ABSTRACT

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.

chapter |8 pages

Introduction

Mystical theology: renewing the contemplative tradition

chapter 1|13 pages

Baron Friedrich von Hügel on the mystical element of religion

Has the Baron a message for us today?

chapter 3|24 pages

The mystical theology of Margery Kempe

Writing the inner life

chapter 4|22 pages

Unlikely mystics

Durham Cathedral as mystical space for ordinary people

chapter 5|15 pages

The renewal of contemplative traditions

New monasticism and quotidian practices

chapter 6|14 pages

Wittgenstein reads Merton

The mystical theology of two twentieth-century masters

chapter |6 pages

Concluding reflections

Mystical theology: renewing the contemplative tradition