The Wound of Knowledge : Christian Spirituality from the New Testament to St.John of the Cross

by Rowan Williams

In this classic treatise on Christian spirituality, Rowan Williams takes us with a new eye along a road marked out by Paul, John, Ignatius, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Athanasius, Basil, Gregory of Nyssa, Augustine, and finally to Luther and St. John of the Cross. The Wound of Knowledge is a penetrating psychological and intellectual analysis of Christian spirituality.

Genres: Theology, Spirituality, Christianity, Religion, Nonfiction, History, Faith

Paperback

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Rowan Douglas Williams, Baron Williams of Oystermouth, is an Anglican bishop, poet, and theologian. He was Archbishop of Canterbury from December 2002-2012, and is now Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge and Chancellor of the University of South Wales.

Reviews

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Williams writes a selected history of Christian spirituality from the New Testament to St. John of the Cross. It highlights particular thinkers and is heavy on the emphasis of suffering, of darkness, of the wounding coming from the Christian life, and the transformation such wounding can provide. "If we believe we can experience our healing without deepening our hurt, we have understood nothing of the roots of our faith..." (11) Not to make it sound dour as it is a delightful delving into a spirituality of conflict, centered on Jesus crucified. He particularly explores the New Testament, Ignatius, Irenaeus, Clement, Origen, Athanasius, the Cappadocian Fathers (especially Gregory of Nyssa), Augustine, Antony, Cassian, Bernard, Dionysius, Aquinas, Eckhart, the late medieval mystics, Luther (in a brooding chapter), and St. John of the Cross and offers deep insight (almost rehabilitating Eckhart for me) and sometimes frank acknowledgement of limitations (especially with Clement's "internalizing" of the gospel and Dionysius, before his rehabilitation by Maximus). He has good discussions of martyrs, gnosticism, Platonism, and monasticism

"The end of the believer's life is knowledge of God in conformity to God. Knowledge of God is not a subject's conceptual grasp of an object, it is sharing what God is - more boldy, you might say sharing God's 'experience'. God is known in and by the exercise of crucifying compassion; if we are like him in that, we know him."

[Rex · Rating 4 out of 5]

In fewer than 200 pages, Rowan Williams (a young man at the time of writing, but none the less erudite for it) tackles the history of classical Christian spirituality, focusing on a few major themes and pivotal figures “from the New Testament to Saint John of the Cross.” Williams does not hesitate to reproach strands of the tradition he views as problematic, and I’m not persuaded of a few of his critiques, but his overall treatment of the development of Christian spirituality is compelling and insightful. Complaint might be made about style and readability. Almost anything Rowan Williams says is interesting, and at times his rhetoric swells to lyricism, but he often couches his point in complex sentences and meandering paragraphs, which slows down a book that, given its relative brevity and scope, ought to be a quick and accessible read. But as a study in Christian spirituality, it remains valuable, and one also glimpses in this essay some of the ideas that most shaped Williams’s lifelong religious sensibilities.

[Jeremy Rios · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a survey of the history of spirituality, this was fine. Williams covered the basics in Church history from (as the subtitle suggests) the New Testament to St John of the Cross. However, as a book with a thesis that makes a point--I have no idea what I've just read. What is the wound of knowledge? Why should I want to be wounded? How does knowledge wound us? What does it even mean to be 'spiritual' as a Christian? For my money, this book exhibits the most disappointing ratio between promising title and actual content that I've encountered in recent memory.

If you're interested in a history of spirituality, read Evelyn Underhill's "The Mystics of the Church" instead. It's better written, makes clearer judgments, and will leave you with something substantive and spiritually nutritious to mull over.

[Grace Hall · Rating 3 out of 5]

On one hand, this book is brilliant. On the other hand, it’s so boring it took me almost a full year to finish. If you want a complicated spiritual history of the church over the first 1600 years and you have immense patience, this is the book for you. If not, find another book lol.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

As any student (from any iteration) of Regent College’s “Christian Thought and Culture” course would tell you, book length surveys of the first 1600 years of Christian thinking can be exactly that: surveys, rather than serious contributions to the field. Yet Rowan Williams has written a survey which deserves the company of the writers he covers. He achieves this by attending carefully to each writer’s thought and evaluating them according to how well they navigate the central Christian paradox of the incarnation: how can an utterly transcendent God take on flesh?

His chapter on Augustine is especially magnificent: it made me cry while reading it on my flight to Japan!

[Bob Price · Rating 3 out of 5]

How 'Spiritual' can you be? Does the Christian church have anything to offer anymore about Spirituality? Did it ever?

In Christian Spirituality, Rowan Williams traces the history of spiritual thought from the New Testament to St. John of the Cross, a period of almost 1600 years....in about two hundred pages. That in of itself should tell you what sort of book we are in for.

This book was originally written when the Archbishop of Canterbury was only 29 years old. (Now I'm starting to feel a bit of the crunch on me!)

Williams is undoubtedly brilliant and we see his genius in this book. He paints broad pictures and yet is able to probe the depths of some of the greatest thinkers in Christian history. We see him deal equally ably with Augustine, Aquinas, Meister Eckhart and Martin Luther.

Overall, the writing is very clear and easy to read. The pacing seems a bit rushed, but with over 1500 years of history to cover in 200 pages, it has to be.

The goal in writing this book seems to have been to open the door for the modern day Christian for different spiritual traditions within the early church. While he analyzes the theology involved, the main emphasis is on the implications for a spiritual theology.

What emerges then is a good solid basic introduction to many different theologians. It is a book designed to spur you on to further reading and different studies.

I highly recommend this book for pastors and interested lay people within the church. Non Christians may find this book and its subject matter a bit dull.

Grade: B

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

A compact, nourishing read. Although not a book for novices, Williams is clear and readable, and takes care to explain various concepts along the way. Williams charts the first 1500 years of Christian spirituality, showing how, at its core, its not a case of ecstatic visions, special techniques or transcending the material, but is a real engagement with life in all its joy and pain. A great introduction to a variety of Christian thinkers and writers. This is a book I'll definitely return to.

John of the Cross 'accepts the fact that there is a draining and crucifying conflict at the centre of Christian living and refuses to countenance any joy or celebration which has not faced this conflict and endured it.' (p.180)

[James Wheeler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic introduction to the history of spirituality and some of the great figures that have shaped the Christian traditions. I enjoyed how W. explores the deep motivations and desires of the people he presents. I will try to post a couple of quotes later.

[Timothy Hoiland · Rating 5 out of 5]

"When, in 401, Augustine of Hippo—bishop, celebrated theologian and controversialist, preacher, ascetic, spiritual director—published his Confessions, he was not indulging in a taste for literary self-congratulation or self-advertisement. As Peter Brown has emphasized . . . this was a new kind of book. It was a work in which the writer’s struggles were worked out on the written page, in which a meaningful life had to be created in words. Augustine is never merely remembering; he is searching for significant patterns, making a biography. Again and again, the questions recur. Why was this so? Where is the hand of God in this or that experience? And yet the question repeatedly modulates into a different key; not, Where was God? but, Where was I?"

[Brad Dell · Rating 4 out of 5]

At times lyrical and striking, other times a slog to push through the academic language (ironic considering the book’s theme). But what a book. It challenges many of my inclinations toward knowledge-based faith, and assures me in leaning into the embrace of mystery. I wish I read this years ago when I feared the consequences of being wrong in head knowledge more than being astray spiritually.

[Tom Greentree · Rating 4 out of 5]

A rapid tour through Christian spirituality from St Paul to St John of the Cross, focusing on the centrality is the cross of Christ and the necessary suffering inherent within true Christian maturation.

[Trey Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Painful, corrective, illuminating, engulfingly dark soul guidance. Wish I’d read this 15 years ago but glad I have now — and quite sure I’ll return to it in the future. I think Rowan Williams is a spiritual master.

[Ella · Rating 3 out of 5]

The final chapter of this is really lovely, and my main problem here can probably largely be attributed to this being written in the 70s by an Oxbridge-educated male theologian. That problem? Not enough women. Needs more beguines.

[Nick Jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant book albeit very dense. You've got to love that he was 29 when this classic was published. I'm certain I should reread it some day if I want to digest more of what is here.

[Tessa Powell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my lenten read for 2026 and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I found it fresh, imaginative and at times arresting in its claims. I am very glad I didn't have to diagram any sentences in it, however.

[Matt Ely · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5, rounded up for the possibility of partial re-reads.

This is a unique history of the Christian religion. Williams focuses in on the spiritual questions and struggles that were prominent from the religion's founding to the Counter-Reformation. He does this through the lens of the most famous theologians in each era, teasing out how they relate to their predecessors and what they added to the conversation.

It's a good overview and in certainly helped me see connections I wouldn't have seen otherwise. The issue is that he very much jumps straight into the deep end. It's a dense read (not a problem, just a note) and it took me until the section on Origen to really get a feel for what he was trying to accomplish. Ultimately I think the book might be best used as reference material, summaries on important thinkers and directions for further reading. As a single volume read straight through, it's a bit unwieldy.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book provides just what it promises - a history of Christian spirituality from Paul on through over 1500 years to St. John of the Cross. Included in this overview are all sorts of greats: Gregory of Nyssa, Origen, Augustine, Aquinas, Luther. Don't let "overview" fool you though, this is not necessarily an easy read. That is not to say it is too difficult either, it is just that if you see "spirituality" and think simplistic, this is not. It is more spiritual theology. Anyway, Williams is a fantastic writer and has a good grasp on all the people he writes about. For those interested in Christian classics, the sort of spiritual books that have stood the test of time, check this one out.

[Robert Heckner · Rating 5 out of 5]

2020 reread review:
This is a magnificent study of Christian Spirituality in its deep paradoxes and struggles from the New Testament to the work of Saint John of the Cross. Williams is an excellent communicator and erudite theological interpreter, commentator, and thinker. I had forgot how formative to my own spiritual life and interest and attitude in/ to theology this book has been and continues to be.
Furthermore, having recently finished Williams’ “Anglican Identities” before this reread, I am struck with a sense that there is a way in which the two works can be read a somewhat coherent whole leading the reader through Christian spirituality from the New Testament into its particularly Anglican incarnation in the modern era.

[Kate Davis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read for Theology of Spiritual Formation with Chelle Stearns

Informative of progression of theology through the early church, but written densely. Great for information, not for pleasure.

(Personally: see my AnnBib on it)

[Adam Shaeffer · Rating 5 out of 5]

An insightful discussion of the first 1600 years of Christian spirituality. Williams draws out the continuities and changes between traditions and eras very well. A must read for the scholar of Christian spirituality today.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Welby is a good replacement, but Williams had a brain like few others on this earth.

[Jon Beadle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book. It took me a while given that I am not as familiar with the source material alluded to in nearly every sentence. But worth a read!

[Ephrem Arcement · Rating 5 out of 5]

The strength of Williams's book is the clarity by which he expresses the flow of the spiritual movements through Christian history. He weaves a seamless tapestry of this rich and varied tradition.

[Marc Schneider · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every English-speaking Christian should read this book.

[Don]

From William.