route by which she melded spiritual healing, metaphysical idealism, and exotic philosophies into multiple careers of unsurpassed dynamic. As a charismatic teacher, Hopkins instructed or ordained every prominent New Thought leader who founded a major denomination of the movement's churches. Her considerable talents as a mystic and noted author reached fruition with the publication of High Mysticism in 1923. Furthermore, her ideas on healing and prosperity took root in both secular and religious orgahizations, touching millions around the globe to this day. The long-forgotten Hopkins is now given her due in a book that allows her to triumph in the roles she so ably mastered in life: mentor and mystic, healer and feminist, missionary and biblical prophet, writer and editor.

St John of the Cross is the supreme poet of the mystical tradition in Christianity. His poems are the most concise and beautiful expression of the experience of the love of God in Western literature. They are also the inspiration for his great prose works, which are extended commentaries on the poems. Many of these stem from his imprisonment in Toledo in 1577-78, from which he made a dramatic escape, taking refuge in a "discalced" (barefoot) Carmelite convent, where he apparently dictated poems from a notebook he had managed to bring out of prison. John was a man of his time and loved the courtly and popular literature of his age. The poems reflect this in their imagery and metre. Others draw their inspiration from the "Song of Songs" in the Bible. His images of human love and nature make his poems readily accessible on the level of literature. But the "divine" intention is always there, and this is the quality Kathleen Jones has sought to bring out in her translation, "Consideration of rhyme and metre have been treated as secondary to the importance of precise theological expression, and of conveying something of the lyricism and spiritual power of the original".

God has healed in the past and wants to heal now. But though they pray in faith, go to healing meetings, and strive to have enough faith, many are not healed as they would wish to be. "When God Doesn't Heal Now" examines the myths about healing that are built on partial truths and looks at the profound relationship between prayer, healing, and the sovereignty of God. This guide offers a balanced look at teachings on healing, faith healers, and ways to bring biblical clarity to beliefs that often foster guilt, defeat, and despair when believers are not immediately healed. "When God Doesn't Heal Now" is an encouraging book which affirms the biblical truth that God is our healer.

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.

Truth waits for eyes unclouded by longing.' Lao-Tzu (poet and philosopher) In this collection of short, contemplative, enlightening reflections, spiritual teacher and Quaker Christopher Goodchild, inspired by his own experiences, guides you through his spiritual and philosophical journey to his truest and most peaceful self. Written from a 'soul' perspective, the book reveals how, by looking beyond vulnerability to see innate strength, and searching beyond pain and turmoil to find peace and serenity, anyone can affirm their true humanity despite the hardships and distractions of modern life. Christopher's compassionate route through difficulties, doubt, grief and fear is marked with dynamic tenderness and an artful embrace of abundant sources of wisdom. Spirituality, psychology and philosophy are seamlessly woven together in an inclusive Quaker context, led by the common values of love and forgiveness. In a world increasingly weighed down with the baggage of the self, this book will speak to anyone searching for a more clear-sighted, meaningful presence in the eternal universe.

Guyon's theology and spiritual writing opened new doors to people from all walks of life who yearned for spiritual joy and wisdom. These new translations include her popular "A Short and Easy Method of Prayer," as well as her biblical commentary on the Song of Songs, where poetic imagery comes to life with its refreshing sense of God's desire to join with all humanity. Guyon always writes of the pure love of God, like a human kiss, that leads to the fulfilling union with the divine. "The Complete Madame Guyon" also presents examples of her passionate poetry, some of which has never before been translated into English. Guyon expresses the range of feelings involved with living in a relationship with God and her ideas about the real involvement of the divine within the human heart. Nancy James's historical introduction explains the events of Guyon's life first as an aristocratic wife and mother of five, and later as a widow traveling around Europe as an author, who ended up incarcerated in the Bastille by the direct order of Louis XIV. Guyon suffered ten years of incarceration, along with accusations of heresy. Cleared of all of charges at the end of her life, in all of her writing Madame Guyon testified to the goodness and holiness of God.

"Thanks to Nancy James's scholarly labors, Jeanne Marie Bouvier de la Mothe, more widely known as Madame Guyon (1648-1717) will hopefully become a household word, at least among students of mysticism. By no means an uncontroversial thinker, twice imprisoned for her allegedly heretical ideas, and defended by one bishop (Fenelon) and attacked by another (Bossuet), Madame Guyon's ideas, especially her concept of self-annihilation in the soul's union with God, will likely arouse challenge, even today. We owe Dr. James an enormous debt for her translation of Madame Guyon's works and popularization of her ideas. Through Dr. James's work we can gain insights into not only mystical theology but also seventeenth-century French secular and ecclesiastical politics."
-- Dr. Peter C. Phan, The Ignacio Ellacuria Chair of Catholic Social Thought, Theology Department, Georgetown University

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.

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.

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.

An introductory anthology of wisdom from 2,000 of Christian mystical writings, "Teachings of the Christian Mystics" demonstrates the timelessness of the teaching and its eminent applicability for people today. Andrew Harvey has selected writings representative of every period of the Christian tradition--from the Bible, the Gnostic Gospels, and the writing of Saint Paul to the early mystical theologians; from medieval and renaissance figures to modern mystics.

The words of Saint Teresa of vila speak to the heart so directly that even four hundred years after her death she seems like our contemporary. Few people have ever written of the spiritual path with such immediacy, down-to-earth wisdom, and humor. Mother Tessa Bielecki has brought together here short selections from Teresa's collected works-including The Way of Perfection, The Interior Castle, her autobiography, poetry, meditations, and letters-to create a living portrait of Teresa and her exuberant spirituality. Teresa's striving for divine union was inseparable from her passionate involvement in the hardships and joys of the everyday-which makes her an eminently worthy model for modern people who seek to integrate spirituality and the rest of life.