Explores concepts central to Christianity, the kingdom of Heaven, son of God, baptism, and resurrection.  Jesus is seen as a representative of an ancient and continuing wisdom tradition identified with that of the Sufis. By his distinctive use of stories for teaching purposes, his sayings, and what the Sufis call 'action-teachings', including those actions known as 'miracles', Jesus is shown to have been quintessentially a Sufi master. Max Gorman shows how Sufism illuminates from within concepts central to Christianity: the kingdom of Heaven, son of God, baptism, resurrection - which can then be seen as states and stages in an evolutionary philosophy. This new edition of the classic work includes a new chapter on Gnosis.

Ein anonymer Autor hat im letzten Viertel des 14. Jahrhunderts in England Schriften zur geistlichen Theologie verfasst, fur die sich in der Forschung der Arbeitstitel "Cloud-Gruppe" eingeburgert hat. In den sieben Werken dieser in mittelenglischer Sprache verfassten Textgruppe bringt der Autor ein mystisches Wissen zur Sprache, mit dessen Hilfe man sich in die Fahigkeit zur mystischen Einungserfahrung einuben und den Weg dorthin deuten und verstehen kann. Im Buch von Steinmetz wird dieses mystische Wissen mit dem zentralen Thema der mystischen Einungserfahrung erhoben und dargestellt."

'Your soul each moment struggles hard with death - Think of your faith as though it's your last breath. Your life is like a purse, and night and day Are counters of gold coins you've put away' Rumi is the greatest mystic poet to have written in Persian, and the Masnavi is his masterpiece. Divided into six books and consisting of some 26,000 verses, the poem was designed to convey a message of divine love and unity to the disciples of Rumi's Sufi order, known today as the Whirling Dervishes. Like the earlier books, Book Three interweaves amusing stories with homilies to instruct pupils in mystical knowledge. It has a special focus on epistemology, illustrated with narratives that involve the consumption of food. This is the first ever verse translation of Book Three of the Masnavi. It follows the original by presenting Rumi's most mature mystical teachings in simple and attractive rhyming couplets.