This book is an introductory study of mysticism in the Christian religion. It should be suitable for both general readers and college undergraduates. It provides both a theory of mysticism and surveys of its main contours in Buddhism and traditional religious cultures. It also suggests how readers may understand and appreciate what mysticism implies for their own lives.
This book, therefore, is addressed not only to persons called Christian, but also to the enquiring among the cultured despisers of this religion. To the latter, it says: "This is what Christians as such are talking about"; and it addresses these enquiring ones not first of all with a view to convincing them.
SANTOSH THOMAS born on 16th May 1966 in Madras. He is chairman of the Department of Religion and associate professor of physics at IBD College, Shimla. He earned the Ph.D. in physics from the University of Calcutta, and the B.D. in theology from Yale. Currently he is on leave from IBD to teach at Chicago Theological Seminary. He is the author of Christianity and the Scientist and has written many articles for various scientific, philosophical, and theological journals.
No one doubts today that one of the main approaches to the meaning of religion is through the nature of the soul of man. It would no doubt be a mistake to push the method of the inner way to the exclusion of all other methods of studying religion, but it is certain that nobody can tell us what religion is until he has sounded the deeps within man, and has dealt with the testimony of personal consciousness.
The mystics have in all ages and in all lands-semper et ubique-been intent on finding a direct way to God. They have been voices, often crying in the wilderness, announcing the nearness of God, and calling men from the folly of seeking Him where, from the nature of the case, he could not be found. Their message strikes a note which appeals profoundly to our generation, and for obvious reasons there has been a revival of interest in them.
We each felt that our work was toward the same end, and we spent many joyous hours telling each other of our literary dreams, always putting all our emphasis on the way in which these unborn books of ours were to minister to the larger spiritual life of our age.
Some of us who loved him are resolved that his work, so far as possible, shall go on to completion, and I have made my volume function, in every way I could do so, toward the fulfilling of his interrupted plans. There is no sectarian cast or bias in it, but it does prepare the way for an intelligent comprehension of the appearance in the English commonwealth of a society of Christians who seriously undertook to live by the Light within, and whose story will be told in later volumes.
This book, therefore, is addressed not only to persons called by the name Christian, but also to the enquiring among the cultured despisers of this religion.
**Contents and Sample Pages**
For privacy concerns, please view our Privacy Policy
Send as free online greeting card
Email a Friend
Manage Wishlist