Visions of Sophia and the Heavenly Country: Review of The Heavenly Country by Michael Martin

Last updated on: June 27, 2016 at 11:58 am by David Russell Mosley

Visions of Sophia and the Heavenly Country: Review of The Heavenly Country by Michael Martin 2016-06-27T11:58:03-04:00 David Russell Mosley

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

David Russell Mosley

29901718

Ordinary Time
Feast of St. Cyril of Alexandria
The Edge of Elfland
Hudson, New Hampshire

Dear Readers,

Today I would like to review for The Heavenly Country: An Anthology of Primary Sources, Poetry, and Critical Essays on Sophiology edited by Michael Martin and put out by Angelico Press. I must start by noting that this is a difficult book to review. It is difficult for several reasons. First of all, any time you are reviewing a book with multiple authors it can be difficult. Do you review each essay/chapter individually or the book as a whole? Well, this edited volume is even more difficult since there are around 60 different authors present in this single volume. Things are further complicated by the fact that the book, as it says in the subtitle, is made up of various different genre from spiritual and mystical texts and reflections to poetry to modern academic essays. However, what makes this book so difficult to review makes it not only a joy to read––insofar as it has variety––but also makes it useful as a kind of one stop shop, if you will allow the colloquialism, for learning about sophiology.

For my readers who may be unfamiliar with the term, sophiology is the study of Sophia, often identified as a non-hypostatic representation of the divine essence as well as a created being that perfectly mirrors the divine essence to creation and creation to the Holy Trinity. Michael Martin, the books editor, defines sophiology in the introduction, “as it is understood in this book is the theological-philosophical apprehension and perception of grace as it discloses itself (or is disclosed) in the created world in liturgy, and in religious experience” (3). 25770921 Martin, who has championed a return to sophiology and poetic metaphysics in his book The Submerged Reality in this anthology has brought together foundational primary sources for sophiology, poetry he sees as being sophiological (whether the poets saw it as such or not), and a series of academic essays on the various figures and ideas presented in the first two sections of the book
It is important to note that while sophiology has been taken up by gnostics and other heretics, the goal of this text is to bring out what is best, even if it appears strange or new, from the more orthodox expressions of sophiology. Martin has collected these various texts in an effort to combat the “death of metaphysics” and “death of God” movements that have arisen at least since the Enlightenment. I will now turn my attention to the three sections of this book in turn and conclude with some final thoughts on the volume as a whole.

Primary Sources

This section begins by having us read portions of the biblical Wisdom Books. Specifically it includes selections from Proverbs, Song of Songs, the Book of Wisdom, and Sirach (Ecclesiasticus). Before I go into the other primary sources, I would like to note that even here I personally would have liked to have seen more biblical texts. Martin has certainly not exhausted the number of texts that discuss Wisdom. After the biblical texts comes a slue of European, Protestant/Non-Catholic authors ranging from the 15th/16th century with Jacob Boehme to the 20th century with William Butler Yeats. After Yeats and the Romantics the book turns to Russian and Catholic Sophiology. I will not attempt to review the contents of these authors. Not only would to do so be difficult due to sheer numbers, but due to variety of genre/content. Some of these authors like Boehme, Fludd, and Vaughan were alchemists and their alchemy is bound up in some ways with their sophiology. Others, like the Philadelphians (and those already mentioned), were mystics recording their visions and mystical experiences. I am not qualified to judge one’s alchemy and not nearly holy enough to state outright whether one’s mystical experience were genuine or not.

What I will say about this section is this: much of it is compelling and all of it is necessary if one wants to understand sophiology in general and the project of Michael Martin in particular. Nowhere else can the student of theology find in one place these sources. Martin has created with this section alone a primer for sophiology. This section serves as an excellent starting point for anyone who desires to dig deeper into the history of sophiology. What is more, Martin shows rather clearly that sophiology is not simply the provenance of alchemists and esoteric mystics or even certain strains of Russian Orthodoxy. By including the section on Catholic Sophiology, Martin shows that Sophia has made herself known there as well and not simply to marginal figures such as Valentin Tomberg but is also evident in the works of more mainstream figures like Hans Urs von Balthasar and Louis Bouyer. Although one must say that all of the figures represented here have courted trouble, if not censure or condemnation, to one degree or another.

As a brief critique of this section, the lack of patristic or medieval sources is rather glaring. Martin might, and has elsewhere, made the claim that many of the Church Fathers and Doctors were mistaken in attempting to explain all references to Wisdom as concerning only the Son or the Spirit. Nevertheless, it seems to me necessary to engage with the ancient and medieval sources as well if you want to have a rounded understanding not only of Sophia but of the kind of theology/philosophy that Martin is putting forward.

Being a Catholic Evangelical

Book Reviews

Faeriean Metaphysics

Literature and Poetry

Sacramental Ontology

The Radical Catholic Reimagination of Everything

Theopoetics

and Critical Essays on Sophiology

The Heavenly Country: An Anthology of Primary Sources

Previous Post

June 25, 2016

Peter Kreeft and Atheists: A Response to Hemant Mehta

Next Post

June 28, 2016 Academic Impostor Syndrome with Christ & University

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category A Secular Age Advent Apologetics Atheism Beauty Being a Catholic Evangelical Being Catholic Being Deified: Poetry and Fantasy on the Path to God Blogging Book Reviews C. S. Lewis Catholic Imagination Catholic Social Teaching Catholicism Christmas Church Calendar Church Fathers Church Life Community Conferences Cosmology Creation Curdled Words Deification Distributism Easter Economics Education Epiphany Essay Extracts Eucharist Faerie Faeriean Metaphysics Fatherhood Films Folk Liturgy Food and Drink G. K. Chesterton Harry Potter J. R. R. Tolkien Jove King Arthur Language Lent Life Literature and Poetry Liturgy Medieval Theology Music My Publications Mythology On the Edges of Elfland Ordinary Time Ordination Parenthood Parish Patristic Theology Pentecost Politics Prayer Racism Radical Orthodoxy Restoration Movement Sacramental Ontology Saints Science Sex and Sexuality Sophiology Stories The Inklings The Radical Catholic Reimagination of Everything Theologians in the Church Theopoetics Thesis Research Uncategorized University of Nottingham What I'm Reading Writing

Select a Month December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 July 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz