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November 2017

November 07, 2017

How to Find a Mystical Teacher, Part Two

This post is a sequel to my post from last week called How to Find...

November 02, 2017

How to Find a Mystical Teacher

A reader sent me this message the other day: I am loving your book, Christian...

October 2017

October 19, 2017

Some thoughts on Non-Dualism (East and West) and Single-Mindedness

A reader on Facebook recently asked me: How do Eastern and Western non dualism differ?...

October 11, 2017

Coming in April 2018: The Little Book of Christian Mysticism! (Pre-Order Your Copy Today)

I have a new book coming in April 2018: The Little Book of Christian Mysticism!...

October 02, 2017

How Meister Eckhart Inspires Letting Go for Love

Today's post is by a guest contributor: Mark S. Burrows, who along with Jon M. Sweeney,...

September 2017

September 22, 2017

Seven “Ingredients” for Cultivating a Truly Mystical Life

Last night I gave a talk at the Episcopal Cathedral of St. Philip, here in...

September 04, 2017

Imagine Thomas Merton Teaching You a Class on Christian Mysticism…

Wouldn't it be great if you could have access to the lecture notes of a...

April 2017

April 24, 2017

C. S. Lewis, Brendan the Navigator, and Evelyn Underhill

In March I was one of several presenters at a symposium on C. S. Lewis and...

April 10, 2017

Is it possible to be a “Do It Yourself” Christian Mystic? Evelyn Underhill would say “No” — and I agree with her

Nearly all Christian mystics maintain that an essential characteristic of Christian mysticism is participation in the Body...

March 2017

March 08, 2017

Sharing Your Faith with Someone Who is “Spiritual But Not Religious”

This post may get me in trouble with a few folks. Well, so be it. I...

February 2017

February 10, 2017

Seven Essential Books on the Spirituality of the Desert Fathers and Mothers

The headwaters of the Christian contemplative and mystical tradition — aside from the Bible, of...

January 2017

January 01, 2017

A Christian Mystics Bibliography

In my books The Big Book of Christian Mysticism and Christian Mystics: 108 Seers, Saints and Sages, I suggest...

June 2016

June 15, 2016

Remembering (and Praying with) Evelyn Underhill

Today (June 15, 2016) marks the seventy-fifth anniversary of the death of Evelyn Underhill, the...

May 2016

May 18, 2016

Who’s Who Among the Christian Mystics…

My friends, I'm happy to announce my forthcoming book, due in October 2016. Christian Mystics:...

December 2015

December 08, 2015

Entering the Year of Mercy: Are You Willing to Take the “Rahner Challenge”?

So today is the fiftieth anniversary of the closing of the Second Vatican Council. It's...

September 2015

September 17, 2015

Happy St. Hildegard’s Day!

One of the most colorful and remarkable of mystics, of any age, is the irrepressible...

April 2015

April 10, 2015

Why Is “Mysticism” A Dirty Word?

In the introduction to her book Writing the Icon of the Heart, Maggie Ross makes...

February 2015

February 26, 2015

Meet the Newest Doctor of the Church: Saint Gregory of Narek

Vatican Radio announced earlier this week that Pope Francis has declared a tenth century Armenian...

January 2015

January 31, 2015

Seven Essential Thomas Merton Books

Today is the 100th anniversary of Thomas Merton's birth. To celebrate this day here is...

January 20, 2015

Christian Mystics to Celebrate in 2015

2015 is something of a red-letter year for Christian contemplatives. This is the 100th anniversary of...

July 2014

July 29, 2014

Beatrice of Nazareth: Seven Manners of Divine Love

Today is the feast day of one of the lesser known of Cistercian blesseds (and...

December 2012

December 07, 2012

The Ethics of Sharing Mystical Knowledge: Meister Eckhart and the Cloud Author

Pick up any edition of The Cloud of Unknowing, and you are likely to find...

September 2009

September 05, 2009

Five Marks of Authentic Mysticism (Underhill)

In her introduction to Orbis Books' Essential Writings of Evelyn Underhill, Emilie Griffin notes that...