"Mysticism" and Mystical Theology

• General:
  • Élisabeth Behr-Sigel: The Place of the Heart -- An Introduction to Orthodox Spirituality, (1989). SVS, 1991.
  • Dirk von Damme: Vorstufen der mystischen Theologie in der Alten Kirche, (1987). From Grundfragen Christlicher Mystik, edited by Margot Schmidt, (Stuttgart: Fromann-Holzborg, 1987), p. 15.

  • Dom Cuthbert Butler: Western Mysticism, (1922). London: Constable, 1967.
  • Fr. Olivier Clément: The Roots of Christian Mysticism, (1995). New York: New City, 1995. More than the title suggests: a guide to ascetical and spiritual practice.
  • Vladimir Lossky: Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, (1944). Crestwood: SVS, 1976. The most important XX Century work on apophatic theology in general and St. Dionysius in particular; considered by many to be an example of a modern text which will eventually be viewed as patristic in its own right.
  • Bernard McGinn: The Foundations of Mysticism, (1982). London: SCM, 1982.
  • Bernard McGInn and Fr. John Meyendorff, eds.: Christian Spirituality, (1989). New York: Crossroad, 1989.
  • Tomás Spidlík, S.J.: The Spirituality of the Christian East -- A Systematic Handbook, (1986). Kalamazoo: Cistercian, 1986. One suspects only a Westerner would have come up with that subtitle!
  • Evelyn Underhill: Mysticism, (1911). London: Methuen, 1977. Author not Orthodox. --- CCEL

• General: Bibliographies:
  • Fr. Alexander Golitzin: Bibliography on Eastern Orthodox Mysticism and Spirituality. --- Marquette University

• General: Historical:
  • Steven Fanning: Mystics of the Christian Tradition, (2001). London: Routledge, 2001.
  • Fr. Andrew Louth: The Origins of the Christian Mystical Tradition, (1981). Oxford: Clarendon, 1981.

• Mysticism as "Ecstatic Experience", &c.: Not the Orthodox conception.
  • Gunnel André: Ecstatic Prophecy in the Old Testament, (1982). In Religious Ecstasy, edited by Nils G. Holm (Stockholm: Almqvist and Wiksell, 1982) Argues that the Old Testament prophets were calm and did not experience "orgiastic vigorous ecstasy" like some of their pagan counterparts.
  • Violet MacDermot: The Cult of the Seer in the Ancient Middle East -- A Contribution to Current Research on Hallucinations Drawn from Coptic and Other Texts, (1971). UCLA, 1971. A very peculiar book with a completely misleading title: it is concerned almost exclusively with the spiritual practice of the Desert Fathers, and nearly half the book is primary sources in translation. Written at the height of XX Century scientific interest in "altered states of awareness" and published in a series devoted to the history of medicine, it is nonetheless not a scientist's attempt to milk the patristic literature for tips on how such states may be attained but rather an attempt to understand them from a more modern viewpoint. Although this gives it a kind of "looking-glass" feel at times, it is nevertheless quite interesting. Read with caution.

• SOME PEOPLE ASSOCIATED WITH MYSTICAL THEOLOGY:
  • Ancient: St Denys the Areopagite
  • Modern (post-1500): Vladimir Lossky; Evelyn Underhill;