Christian Mystics: 108 Seers, Saints, and Sages

by Carl McColman

This clear and informative book provides readers with a crash course on how the seers, saints, and sages of the Christian tradition have pursued and attained enlightenment. This is a user-friendly and potentially life-changing introduction to the wisdom teachings of over 108 of the greatest mystics in the Western tradition. Its premise is that we all need teachers and companions to assist us in developing rich interior lives. It celebrates the universal power and wisdom of the teachings of the mystics, highlighting the ways in which their words can help anyone find greater love, purpose, and a deeper sense of God's presence.
McColman organizes the mystics into nine visionaries, confessors, lovers, poets, saints, heretics, wisdom keepers, soul-friends, and unitives. He covers a wide range of Christian mystics including Howard Thurman, Hildegard of Bingen, Julian of Norwich, Gregory of Palamus, and C.S. Lewis.
This informative volume will appeal to those who buy religious reference books and those interested in spirituality.

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

288 pages, Paperback

Published October 1, 2016

About the author

Carl McColman writes about the spiritual life, covering topics like mysticism (The Big Book of Christian Mysticism), contemplative prayer (Answering the Contemplative Call), monastic spirituality (Befriending Silence), Celtic traditions (An Invitation to Celtic Wisdom), Paganism (The Complete Idiot's Guide to Paganism), and Wicca (When Someone You Love is Wiccan).

He is also a blogger (www.patheos.com/blogs/carlmccolman) and podcaster(www.encounteringsilence.com) .

Why did Carl McColman, a Catholic author, write books about Paganism? Read the answer here: www.patheos.com/blogs/carlmccolman/20...

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great quick and dirty biographical survey and it gave me some good ideas for future reading. I appreciated how accessible it all was.

[AJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good overview of Christian mystics. I have a problem though with the title of one group , ‘Heretics’. To the neophyte or non discerning reader, it might be the case that the term is taken literally as it applies to the 12 mystics in this section and that would be misleading. McColman sees them as controversial and rabble-rousers; perhaps a better title would have been ‘The Rebels’. All in all, though, a good selection and introduction that should lead interested readers into a deeper study on the the topic.

[Jose · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
― Howard Thurman

The best part of the book are the short introductions to every chapter. The body of the books is a relevant list of mystics but not in chronological order. Instead, the book is divided in sections according to the predominant type of mysticism that the author adscribes to each mystic : Lovers, poets, saints, heretics ... Obviously there is a lot of overlap. He does give a brief introduction to each mystic and refers to further reading. In that sense, this book is a good starter to find your way around the corpus of christian mystic literature and look further on your own.

I found the brief bios a bit repetitive and with little meat. Very few made me jump and say "Oh, I need to check this out" or "This guy/gal seems like something I could relate to". Of course the author cannot go in depth on each mystic but I'd have appreciated more salient biographical notes or anecdotes. It is interesting that mystics, for example, emphasize that God is love or that silence is a requirement to contemplation . But once you've stablished that, I don't think it is necessary to add these ideas on every chapter unless they are the most defining characteristic of a particular mystic. I have read, St John the Evangelist, St Paul, St Augustine , St John of the Cross (awesome) , St Teresa of Avila, St Therese of Lisieux and C.S. Lewis (all mentioned in the book) and I find , for example, that Teresa of Avila is a much more grounded individual than Lisieux who sounds downright psychopathic and arrested in her mental development, frankly.

I hardly think that the author could express a dislike like I do here. But to expand on the two saints : St Teresa wrote her experiences because she was ordered to do so, she much preferred focusing on rolling up her sleeves, skirting the Inquisition and do her daily work and fulfill her mission, visions be damned one could say -of course not but you know what I mean. Therese of Lisieux's childlike approach could be seen as a virtue by some, not me. The difference between them is stark but you wouldn't know it from the biographical note in this book. Yes, he gets to the gist of it but not distinctly enough. And I'm afraid that spreads throughout a large number of the bios, no differentiation in a book that claims that they were all very different.

That said, I was intrigued by a few of his listings. Kenneth Leach for example. Or Bernard Lonergan. Or Donahue's "Ana Caram". Or Howard Thurman -definitely I need to read this man. But also ancient texts like Pseudo-Dyonisios or The Cloud of Unknowing. These are all going on my reading pile.


I did learn some things.

1) Mystics are not all saints and all saints are not mystics. Mysticism is about connectedness with God's love, sainthood is about virtue. Obviously there's a strong overlap but not necessarily in all aspects. Some mystics had misoginy, slaves, alcoholism, promoted causes we would see today as ill-informed and were very much victims of their own time prejudices. Saints tried for an ever more perfect obedience to God's laws.

2) Women and men mystic parity seems unquestionable. It is fascinating to observe the number of women that even in the Middle Ages were able to be regarded as "worthy" of God's attention by the Church itself or by society at large.

3) Being a mystic does take many shapes, not just visions and stigmata. In fact, those miraculous phenomena are the least important aspects of mysticism and generally suspect even by the mystics themselves. In most cases, visions were regarded as a temptation by the devil if they were not properly vouchsafed. A mystic can express her/his calling and communion with the divine in an infinite amount of forms, poetry, abandonment of material desires, joy, daily everyday routine, working with the poor and destitute (especially working for the poor and destitute) etc..
Visions and miracles are NOT the hallmark of a mystic.

4) Some schools of thought imply we can all be mystics in the sense that we have the potential to channel the divine.

5) Even though the book focuses on Christian mysticism, some mystics aim at a certain universalism. Some of them feel that other traditions are part of the same impulse, even with methods and discipline that could be used with great profit. Many mystics embraced Eastern traditions completely.
Others joined movements for social justice and advocated leaving the ivory towers of academia. Total detachment is not the goal of Christian mystics, many of them return to the material everyday world after deprivation and ecstasy but with a completely changed perspective. Christianity offers the love of God as reward.

[Collin Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good introduction to many mystics with just a a few paragraphs describing each. Good jumping off point for further reading.

My only small gripe would be that a few times I felt the author showed that he may be more interested in experience with God than the truth of the Bible, but in a way that also came off as a little out of touch with the current state of Christian Apologetics. One instance in particular he writes, "Few Christians today believe literally in Adam and Eve or Noah's flood, yet those stories continue to inspire people with the spiritual truths encoded within them." I think this is simply false. The average Christian I would guess does believe in a literal Adam and Eve, but as far as I can tell so do most major Christian Apologists today, even if they don't hold to a young earth time scale. For example, arguably the most prominent Christian apologist of this generation, William Lane Craig, holds to a historical Adam. I think the author may just be out of touch in this area. More concerning is directly after this statement he says, "Likewise, the gospels proclaim stories about Jesus." The "likewise" and the repeated use of “stories” here leaves me wondering if he would put the historical Jesus in the same category that he puts the historical Adam in, one in which the real value is in “spiritual truths” rather than historical truths. I know my small gripe is 10 times longer than the rest of my review, but I had to mention it. It is still only a few comments, and the main point of the book, introducing you to Christian mystics, is done very well.

[Griffin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good introduction to a chunk of Christian mystics, across denominations. The author mentions it as "speed-dating" the mystics and it's true, he gives you just a sample of 108 mystics and a recommended reading after each one so that you can pick your favorites from his descriptions and continue your journey from there. Good resource book

[Jane Comer · Rating 5 out of 5]

McColman includes short biographies of 108 mystics. He also includes a book title written by each one. This way one can find a mystic of interest and then reads further how the mystic chracterized his/her mystical experience and its effect.

[Walkeo · Rating 4 out of 5]

As promised, a brief introduction to 108 Christian mystics. You can tell which ones the author favors, but the references written by or about each mystic keep things fairly equitable. The bite-sized biographies made it a great book to pick up and put down between other readings.

[Stephen P · Rating 5 out of 5]

Walk with the wise

An approachable introduction to the hearts and minds of men and women of faith. You will meet 108 new acquaintances and some will draw you into deep friendship as you dig deeper into their works. An encouraging invitation to discover more of the mystery of Christian faith.

[Anna]

Review forthcoming in Publishers Weekly. A biographical reference / study guide to 108 Christian mystics from Europe, the U.S., and the Middle East throughout Christian history to the present day. Short biographical entries organized under nine thematic headings ("visionaries," "poets") provide a teaser of sorts regarding the mystic's life and a title for suggested further reading. It is a bit difficult to identify the target audience for this reader, as individual biographies are not quite meaty enough to make for effective discussion or study group reading, yet the entries themselves are not authoritatively bio- or bibliographical enough to make for a full-blown reference work. Potentially useful as introductory matter for a semester-long Sunday school course or similar on mysticism, supplemented by primary sources written by the mystics in question, and other scholarly materials about the individuals.

[Debbie Hoskins · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is really readable and well organized. Mystics are organized into about 6 types: Lovers, Confessors, Poets, Heretics (which I tempted to skip to, but want to find out about all the mystics included), etc. I am reading each word. Of course some of the people I like better than others and am not as interested in and get a little glazed over. They are not all Catholic. There is no longer than a page or 2 for each entry. Very nice quotes from the mystic that gives a taste of their beliefs. There are further reading suggestions, if you want to find out more about a particular mystic.
The author also offers some ideas to try about the style of mysticism that is practiced and presented.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

An introduction to the the Christian Mystics