Description
In Mystical Theology and Contemporary Spiritual Practice several leading scholars explore key themes within the Christian mystical tradition, contemporary and historical. The overall aim of the book is to demonstrate the relevance of mystical theology to contemporary spiritual practice. Attention is given to the works of Baron von Hugel, Vladimir Lossky, Margery Kempe, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Thomas Merton, and Francisco de Osuna, as well as to a wide range of spiritual practices, including pilgrimage, spiritual direction, contemplative prayer and the quotidian spirituality of the New Monasticism. Christian mystical theology is shown to be a living tradition, which has vibrant and creative new expressions in contemporary spiritual practice. It is argued that mystical theology affirms something both ordinary and extraordinary which is fundamental to the Christian experience of prayer.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Peter Tyler, Julienne McLean and Christopher C.H. Cook
1 Baron Friedrich von Hügel on the Mystical Element of Religion: Has the Baron a Message for us Today?
Kallistos Ware
2 What Did Vladimir Lossky mean by ‘Mystical Theology’?
Andrew Louth
3 The Mystical Theology of Margery Kempe: Writing the Inner Life
Corrine Saunders
4 Unlikely Mystics: Durham Cathedral as mystical space for ordinary people
Rosalind Brown
5 The Renewal of Contemplative Traditions: New Monasticism and Quotidian Practices
Bernadette Flanagan
6 Wittgenstein Reads Merton: The Mystical Theology of Two Twentieth Century Masters
Peter Tyler
7 Mystical Theology and the Renewal of Contemplative Spiritual Practice
Julienne McLean and Christopher C.H. Cook
Concluding Reflections
Christopher C.H. Cook, Julienne McLean and Peter Tyler
