Christian Mysticism East And West

Explores themes of transformation, wholeness, and healing as presented by both Eastern and Western mystics, and how their ideas parallel the global insights found in Hinduism, Taoism, Islam, and Buddhism.

Defining the mystical experience in terms of a direct encounter with ultimate reality, an examination of the mystical experience as it has been found in six major world religions illuminates the lives and beliefs of each tradition's outstanding mystics. UP.

"This book attempts to penetrate the nature of that strange spiritual phenomenon which we call mysticism by comparing the two principal classic types of Eastern and Western mystical experience. By means of this comparison, and by explaining the individual features of one type by those of the other, the nature of mysticism itself becomes gradually more comprehensible." --From the Foreword

Mysticism is proving to be the chosen type of religion for future generations of believers in the West. As traditional institutional religion continues to decline, mystical thought is celebrated as a vital, subversive alternative. Evidence for this religious-cultural shift towards the mystical, the experiential, and indeed the creation-centered can be found in bookstores, most of which devote a large amount of shelf space to mystical themes and writers from the world religions. While this shift is not new, an increasing number of westerners are turning east because they find the fundamentally mystical thought of Asian religious traditions appealing. Furthermore, numerous westerners have actually become gurus and mystics within Eastern traditions. Mysticisms East and West examines the worldwide phenomenon of mystical experience across the world religions. In examining both Christian and non-Christian expressions of mysticism, this unique volume brings together a number of prominent evangelical scholars to analyze the central historical, cultural, and theological issues. Beginning in the East, these studies in mystical experience gradually move to the West and to Christian mysticism before concluding with a number of philosophically reflective essays examining the implications and nature of mysticism.

"Ursula King's Christian Mystics offers a distinctive perspective on spirituality. The author presents the Christian mystical tradition through short biographies of its great figures, biographies which are highly readable without oversimplifying the ideas of these great figures. This is an outstanding entryway into the rich and deep world of Christian mysticism, recommended for readers of all backgrounds." - Michael Sells (Professor of Comparative Religions, Haverford College).

This book investigates the problem of esoteric traditions in early Christianity, their origin and their transformation in Patristic hermeneutics, in the West as well as in the East. It argues that these traditions eventually formed the basis of nascent Christian mysticism in Late Antiquity. These esoteric traditions do not reflect the influence of Greek Mystery religions, as has often been claimed, but rather seem to stem from the Jewish background of Christianity. They were adopted by various Gnostic teachings, a fact which helps explaining their eventual disappearance from Patristic literature. The eleven chapters study each a different aspect of the problem, including the questions of Gnostic and Manichaean esotericism. This book will be of interest to all students of religious history in Late Antiquity. Revised and extended paperback edition. Originally published in 1996. Please click here for details.

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.

Mystics are those who seek a direct experience of the Presence of God, and mysticism is the vital, animating element of every religion. The spiritual marriage, the mystics say, is not merely a conforming to the ways and will of God but a total transforming of the soul into God. And this is the heart of the teaching that one only whispers: The soul that is transformed into God is God.