Convents, Jails and Other Tales: An Overview of the Mystics and Why They Matter - Paperback

by Daniel Somerset (Editor), K. Sparrow (Illustrator), Barbara Jean Brown Af (Author)

The Christian Mystical Tradition is a rich re-source out of our own Western experience and has a history and a significance that reaches back into the Ancient Hebrew experience of Yahweh and moves on through the establishment of the Church into our present experience. This Judeo-Christian expression of the Mystical life, a vast arena of revelation and intimacy spanning centuries and cultures, is therefore the focus of this present work. It is imperative that we learn to understand just what we are dealing with in the explo-ration of the Mystic Tradition. We need to recognize the common stamp which appears on the diverse coins from the mint of the mystic tradition. That commonality shows itself as a sense of "otherness," a sense of unre-ality or hiddenness, whether it is in the Judeo-Christian tradition or a tradition of the East. Somehow, some-where, the mystic establishes a relationship of personal response toward something completely outside the temporal world which he/she regards as ultimately greater than him/herself. However, the "way" of the mystic is not always clear and can, in fact, be dangerous to our spiritual health if we are not willing to proceed with careful consideration of the subject. The increased popularity of literature pertaining to the inner search and the re-publication of the spirit-ual classics causes a need to develop a discerning eye before we plunge headlong into the mystic's world. We need to be cautious when picking up and reading any book by a Mystic and expecting it to have all the answers for our spiritual edification. We need to know where our own spirituality lies, and we need to know something about the Mystic of our choice. That is the main purpose behind this study. I hope to provide some basic understanding and discernment of the mystical journey.Reviews: Don't let the incredible scope of this book scare you off It is a resource that may prove essential to every person gen- uinely interested in the spiritual life. Sr. BJ Brown wisely but simply summarizes centuries of human contact with the divine in a style that will be helpful for the novice to the spiritually adept. She writes both from her considerable scholarship and from her personal experience of "knowing as a form of loving," the mystic way open to all. Norvene Vest (Spiritual director and author of -- What is Your Practice? Lifelong Growth in the Spirit)Concisely written, eminently readable but chock full of information that will serve any student, any cleric, any would-be mystic or anybody who's ever wondered what on earth the religious life is all about, this is a tremendous historical resource. Sister Barbara Jean's wonderful work reminds me that we relied for centuries solely on the minds and pens of men and women in religious orders for the recording and preservation of human learning, and it is nice to see the tradition of monastic scholarship alive and well in her. This book belongs in parish libraries, in seminary libraries, in monastic libraries and in the libraries of ordinary Christians who love learning about our traditionBarbara Cawthorne Crafton (Episcopal priest, chaplain at Ground Zero, spiritual director and author)