The Way to Christ, Described in the Following Treatises: Of True Repentance, Of True Resignation, Of Regeneration, Of The Super-Sensual Life

The Classics of Western Spirituality

by Jakob Böhme

Jakob Boehme (1575 -1624) was a German Christian mystic and theologian. The chief concern of Boehme's writing was the nature of sin, evil and redemption. Consistent with Lutheran theology, Boehme preached that humanity had fallen from a state of divine grace to a state of sin and suffering, that the forces of evil included fallen angels who had rebelled against God, and that God's goal was to restore the world to a state of grace. There are some serious departures from accepted Lutheran theology, however, such as his rejection of sola fide, as in this passage from The Way to Christ: "For he that will say, I have a Will, and would willingly do Good, but the earthly Flesh which I carry about me, keepeth me back, so that I cannot; yet I shall be saved by Grace, for the Merits of Christ. I comfort myself with his Merit and Sufferings; who will receive me of mere Grace, without any Merits of my own, and forgive me my Sins. Such a one, I say, is like a Man that knoweth what Food is good for his Health, yet will not eat of it, but eateth Poison instead thereof, from whence Sickness and Death, will certainly follow." A difficulty with his theology is the fact that he had a mystical vision, which he reinterpreted and reformulated. According to F. von Ingen, to Boehme, in order to reach God, man has to go through hell first. God exists without time or space, he regenerates himself through eternity, so Boehme, who restates the trinity as truly existing but with a novel interpretation. God, the Father is fire, who gives birth to his son, whom Boehme calls light. The Holy Spirit is the living principle, or the divine life.

Genres: Christianity, Religion, Philosophy, Spirituality, Theology, Mysticism

166 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1624

About the author

Jakob Böhme (probably April 24, 1575[1] – November 17, 1624) was a German Christian mystic and theologian. He is considered an original thinker within the Lutheran tradition, and his first book, commonly known as Aurora, caused a great scandal. In contemporary English, his name may be spelled Jacob Boehme; in seventeenth-century England it was also spelled Behmen, approximating the contemporary English pronunciation of the German Böhme.

Reviews

[Timár_Krisztina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Böhmét olvasni rendkívül nehéz. Ha költészetnek tekinti az ember (lehet, hiszen gyönyörű), vagy ha eleve abból indul ki, hogy itt most egy felsőbbrendű igazságban fog részesülni, akkor boldoggá fogja tenni az olvasás. (Jó eséllyel ilyenek voltak azok a korabeli olvasók, akik körében akkora sikereket aratott, hogy még megvédelmezni is hajlandók voltak, miközben a saját egyháza kitagadta. Még mecénásokat is talált közöttük.) Én sajnos hívő emberként sem vagyok ehhez elég egzaltált, főleg, hogy nem is a saját felekezetemről van szó. Amikor látni és érteni akarom a másikat, akkor is a racionalitás működik bennem: tudni akarom, mit állítunk és miről. Nos, most már nemcsak azt mondhatom, hogy kezdem felfogni, Böhme mit állít miről, hanem azt is saját tapasztalatból mondhatom, hogy érdemes megdolgozni érte.

Írásom a blogon:
https://gyujtogeto-alkoto.blog.hu/202...

[Elizabeth Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

I waded through this tome because Cynthia Bourgeault leans heavily on Boehme to help her tie the Law of Three to Christian theology. Boehme has a creation theory that tackles not just how the world came to be but also how God birthed Godself in and through creation. Pretty wild. I can't say I understand half of it, but the bit I do understand has profoundly shaped how I think about transformation and humanity's participation in creation's ongoing evolution.

[Harrison King · Rating 5 out of 5]

A dense and complicated work, but with beautiful ideas. A great addition to the line of mystical thinking that dates back to Plato. The alchemical cosmology is hard to follow without a guidebook or prior knowledge, but the meat of his ideas in the middle of the book were fantastic and easy to follow. The importance of silence, contemplation, meditation, letting go of the Ego and self-will could have all come straight from Buddhist or other Eastern traditions, but Boehme brings a Western Lutheran perspective that looks at the same ideas from a different angle.

[Bruno Pimenta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Be afraid... be very afraid!

[Kelly Head · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pretty much indistinguishable from psycho-babble, which explains his influence on German Idealism. I definitely agree with Samuel Johnston about Böhme: "If Jacob saw in his vision 'unutterable things,' he wanted the good sense of the apostle, or he would not have attempted to utter them."

[Margaret Gray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don't get it, don't think there's just one thing to get, inherited Wolfson's distaste. I mean how insane is it to appropriate sacred Kabbalistic ideas and then say that they can't actually be understood without considering Christ. I will always remember Wolfson saying "you have to appreciate he's trying to do something here. He isn't succeeding, but he's trying"

[Edvard Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book by one probably the greatest German mystic.

[myron campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book every single day!!! This book has laid the foundation for my spiritual life.

[Dionysius the Areopagite · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wondrous.

[Kyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this rich and edifying.