Bibliography #1:
Surveys & Introductory Works
| BIBLIOGRAPHIES |
| - New Testament |
| - Early Christianity |
| - Medieval Christianity |
| - The Reformation |
| - Spirituality & Mysticism |
| - Sacraments |
| - 20th-Century Theology |
| #1: Surveys, Intros |
| #2: Patristic Spirituality |
| #3: Medieval Spirituality |
| #4: Reform Spirituality |
| #5: Modern Spirituality |
| #6: World Religions |
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2. Mysticism: Theoretical Issues & Disputed Questions 3. William James & Classic Studies of Mysticism 4. Classic Texts: Anthologies & Series 1. CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY: SURVEYS & REFERENCE WORKS
William Harmless, Mystics (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007) paperback, $19. NEW. Mystics are those who claim to have experienced God--a Mystery who defies words. This book introduces readers to the scholarly study of mysticism, exploring both mystics’ extraordinary lives and their no-less-extraordinary writings. The heart of the book is a set of case-studies of Christian mystics: Thomas Merton, Bernard of Clairvaux, Hildegard of Bingen, Bonaventure, Meister Eckhart, and Evagrius Ponticus. This case-study approach brings things down to earth, restoring mystics to their historical context, and helps bring them alive and let them speak with unexpected immediacy. It also highlights the pungent diversity of mystical experiences and mystical theologies. Later chapters step beyond Christianity to explore mystical elements within Islam and Buddhism. These include studies of the Sufi poet, Rumi, and the brilliant Japanese Zen master, Dōgen. The book also introduces readers to broader theoretical issues, opening with an examination and critique of William James, whose Varieties of Religious Experience set the terms and trajectory of modern research on mysticism, and concluding with a synthesis that helps readers follow a century-long scholarly conversation on mysticism. Finally it offers a unique, multi-sided optic for understanding mystics, their religious communities and their writings. Geared to a broad audience.
Ewert Cousins, ed., World Spirituality: An Encyclopedic History of the Religious Quest (New York: Crossroad, 1980s-1990s) 20 volumes to date, paperback, $35 per volume. An excellent series examining the spirituality of each of the world religions; each volume has essays by leading scholars. The 3 volumes on Christian Spirituality are:
Marcel Viller, F. Callavera, J. de Guibert, eds., Dictionnaire de Spiritualité: Ascetique et mystique, doctrine et histoire, 17 volumes (Paris: Beauchesne, 1932-1991). One of the great scholarly achievements of the 20th century. This massive study, some 60 years in the making, examines every dimension of Christian spirituality, with articles on all major figures, movements, and themes, and the articles are done by the leading scholars. Much of this encyclopedia has been done since the 1970s, and so the scholarship is generally up-to-date—but you need to be able to read French.
Philip Sheldrake, ed., Traditions of Christian Spirituality (Orbis Books, 1998- ) paperback, $15 per volume. A recent series focused on key movements in Christian spirituality. The authors are well-known experts in their areas. These are geared to a popular audience and are meant as a first glimpse. The volumes to date are:
Louis Bouyer, ed., A History of Christian Spirituality, 3 vol. (New York: Seabury, 1962-1964). Quite dated, but still worth consulting. Michael Downey, ed., The New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1993) hardcover, $80. Articles on key themes (rather than key figures). Harvey Egan, Christian Mysticism: the Future of a Tradition (New York: Pueblo, 1986; reprint, 1998). Steven Fanning, Mystics of the Christian Tradition (New York: Routledge, 2001) paperback, $23. A one-volume survey of mystics and mystical movements. David H. Farmer, ed., Butler’s Lives of the Saints, 12 vol. (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1995-2000) hardcover, $25 per volume. A revision and update of the old Butler’s. David H. Farmer, ed., The Oxford Dictionary of the Saints, 4th edition (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003) paperback, $16. Arthur Holder, ed., The Blackwell Companion to Christian Spirituality (Oxford: Blackwell, 2005) hardcover, $125. William W. Johnston, ed, Encyclopedia of Monasticism, 2 vol. (Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 2000) hardcover. Covers monasticism in Christianity and the world religions. Cheslyn Jones, Geoffrey Wainwright, and Edward Yarnold, eds., The Study of Spirituality (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986) paperback, $43. Brief articles. Bernard McGinn, The Presence of God: A History of Western Christian Mysticism (New York: Crossroad Publishing, 1994- ). 4 volumes to date, 5 to be published, paperback, $35-40 per volume.
Philip Sheldrake, ed., The New Westminster Dictionary of Christian Spirituality (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2005) hardcover, $50.
2. MYSTICISM: THEORETICAL ISSUES & DISPUTED QUESTIONS
The broader theoretical literature on mysticism is vast. What follows is a modest selection of works on a variety of topics. A good entry point into this sometimes complex literature is via the essay collections edited by Steven Katz. Each volume offers contributions by major scholars on specific topics, and the perspectives address questions of mysticism across the breadth of the world's religions: Mysticism and Philosophical Analysis (New York: Oxford University Press, 1979); Mysticism and Language (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992); Mysticism and Religious Traditions (New York: Oxford University Press, 1983) and Mysticism and Sacred Scriptures (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000). Other important studies include:
Michel de Certeau, The Mystic Fable: The Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, trans. Michael B. Smith, Religion and Postmodernism (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992) paperback, $32. Brilliant, but its self-conscious post-modernism makes for often obscure prose. Michel de Certeau, “ ‘Mystique’ au XVIIe Siècle: Le problème du langage ‘mystique’,” in L’Homme devant Dieu: Mélanges offerts au Père Henri de Lubac (Paris: Aubier, 1964) 267-291. Excellent perspectives on the invention of the term "mysticism." Michel de Certeau, “Mystic Speech,” in Heterologies: Discourse on the Other, trans. Brian Massum, Theory and History of Literature, vol. 17 (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1986), 80-100. Oliver Davies & Denys Turner, eds., Silence and the Word: Negative Theology and Incarnation (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002) hardcover, $60. Gavin Flood, The Ascetic Self: Subjectivity, Memory, and Tradition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004) paperback, $20. Robert K.C. Forman, ed., The Problem of Pure Consciousness: Mysticism and Philosophy (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990). Argues for a cross-cultural common core. Robert K.C. Forman, ed., The Innate Capacity: Mysticism, Psychology, Philosophy (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998). Oliver Frieberger, ed., Asceticism and Its Critics: Historical Accounts and Comparative Perspectives (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006) hardcover, $55. NEW. Amy Hollywood, Sensible Ecstasy: Mysticism, Sexual Difference, and the Demands of History (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002) paperback. Moshe Idel & Bernard McGinn, ed., Mystical Union in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam: An Ecumenical Dialogue (New York: Continuum, 1996). Grace Jentzen, Power, Gender, and Christian Mysticism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995). Michael Kessler & Christian Sheppard, eds., Mystics: Presence and Aporia (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003). Paul Marshall, Mystical Encounters with the Natural World: Experiences and Explanations (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005). Bernard McGinn, “Mystical Union in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam,” in Lindsay Jones, ed., Encyclopedia of Religion, 2nd ed. (Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA / Thomson Gale, 2005) vol. 9: 6334-6341. Bernard McGinn, “Quo Vadis? Reflections on the Current Study of Mysticism,” Christian Spirituality Bulletin (Spring 1998) 13-21. Mark McIntosh, Mystical Theology: The Integrity of Spirituality and Theology, Challenges in Contemporary Theology (Cambridge: Blackwell, 1998) paperback, $37. Louis Roy, Mystical Consciousness: Western Perspectives and Dialogue with Japanese Thinkers (Albany: SUNY, 2003). Janet Ruffing, ed., Mysticism and Social Transformation (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2001). Michael Anthony Sells, Mystical Languages of Unsaying (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994) paperback, $22. A major study of apophatic mystical speech in Christianity and Islam. Philip Sheldrake, Spirituality and History: Questions of Interpretation and Method, 2nd ed. (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1998) paperback $20. Philip Sheldrake, Spirituality and Theology: Christian Living and the Doctrine of God (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1999) paperback, $20. Denis Turner, The Darkness of God: Negativity in Christian Mysticism (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995) paperback, $23. William J. Wainwright, Mysticism: A Study of Its Nature, Cognitive Value and Moral Implications (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1981). A philosophical approach. Vincent L. Wimbush & Richard Valantasis, ed., Asceticism (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995) paperback, $35. A valuable and wide-ranging collection of essays. Richard Woods, ed., Understanding Mysticism (New York: Image / Doubleday, 1980). A valuable collection of classic essays.
3. WILLIAM JAMES & CLASSIC STUDIES OF MYSTICISMFew works have been as influential as William James' Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study of Human Nature, Being the Gifford Lectures on Natural Religion delivered at Edinburgh in 1901-1902. There are numerous reprints, but I recommend the 1985 critical edition found in the comprehensive collection of James's writing: The Works of William James, 17 vol., ed. Frederick H. Burkhardt, Fredson Bowers, and Ignas K. Skrupskelis (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1975-1988). For an introduction to James, see Ruth Anna Putnam, ed., The Cambridge Companion to William James (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997). Other classics, while sometime deficient in terms of historical scholarship on which they depend or in terms of aspects of their theoretical apparatus, still have much of value. Here are a handful of other classic studies:
Dom Cuthbert Butler (1858-1934), Western Mysticism: The Teachings of Saints Augustine, Gregory and Bernard on Contemplation and the Contemplative Life: Neglected Chapters in the History of Religion (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1923). Frederick Von Hugel (1858-1934), The Mystical Element of Religion: As Studied by Catherine of Genoa and Her Friends, ed. Michael Downey (New York: Crossroad, 1999) paperback, $40. First published in 1908, this sprawling, diffuse, but brilliant study (some 900 pages) was pivotal in sparking the modern study of mysticism. Vladimir Lossky (1903-1958), The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church [French original, 1944] (London: James Clarke, 1957). Joseph Maréchal (1878-1944), Studies in the Psychology of the Mystics [Études sur le psychologie des mystiques, 1926-1937], trans. Algar Thorold (Albany, NY: Magi, 1964). Rudolf Otto (1869-1937), The Idea of the Holy: An Inquiry Into the Non-Rational Factor in the Idea of the Divine and Its Relation to the Rational [Das Hielige, 1917], trans. John W. Harvey, 2nd ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1958). Karl Rahner (1904-1984), “Experience of Transcendence from the Standpoint of Christian Dogmatics,” Theological Investigations, vol. 18: God and Revelation, trans. Edward Quinn (New York: Seabury, 1983) Gershom Scholem, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism (New York: Schocken, 1961). Anselm Stolz (1900-1942), The Doctrine of Spiritual Perfection [Theologie der Mystik, 1936], reprint: Milestones in the Study of Mysticism and Spirituality (New York: Crossroad / Herder, 2001) paperback, $25. Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941), Mysticism: A Study in the Nature and Development of Man’s Spiritual Consciousness (original, 1901) (reprint: Oxford: OneWorld, 1999) paperback, $21. R.C. Zaehner, Concordant Discord: The Interdependence of Faiths, Being the Gifford Lectures on Natural Religion Delivered at St. Andrews, 1967-1969 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1970).
4. CLASSIC TEXTS: ANTHOLOGIES & SERIES
Bernard McGinn, ed., The Essential Writings of Christian Mysticism (New York: Modern Library, 2007) paperback, $20. NEW. An extraordinarily valuable selection of mystical texts that uses a fresh new organizational pattern, one that rethinks traditional categories. For example, McGinn collects texts around important, but often overlooked categories: e.g. the way mystics interpret scripture; the role that liturgy and sacraments form a nexus for mystical texts; the central role of theology within the mystical; the issue of mysticism and heresy. An important contribution in itself. Also McGinn does many of the translations himself, and these are of high quality.
Bernard McGinn, ed., Classics of Western Spirituality (New York: Paulist Press, 1978- ) over 100 volumes to date, $20-$35 per volume. A superb collection of original sources, fine new translations. Louis Dupré & James A. Wiseman, eds., Light from Light: An Anthology of Christian Mysticism, 2nd ed. (New York: Paulist Press, 2001) paperback, $25. Harvey Egan, ed., An Anthology of Christian Mysticism (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press [a Pueblo Book], 1991) paperback, $40. A fine one-volume selection of Christian mystics. Shawn Madigan, eds., Mystics, Visionaries, and Prophets: A Historical Anthology of Women’s Spiritual Writings (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1998) paperback, $23. John R. Tyson, ed., Invitation to Christian Spirituality: An Ecumenical Anthology (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999) paperback, $40.
| Bibliographies for Theology | New Testament | Early Christianity | Medieval Christianity | | Reformation | Spirituality | Sacraments | 20th-Century Theology |
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