Crossing Boundaries: Essays on the Ethical Status of Mysticism

by Jeffrey J. Kripal

The contemporary study of religion has witnessed a consistent interest in and concern about the relationship between the unitive, ascetic, and ecstatic tendencies of mystical traditions and the more mundane but ethically pressing realms of society, custom, and civilized life. Crossing Boundaries explores these issues anew in a series of original essays on the mystical traditions themselves (from Kabbalah to Chinese religion) and on some of the most pressing theoretical issues and theorists (from Bergson to Schuon) of the twentieth-century study of religion.

Genres: Philosophy, Mysticism

352 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2001

About the author

Jeffrey J. Kripal, Ph.D. (History of Religions, The University of Chicago, 1993; M.A., U. Chicago; B.A., Religion, Conception Seminary College, 1985), holds the J. Newton Rayzor Chair in Philosophy and Religious Thought at Rice University, where he serves as Associate Dean of Humanities, Faculty and Graduate Studies. He also has served as Associate Director of the Center for Theory and Research of the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California.