A World Transfigured

2023 Catholic Media Association First Place Award, Mysticism In A World Transfigured: The Mystical Journey, Philip Sheldrake demonstrates the importance of the mystical dimension of religious belief and practice. Using the words of the great theologian, Karl Rahner, Sheldrake makes the case that the Christian of the future will be either a mystic or nothing at all. In our contemporary world, this judgment applies equally to other religions as well. After chapters on the meaning of “mysticism” and the connection between mysticism and beliefs, Sheldrake describes important dimensions of mystical writings, illustrated by a range of examples. These are “Love and Desire,” “Knowing and Unknowing,” “Wonder and Beauty,” “Mysticism and Everyday Practice,” and “The Mystic as Radical Prophet.” Finally, the book briefly explores why mysticism fascinates so many people in our modern times.

In A World Transfigured: The Mystical Journey, Philip Sheldrake demonstrates the importance of the mystical dimension of religious belief and practice. Using the words of the great theologian, Karl Rahner, Sheldrake makes the case that the Christian of the future will be either a mystic or nothing at all. In our contemporary world, this judgment applies equally to other religions as well. After chapters on the meaning of “mysticism” and the connection between mysticism and beliefs, Sheldrake describes important dimensions of mystical writings, illustrated by a range of examples. These are “Love and Desire,” “Knowing and Unknowing,” “Wonder and Beauty,” “Mysticism and Everyday Practice,” and “The Mystic as Radical Prophet.” Finally, the book briefly explores why mysticism fascinates so many people in our modern times.

Today there is a growing eagerness to enter into a deeper knowledge of the Mass, the sacraments and the whole life of the Church. A particularly rewarding insight comes from a penetration of the actual words, gestures and symbols used in worship. "The Church wants us to stop and look and be enriched by the glories she presents for our contemplation," writes Sister Laurentia. "The liturgy is God's art. For his material he uses our familiar earth, air, fire and water. In this manner our world undergoes a revelation, an epiphany-it becomes a transfigured world." More importantly, God shapes and uses these materials in order to transfigure man. Through the sacramental power of the liturgy, God comes down to man, and lifts man up to Him; to a sharing in His divine life. In order to gain an insight into the wonders of God's transfigured world, Sister Laurentia examines the relationship of art to the liturgy, and the structure of the liturgy itself. The result is an inspiring, readable book that will give the reader a deeper understanding of the beauty and meaning of worship.

Exploring the intricacy and complexity of Walter Pater’s prose, Transfigured World challenges traditional approaches to Pater and shows precise ways in which the form of his prose expresses its content. Carolyn Williams asserts that Pater’s aestheticism and his historicism should be understood as dialectically interrelated critical strategies, inextricable from each other in practice. Williams discusses the explicit and embedded narratives that play a crucial role in Pater’s aesthetic criticism and examines the figures that compose these narratives, including rhetorical tropes, structures of argument such as genealogy, and historical or fictional personae.

In Not Yet Transfigured, Eric Pankey extends his poetic oeuvre in ways simultaneously foreseeable and fresh. This is an essential volume for every lover of contemporary poetry.

“The mythology of unicorns is cleverly interwoven with the modern elements. This, combined with a strikingly beautiful and simple style, leave the reader with the feeling of having experienced something magical. And the real magic lies in the mastery of Yolen's storytelling.”—SF Site Is what Richard saw in the woods really a unicorn? Beloved fantasy legend Jane Yolen (The Devil's Arithmetic; Sister Light, Sister Dark) offers an unexpected answer in this perfect jewel of a coming-of-age story. The Transfigured Hart bridges the wondrous in-between world where adults rediscover childhood wonder and children discover new favorite tales.

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.

Exploring the intricacy and complexity of Walter Pater’s prose, Transfigured World challenges traditional approaches to Pater and shows precise ways in which the form of his prose expresses its content. Carolyn Williams asserts that Pater’s aestheticism and his historicism should be understood as dialectically interrelated critical strategies, inextricable from each other in practice. Williams discusses the explicit and embedded narratives that play a crucial role in Pater’s aesthetic criticism and examines the figures that compose these narratives, including rhetorical tropes, structures of argument such as genealogy, and historical or fictional personae.