Customer Reviews:
 Unity Among Religions! July 2, 2008
1 out of 5 found this review helpful
This book is a fabulous peek into 'Christian Mysticism'. It is inclusive, not divisive. It is 'Christian' mysticism in as much as humanity tailors garments to clothe Truth. For, as humans, we must shape it, if we are to share it. We must make language. Every idea comes through voice. Every picture, form. And despite this limit we place on the limitless, which diminishes it within comprehensibility, flashes of Eternity remain.
Here find vital excepts of writings by Meister Eckart, Nicolas of Cusa, and John of the Cross (to name but three), Gnostic Christians brimming with revelation. Theirs is the symbolism of the Christ, with the tripartite God as description of the unity among all existence. To the mystic, these reflections illustrate sameness.
Together these excerpts form a golden road. Like Ariadne's thread, then, these reasonings can lead us out of the labyrinth.
YES! December 13, 2007
34 out of 34 found this review helpful
At last! I've been teaching college courses on philosophy & mysticism for years, and I've always been frustrated by the absence of a good anthology of Christian mysticism. So I've either had to order armfuls of primary texts or settle for mediocre anthologies. But Bernard McGinn, who knows more about Christian mysticism than anyone else, has saved me (and others!). This wonderful collection of Christian mysticism is logically arranged, judiciously selected, and expertly commented on. How wonderful!
Selections are from ancient, medieval, modern, and contemporary mystics, and from western as well as orthodox traditions. Fathers of the Desert, the Beguines, Simone Weil, Thomas Merton, Hugh of St. Victor, Symeon, Macarius, Eckhart, John of the Cross, Bernard of Clairvaux: these and many other Christian mystics are excerpted in sections that cover topics such as Biblical Interpretation, Asceticism and Purgation, Inner and Outer Practices, Trinity, Christ, Vision, Deification, and Love and Knowledge. McGinn even concludes with a section that focuses on the social/moral relevance of Christian mysticism, which would be nicely complemented by a reading of Dorothee Soelle's The Silent Cry: Mysticism and Resistance.
McGinn's book is bound to be the definitive collection for years to come. Highly, highly recommended--and highly welcome.
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