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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good overview, broad coverage, historical perspective, September 3, 2006
This review is from: Love Burning in the Soul: The Story of Christian Mystics, from Saint Paul to Thomas Merton (Paperback)
In the preface to this book, the author states that, "This book is intended as a short introduction to the tradition of Christian mysticism over the last two thousand years. It is not aimed at theologians or other specialists but at those who have little or no knowledge of the subject matter and who wish to dip their toes into the vast ocean of mysticism." Further, "The approach I have taken is a historical one." James Harpur delivers on both of these objectives. In the introduction, he discusses the terms mystic/mysticism and contemplative/contemplation. His coverage is broad: He starts with New Testament Times and ends with The Modern Age, and he addresses 49 mystics (from Jesus Chris to Thomas Merton; Therese de Lisieux is a notable exclusion). The information he presents provides a good overview of each mystic's approach to Christian spirituality. In addition, he describes the historical times and context in which they lived (providing a history, albeit a very short one, of Christianity). In the epilogue, the author briefly addresses the future of both Christianity and mysticism, as well as some of the more recent Christian spiritual movements, e.g., Taize. This book is a great introduction to this subject and a good reference source.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Power of the Mystical Insight, March 4, 2007
This review is from: Love Burning in the Soul: The Story of Christian Mystics, from Saint Paul to Thomas Merton (Paperback)
Psychologists, philosophers and the clergy have all had their own views and definitions of the mystical experience. Is it no more than a dissociative experience in which the boundaries of the ego dissolve like so much fairy gold? Is it another word for a form psychotic breakdown? Is it a profound sense of empathy with all living things? Is it a state in which we can unlock the most profound secrets of the universe? Or is it a God-given state of ultimate Union?
In this fascinating book, James Harpur focuses on the last of these possibilities. He defines the mystic as someone who has a direct and intimate experience of God from within. As implied in the title, his focus is on the two thousand year old tradition of Christian mysticism. He takes both an historical and ecclesiastical approach beginning first with the mystical experiences revealed through the writers of the Gospels, before going on to cover some of the personal accounts of a few of the better known saints, religious and spiritual leaders, as well as some of the English Romantic poets.
This book provides some extraordinary insights into the path of the human soul toward union with God, through the lives of and recorded words of Jesus, Meister Eckhart, Jacob Boehme, Saint Teresa of Avila, Saint John of the Cross, William Blake and Teilhard de Chardin and many others.
Though some of this material is available elsewhere, James Harpur provides us with many new insights. But it is in the epilogue that the book really shines. Here he brings Christian mystical spirituality into the present, with a discussion of some of the grass root and retreat movements that not only tap into these mystical traditions but also use them to inform a movement toward a belief in the interconnectedness of all life and its moral consequences: ecology, justice and peace. Harpur discusses many examples of such communities, including those in Iona in Scotland, Taize in France, and the Creation Spirituality movement founded by the former Dominican monk Matthew Fox.
Whether or not you follow a Christian path, if you are interested in the application of spiritual principles to your life and to some of the problems in our world, this book is well worth your time.
Highly recommended.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Concise 2000 year introduction, August 2, 2009
This review is from: Love Burning in the Soul: The Story of Christian Mystics, from Saint Paul to Thomas Merton (Paperback)
James Harpur should be congratulated for his introduction to those men and women, Catholics and Protestants who have direct encounter with God. Although It cannot be experienced by reading, Harpur at least gives an understanding of the breadth of those experiencing it, arranging brief chapters chronologically from Jesus to Thomas Merton. He provokes important questions like "Is Jesus a Mystic?" and were the poets William Blake and Wordsworth mystic? Reading a survey like this, one sees that for some knowledge is important (Eckhart) where for others it is love (e.g. The Cloud of Unknowing). There is a tension between the esoteric and exoteric traditions, between the mystic and the mainstream. I used this to accompany the Teaching Company class on Western Mysticism.
Perhaps the book was short on actual readings or quotes from the mystics themselves, though I appreciated Eckhart's paradoxical "The eye with which I see God is exactly the same eye with which God sees me". In such a broad survey, some readers will find some favorites missing (e.g., Thomas a' Kempis), but I hope that some of the mystics will spark the readers to read new authors; I know I will seek some Tauler and Boehme.
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