Book Notices

BOOK NOTICES

Henk Rutten, the librarian and information manager of the Titus Brandsma Insti- tute, lists about sixty titles with short descriptions. The intention of these book notices is to draw attention to new spirituality books that could be of interest to readers of Studies in Spirituality. They are not meant to be comprehensive and in- depth book reviews. Alam, Sarwar (Ed.), Cultural Fusion of Sufi Islam. Alternative Paths to Mystical Faith, London; New York, NY: Routledge, 2019 (Routledge Studies in Religion), XIII, 255 pages, ISBN: 9781138615038. It has been argued that the mystical Sufi form of Islam is the most sensitive to other cultures, being accommodative to other traditions and generally tolerant to peoples of other faiths. It readily becomes integrated into local cultures and they are similarly often infused into Sufism. Examples of this reciprocity are commonly reflected in Sufi poetry, music, hagiographic genres, memoires, and in the ritualistic practices of Sufi traditions. This volume shows how this often-side-lined tradition functions in the societies in which it is found, and demonstrates how it relates to mainstream Islam. The focus of this book ranges from reflecting Sufi themes in the Qur’anic cal- ligraphy to movies, from ideals to everyday practices, from legends to actual history, from gender segregation to gender transgression, and from legalism to spiritualism. Consequently, the international panel of contributors to this volume are trained in a range of disciplines that include religious studies, history, comparative literature, anthropology, and ethnography. Covering Southeast Asia to West Africa as well as South Asia and the West, they address both historical and contemporary issues, shed- ding light on Sufism’s adaptability. This book sets aside conventional methods of understanding Islam, such as theological, juridical, and philosophical, in favour of analysing its cultural impact. Sarwar Alam is visiting assistant professor at the King Fahd Center for Middle East Studies of the University of Arkansas, USA. Alvis, Robert E., A Science of the Saints. Studies in Spiritual Direction, Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2020, 240 pages, ISBN: 9780814688045; 9780814688298. Throughout the church’s long history, Christians have sought out wise mentors to guide them on the journey toward God. This book explores the dynamics of spiritual direction as revealed in the lives and writings of a wide array of exemplary disciples, from the Desert Fathers and Mothers to Thomas Merton, and from St. Teresa of Avila to St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein). This work sheds new light on an essential dimension of the Christian experience, yielding timeless wisdom to inform the practice of spiritual direction in our own day. 270 book notices

Robert E. Alvis is professor of church history and academic dean at Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology.

Angelici, Ruben, Semiotic Theory and Sacramentality in Hugh of Saint Victor, London; New York, NY: Routledge, 2019 (Contemporary Theological Explorations in Mysti- cism), XVIII, 246 pages, ISBN: 9781351106337; 9781351106306; 9781351106320; 9781351106313. This book offers Hugh of Saint Victor’s early scholastic thoughts on sacrament in order to re-discover the pre-modern theological understanding of ontological signification. The Christian understanding of sacrament through the category of ‘signs’ results in a theology that inherently shares in the philosophical notion of semiotics. Yet, through the advent of post-structuralism, current sign-theory is effectively shaped by post-Kan- tian, ontological foundations. This can lead to misinterpretations of the sacramental theology that predates this intellectual turn. The book works within a context of Chris- tological, realist mysticism. Such an approach allows mutually informing debates in semiotic development and studies on sacramental theology to sit side-by-side. In addition, as a work of ressourcement, influenced by the methodology and concerns of the historical, French Ressourcement, this study seeks to continue an engagement with some of the most promising sacramental positions that have emerged throughout twentieth-century theology, particularly with the revival of interest in Victorine theology. By providing an examination of sacramentality and theories of signification in the early scholastic theology of Hugh of Saint Victor, this book gives fresh impetus to the theology surrounding sacrament.

Arblaster, John, & Rob Faesen (Eds.), Mystical Doctrines of Deification. Case Studies in the Christian Tradition, London; New York, NY: Routledge, 2019 (Contemporary Theological Explorations in Christian Mysticism), 192 pages, ISBN: 9780815393245; 9781351189118. The notion of the deification of the human person (theosis, theopoièsis, deificatio) was one of the most fundamental themes of Christian theology in its first centuries, especially in the Greek world. It is often assumed that this theme was exclusively developed in Eastern theology after the patristic period, and thus its presence in the theology of the Latin West is generally overlooked. The aim of this collection is to explore some Patristic articulations of the doctrine in both the East and West, but also to highlight its enduring presence in the Western tradition and its relevance for contemporary thought. The collection thus brings together a number of capita selecta that focus on the development of theosis through the ages until the Early Modern Period. It is unique, not only in emphasising the role of theosis in the West, but also in bringing to the fore a number of little-known authors and texts, and analysing their theology from a variety of fresh perspectives. Thus, mystical theology in the West is shown to have profound connections with similar concerns in the East and with the common patristic sources. By tying these traditions together, this volume brings new insight to one of mysticism’s key concerns. John Arblaster is a postdoctoral researcher at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, KU Leuven and the Ruusbroec Institute, University of Antwerp. Rob Faesen book notices 271

S.J. is professor of the history of spirituality and mysticism at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, KU Leuven, the Ruusbroec Institute, University of Antwerp, and the School of Catholic Theology, Tilburg University.

Astell, Ann W., Saving Fear in Christian Spirituality, Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2019, XII, 419 pages, ISBN: 9780268106218; 9780268106249. Hailed in Sacred Scripture as the ‘beginning of wisdom’ (Ps 111:10), the ‘fear of the Lord’ is seldom mentioned and little understood today. A gift of the Spirit and a moral virtue or disposition, the ‘fear of the Lord’ also frequently entails emotional experiences of differing kinds: compunction, dread, reverence, wonderment, and awe. Starting with the Bible itself, this collection of seventeen essays explores the place of holy fear in Christian spirituality from the early church to the present and argues that this fear is paradoxically linked in various ways to fear’s seeming opposite, love. Indeed, the charged dynamic of love and fear accounts for different experiences and expressions of Christian life in response to changing historical circumstances and events. The writings of the theologians, mystics, philosophers, saints, and artists studied here reveal the relationship between the fear and the love of God to be profoundly challenging and mys- terious, its elements paradoxically conjoined in a creative tension with each other, but also tending to oscillate back-and-forth in the history of Christian spirituality as first one, then the other, comes to the fore, sometimes to correct a perceived imbalance, sometimes at the risk of losing its companion altogether. Given this historical pattern, clearly evident in these chronologically arranged essays, the palpable absence of a discourse of holy fear from the mainstream theological landscape should give us pause and invite us to consider if and how - under what aspect, in which contexts – a holy fear, inseparable from love, might be regained or discovered anew within Christian spirituality as a remedy both for a crippling anxiety and for a presumptive recklessness.

Bhreathnach, Edel, Magorzata Krasnodebska-D’Aughton, & Keith Smith (Eds.), Monas- tic Europe. Medieval Communities, Landscapes, and Settlement, Turnhout: Brepols Publish- ers, 2019 (Medieval Monastic Studies; 4), XX, 553 pages, ISBN: 9782503569796. Monasticism became part of Europe from the early period of Christianity on the con- tinent and developed into a powerful institution that had an effect on the greater church, on wider society, and on the landscape. Monastic communities were as diverse as the societies in which they lived, following a variety of rules, building monasteries influenced by common ideals and yet diverse in their regionalism, and contributing to the economic and spiritual well-being inside and outside their precincts. This interdisciplinary volume presents the diversity of medieval European monasticism with a particular emphasis on its impact on the immediate environs. Geographically it extends from the far west in Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, to the east in Romania and the Balkans, through the north of Scandinavia to the south of the Iberian Peninsula. Draw- ing on archaeological, art and architectural, textual and topographical evidence, the contributors explore how monastic communities were formed, how they created a landscape of monasticism, how they wove their identities with those around them, and how they interacted with all levels of society to leave a lasting imprint on European towns and rural landscapes. 272 book notices

Bitton-Ashkelony, Brouria (Ed.), The Ladder of Prayer and the Ship of Stirrings. The Praying Self in Late Antique East Syrian Christianity, Leuven: Peeters, 2019 (Late Antique History and Religion; 22), XII, 270 pages, ISBN: 9789042939189. Doubts about sacrifices, prayers, fate, and providence in the second- to fifth-century Mediterranean world produced new concepts of individual prayer for Christians and non-Christians alike. This book explores the discourse on the praying self as an ascetic way of life, as an aspect of interiority, and as a path to the divine in Late Antique East- ern Christianity. It deals with the transposition of Greek ascetic literature – mainly the writings of Evagrius Ponticus, Abba Isaiah, Mark the Monk, and the Apophthegmata patrum – into East Syrian thought, and its assimilation with indigenous features. Spe- cifically, the book probes the emergence of different sorts of prayer as a pivotal part of the profound religious shifts and cultural developments that unfolded in Late Antique Eastern Christianities. The chronological scope of this study ranges from the second- to fifth-century cultural world of sophists and philosophers, Iamblicus, Porphyry and Pro- clus, up to the East Syrian mystical authors in the fifth-eighth centuries, among them John of Apamea, Isaac of Nineveh, Dadisho’ Qatraya, Shem’on d-Taybutheh, John of Dalyatha, and Joseph Hazzaya. The book presents how these figures incorporated this literary legacy into their teachings and melded it with indigenous Syriac spirituality.

Borsche, Tilman, & Harald Schwaetzer (Eds.), Bilder Beweglich Denken. Akten Des Symposions Zu Ehren Von Kazuhiko Yamaki [Thinking Images Flexibly. Proceedings of the Symposium in Honor of Kazuhiko Yamaki], Münster: Aschendorff, 2019 (Texte Und Studien Zur Europäischen Geistesgeschichte – Reihe B; 21), 215 pages, ISBN: 9783402160152. The second of the ten Mosaic commandments demands that you do not make any image or likeness. But we have to make pictures by thinking. Human thinking lives from images, it moves in images, and these develop their own lives. How can that commandment and this necessity be combined? How can a contemporary order be brought into this flood of images without permanently fixing them and thus killing living thinking? These are the questions that summarize Nicholas of Cusa’s (1401- 1464) creative life’s work. Philosophers and theologians, historians and image scien- tists met in November 2017 in the house where Cusanus was born on the banks of the Moselle in Kues to bring these questions up to date with the latest research. The topics range from detailed image readings of relevant works of art from West and East to logic, scope and limits of conceptual thinking, basic features of a mythology of reason, the elliptical dis-centralization of ego-centric thinking as well as the role of imagination for cognition to an appreciation of the memorable images from the world of life in the work of Cusanus and to his new draft of an image of man in the spirit of the Renaissance in the mirror of the image of God that stays hidden. The occasion of this collection of innovative Cusanus studies was the 70th birthday of the Japanese colleague and eminent Cusanus researcher Kazuhiko Yamaki. Yamaki is Professor em. for philosophy at Waseda University Tokyo. His research focus lies in the European philosophy of the Middle Ages, but his special love and attention belong to the philosopher Nicholas of Cusa and his imagery, who Yamaki always questions about their significance for today. book notices 273

Di Giovine, Michael A., & Jaeyeon Choe (Eds.), Pilgrimage Beyond the Officially Sacred. Understanding the Geographies of Religion and Spirituality in Sacred Travel, London; New York, NY: Routledge, 2020, X, 196 pages, ISBN: 9780367441197. This work examines the many ways in which pilgrimage engages with sacredness, delving beyond the officially recognized, and often religiously conceived, pilgrimage sites. As scholarship examining the lived experiences of pilgrims and tourists has demon- strated, pilgrimage need not be religious in nature, nor be officially sanctioned; rather, they can be ‘hyper-meaningful’ voyages, set apart from the everyday profane life – in a word, they are sacred. Separating the social category of ‘religion’ from the ‘sacred’, this volume brings together a multidisciplinary group of scholars employing perspectives from anthropology, geography, sociology, religious studies, theology, and interdisciplinary tourism studies to theorize sacredness, its variability, and the ways in which it is officially recognized or condemned by power brokers. Rich in case studies from sacred centers throughout the world, the contributions pay close attention to the ways in which pilgrims, central authorities, site managers, locals, and other stakeholders on the ground appropriate, negotiate, shape, contest, or circumvent the powerful forces of the sacred. Delving ‘beyond the officially sacred’, this collective examination of pilgrimages – both well-established and new, religious and secular, authorized and not – presents a compelling look at the interplay of secular powers and the transcendent forces of the sacred at these hyper-meaningful sites.

Edwards, Jonathan, Kyle Strobel, Adriaan Cornelis Neele, & Kenneth P. Minkema, Jonathan Edwards. Spiritual Writings, Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2020 (The Classics of Western Spirituality), XV, 440 pages, ISBN: 9780809106349. Drawing primarily from sermons, letters, and notes, this volume showcases Puritan theologian and pastor Jonathan Edward’s spiritual theology. Interest in Puritan theologian Jonathan Edwards has increased markedly over the last several decades. As more and more people become interested in Edwards as a theologian, exegete, and even political theorist, there is a major lacuna in both the primary and secondary literature. Edwards’s spirituality, a central facet of his life and work, remains unexplored. This volume addresses this neglect by compiling material from across Edwards’s corpus that outlines the breadth of his spiritual thought. Drawing primarily from sermons, letters, and notes, this volume showcases Edwards’s spiritual theology. In addition to works with which those interested in Edwards will be familiar, such as an excerpt from A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections, the book includes several key texts that are either out of print or as yet unpublished. The result is the first primary-source reader of Edwards’s work to focus on his spirituality.

Egan, Harvey D., & Joseph H. Wong, The Christology and Mystical Theology of Karl Rahner, New York, NY: Herder & Herder, 2020, 184 pages, ISBN: 9780824598082. This book delineates what Rahner means by the mysticism of daily life, the mysticism of the masses, the mysticism of the classical masters, the difference between infused and awakened contemplation, the relation of mysticism to Christian perfection, and Rahner’s controversial view that the mystical life does not require a special grace. It explores how Rahner embraces the person of Jesus Christ – whom Rahner sees 274 book notices as Christianity’s center – both with his acute theological mind but also with his Jesuit heart. The book also looks at Rahner’s view of Jesus as the absolute savior, his ascend- ing and descending Christology, his creative re-interpretation of Christ’s death and resurrection, his ‘seeking Christology’, and his controversial ‘anonymous Christian’ theory. Finally, it emphasizes the influence of St. Ignatius of Loyola on Rahner’s thinking. Ignatius’s Spiritual Exercises, especially their emphasis on God working immediately with the person, its Christology, and the rules for the discernment of spirits plays a key role in Rahner’s overall theological view. Few Catholic theologians have taken Christian saints and mystics as theological sources as seriously as Rahner has. Harvey D. Egan, S.J., D.Theol., is a leading expert on Christian mysticism and the thought of Karl Rahner. Joseph H. Wong, OSB Cam, is a Benedictine monk of the Camaldolese Congregation.

Evans, C. Stephen, Kierkegaard and Spirituality. Accountability as the Meaning of Human Existence, Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2019 (Kierke gaard as a Christian Thinker Series), 224 pages, ISBN: 9781467456654; 9781467456647; 9780802872869. The author reminds us that while Kierkegaard is a distinct Christian thinker, anyone interested in spirituality broadly understood has something to gain from one of the great masters of the human spirit. This book demonstrates that Kierkegaard’s psychology and theology cannot be separated and that if you are interested in one, you must confront the other. We live spiritually when we live in the presence of God. The Dan- ish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard is often read for his contributions to Christian theology, but he also has much to offer about spirituality – both Christian and more generally human. The author assesses Kierkegaard’s belief that true spirituality should be seen as accountability: the grateful recognition of our existence as gift. Spirituality takes on a Christian flavor when one recognizes in Jesus Christ the human incarnation of the God who gives us being. The Kierkegaard and Christian Thought series, coedited by C. Stephen Evans and Paul Martens, aims to promote an enriched understanding of nineteenth-century philosopher-theologian Søren Kierkegaard in relation to other key figures in theology and key theological concepts. C. Stephen Evans is professor of philosophy and humanities at Baylor University and director of the Baylor Center for Christian Philosophy.

Fagerberg, David W., Liturgical Mysticism, Steubenville, OH: Emmaus Academic, 2019, XXI, 171 pages, ISBN: 9781949013672; 9781949013689. Some think that liturgy is formal, public, and for ordinary people, while mysticism is uncontrollable, private, and for extraordinary saints. Is there a connection between the two? In this volume, the author proposes that mysticism is the normal crowning of the Christian life, and the Christian life is liturgical. We intuitively sense that liturgy and theology and mysticism have an affinity. Liturgical theology should reveal liturgy’s mystical heart. Liturgical theology asks ‘What happens in liturgy?’ and liturgical mysticism asks ‘What happens to us in liturgy?’, and perfects our interior liturgy. In this book, the author directs the reader to look fixedly at Christ, who book notices 275 is the Mystery present in liturgy, and who bestows his resurrection power upon his adopted children. David W. Fagerberg is professor in the Department of Theology at the University of Notre Dame.

Feiss, Hugh (Ed.), On the Sacraments. A Selection of Works of Hugh and Richard of St. Victor, and of Peter of Poitiers, Turnhout: Brepols Publisher, 2020 (Victorine Texts in Translation. Exegesis, Theology and Spirituality from the Abbey of St. Victor; 10), 656 pages, ISBN: 9782503579443. This work contains Victorine texts on the Sacraments, especially marriage and confes- sion. The Canons Regular of St. Victor were important contributors to the theology of the sacraments in the twelfth century. This volume introduces and translates much of Hugh’s treatment on the Christian Sacraments, as contained in De sacramentis 1.9 and 2.5-9, 11-12 and 14, as well as his treatise on the Virginity of the Blessed Virgin, two treatises on penance by Richard of St. Victor, and the penitential of Peter of Poitiers. The historical introductions and annotated translations make this volume suitable for courses on the development of the theology of the sacraments through the twelfth century. Hugh Feiss, OSB, a monk of the Monastery of the Ascension (Jerome, ID) is the managing editor of the series Victorine Texts in Translation.

Firestone, Steve, Biblical Principles of Crisis Leadership. The Role of Spirituality in Organizational Response, Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020 (Christian Faith Perspec- tives in Leadership and Business Series), IX, 125 pages, ISBN: 9783030449551; 9783030449544. This book explores how spirituality can improve an organization’s ability to respond to a crisis. It presents biblical examples of leading during a crisis to show how faith can be relied upon to lead during crisis situations. Further, it presents examples of leaders using their faith during trying times. In recent years, organizations have begun to pre- pare for crises, but scholarly research has not kept up with their efforts. Exploring topics such as communication, servant leadership, and resilience, this work stakes new ground in leadership theory and will foster future research into the role of spirituality during organizational crisis. Steve Firestone is associate professor in the School of Business and Leadership and is the Director of the Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership Program at Regent University, USA.

Gilbert, Jess, & Sergey Trostyanskiy (Eds.), The Mystical Tradition of the Eastern Church. Studies in Patristics, Liturgy, and Practice, Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2019 (Gorgias Eastern Christian Studies; 56), 276 pages, ISBN: 9781463240615; 9781463240608. This volume presents the work of contemporary Orthodox thinkers who attempt to integrate the theological and the mystical. The chapters treat a wide variety of mysticism, including early Church accounts, patristics (including the seemingly ever-popular subject of deification), liturgy, iconography, spiritual practice, and contemporary efforts to find mystical sense in cyber-technologies and post-humanism. 276 book notices

Gioia, Luigi, Saint Benedict’s Wisdom. Monastic Spirituality and the Life of the Church, Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2020, 232 pages, ISBN: 9780814688083. Monastic spirituality has much to offer Christians who live far beyond monastery walls. In this book, the author demonstrates that monastic spirituality is a gift for the whole Church. Because monastic vows are fundamentally a deep dive into one’s baptismal commitments, monastic experience speaks to all the faithful who wish to do the same within different lifestyles. As an expression of divine wisdom, monasticism offers a way of deeply integrating spirituality with the rest of life, teaching us to seek holiness, not only in prayer, but also through work, sharing of food, sleep, and life in community. This volume shines the light of monasticism on many aspects of contemporary Chris- tian living, including evangelization, leadership, suffering, authentic chastity, the experience of God, reform of structures, and the practice of theology. Luigi Gioia, OSB, is a research associate at the Von Hügel Institute for Critical Catho- lic Inquiry at Cambridge University and a professor of systematic theology at the Pon- tifical University of Sant’Anselmo in Rome.

Gondos, Andrea, Kabbalah in Print. The Study and Popularization of Jewish Mysticism in Early Modernity, Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2020, 256 pages, ISBN: 9781438479712. This volume demonstrates the impact of print culture on the spread of Jewish mysticism, focusing on Kabbalistic study guides by R. Yissakhar Baer of seventeenth-century Prague. How did Jewish mysticism go from arcane knowledge to popular spirituality? This work examines the cultural impact of printing on the popularization, circulation, and transmission of Kabbalah in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. The Zohar, in particular, generated a large secondary literature of study guides and reference works that aimed to ease the linguistic and conceptual chal- lenges of the text. The arrival of printed classics of Kabbalah was soon followed by the appearance of new literary genres – anthologies, digests, lexicons, and other learn- ing aids – that mediated mystical primary sources to a community of readers not versed in this lore. A detailed investigation of the four works by R. Yissakhar Baer (ca.1580-ca.1629) of Prague sheds light on the literary strategies, pedagogic concerns, and religious motivations of secondary elites, a new cadre of authors empowered by the opportunities that printing opened up. Andrea Gondos highlights shifting intellectual and cultural boundaries in the early modern period, when the transmission of Kabbalah became a meeting point connecting various strata of Jewish society as well as Jewish and Christian intellectuals. Andrea Gondos is Emmy Noether postdoctoral fellow at the Institute of Jewish Studies at Free University Berlin, Germany.

Granqvist, Pehr, Attachment in Religion and Spirituality. A Wider View, New York, NY: The Guilford Press, 2020, 424 pages, ISBN: 9781462542680. Synthesizing diverse strands of theory and research, this book explores the psychology of religion and spirituality through an innovative attachment lens. The author examines the connections between early caregiving experiences, attachment patterns, and individual differences in religious cognition, experience, and behavior. The function of a deity as an attachment figure is analyzed, as are ways in which attachment facilitates the book notices 277 intergenerational transmission of religion. The book also shows how the attachment perspective can aid in understanding mystical experiences, connections between religion and mental health, and cultural differences between more and less religious societies. Pehr Granqvist is professor of developmental psychology at Stockholm University, Sweden. In 2018, he was a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley.

Halbertal, Moshe, Nahmanides. Law and Mysticism, New Haven, CT; London: Yale University Press, 2020, 464 pages, ISBN: 9780300140910. This volume is a broad, systematic account of one of the most original and creative kabbalists, biblical interpreters, and Talmudic scholars the Jewish tradition has ever produced. Rabbi Moses b. Nahman (1194-1270), known in English as Nahmanides, was the greatest Talmudic scholar of the thirteenth century and one of the deepest and most original biblical interpreters. Beyond his monumental scholastic achieve- ments, Nahmanides was a distinguished kabbalist and mystic, and in his commentary on the Torah he dispensed esoteric kabbalistic teachings that he termed ‘By Way of Truth’. This account of Nahmanides’s thought explores his conception of halakhah and his approach to the central concerns of medieval Jewish thought, including notions of God, history, revelation, and the reasons for the commandments. The relationship between Nahmanides’s kabbalah and mysticism and the existential religious drive that nourishes them, as well as the legal and exoteric aspects of his thinking, are at the center of the author’s portrayal of Nahmanides as a complex and transformative thinker. Moshe Halbertal is John and Golda Cohen Professor of Jewish Thought and Philoso- phy at Hebrew University and Gruss Professor of Law at NYU Law School.

Hall, Todd W., & M Elizabeth Lewis Hall, Relational Spirituality. A Psychological- Theological Paradigm for Transformation, Downers Grove, IL: INTERVARSITY Press, 2020, 350 pages, ISBN: 9780830851188. As our society becomes more socially fragmented, many Christians feel disconnected and struggle to grow spiritually. Common models of spiritual transformation are prov- ing inadequate to address ‘the sanctification gap’. In recent decades, however, a new paradigm of human and spiritual development has been emerging from multiple fields. It’s supported by a critical mass of evidence, all pointing to what the authors call a relational revolution. In this book, the authors present a definitive model of spiritual transformation based on a relational paradigm. At its heart is the truth that human beings are fundamentally relational – we develop, heal, and grow through relationships. While many sanctification models are fragmented, individualistic, and lack a clear process for change, the relational paradigm paints a coherent picture of both process and goal, supported by both ancient wisdom and cutting-edge research. Integrating insights from psychology and theology, this book lays out the basis for relational spiritual transformation and how it works practically in the context of relationships and community. This volume draws together themes such as trinitarian theology, historical and biblical perspectives on the imago Dei, relational knowledge, attachment patterns, and interper- sonal neurobiology into a broad synthesis that will stimulate further dialogue across a variety of fields. 278 book notices

Harrod, Joseph C., Theology and Spirituality in the Works of Samuel Davies, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2019 (Reformed Historical Theology; 55), 199 pages, ISBN: 9783525573143. From his death in 1761 through the American Civil War, Samuel Davies was a recognized name among American Presbyterians, yet for more than a century he has remained far more obscure in discussions of American religion. During the mid-eighteenth century, New Side Presbyterian evangelist and preacher Samuel Davies was a pioneer for religious toleration in Colonial America, yet to date no single work has examined Davies’ vision for the interior life. Theology and Spirituality in the Works of Samuel Davies is the first monograph-length analysis of Davies’ conception of Christian spirituality. After a decade of pastoral ministry to congregations in Virginia, Davies followed eminent American theologian Jonathan Edwards as the fourth President of the College of New Jersey (Princeton University), a tenure cut short by his early death at age thirty-seven. The author examines various aspects of Davies’ own personal piety as well as the place that Scripture, conversion, holiness, and the means of grace played in his formulation of Christian piety.

Higgins, J. August, & John J. Markey (Eds.), Mysticism and Contemporary Life. Essays in Honor of Bernard Mcginn, Chicago: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 2019 (A Herder & Herder Book), 350 pages, ISBN: 9780824550288. Bernard McGinn is one of the greatest living historians and interpreters of Christian mysticism. His career spans more than 50 years and he has authored innumerable books, articles, and edited volumes on all dimensions of Christian mysticism. These essays by some of the most significant names in the contemporary field of spirituality seek to honor Prof. McGinn by examining the role of mysticism in contemporary life. These fifteen essays examine the fruit of McGinn’s life work to contemplate the ways in which the history of mysticism is relevant to many dimensions of contemporary life. They also address the future of the study of Christian spirituality in general and mysticism in particular by evaluating the place of religious experience and spiritual practice in lives of an increasingly diverse, multi-cultural, and global cultural reality. Taken together these essays paint a picture of the current state of studies in mysticism and spirituality and point to some future trajectories that scholarly research and religious practice should pursue. J. August Higgins is a doctoral candidate in Christian spirituality at the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, Texas. John Markey, OP, is an associate professor of theology and the director of the PhD program in contemporary spirituality at Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, Texas.

Howells, Edward, & Mark A. McIntosh (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Mystical The- ology, Oxford: OUP, 2020 (Oxford Handbooks), 720 pages, ISBN: 9780198722380. This volume provides a guide to the mystical element of Christianity as a theological phenomenon. It differs not only from psychological and anthropological studies of mysticism, but from other theological studies, such as more practical or pastorally-oriented works that examine the patterns of spiritual progress and offer counsel for deeper understanding and spiritual development. It also differs from more explicitly historical studies tracing the theological and philosophical contexts and ideas of various key figures and schools, as well as from literary studies of the linguistic tropes and expressive forms in mystical texts. None book notices 279 of these perspectives is absent, but the method here is more deliberately theological, working from within the fundamental interests of Christian mystical writers to the articula- tion of those interests in distinctively theological forms, in order, finally, to permit a critical theological engagement with them for today. Divided into four parts, the first section introduces the approach to mystical theology and offers a historical overview. Part two attends to the concrete context of sources and practices of mystical theology. Part three moves to the fundamental conceptualities of mystical thought. The final section ends with the central contributions of mystical teaching to theology and metaphysics. Edward Howells is senior lecturer in theology at the University of Roehampton. Mark A. McIntosh is currently the inaugural holder of Loyola University Chicago’s endowed professorship in Christian spirituality.

Huss, Boaz, Mystifying Kabbalah. Academic Scholarship, National Theology, and New Age Spirituality, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020 (Oxford Studies in Western Eso- tericism), 192 pages, ISBN: 9780190086961. This volume studies the evolution of the concept of Jewish mysticism. It examines the major developments in the academic study of Jewish mysticism and its impact on modern Kabbalistic movements in the contexts of Jewish nationalism and New Age spirituality. The author argues that Jewish mysticism is a modern discursive construct and that the identification of Kabbalah and Hasidism as forms of mysticism, which appeared for the first time in the nineteenth century and has become prevalent since the early twentieth, shaped the way in which Kabbalah and Hasidism are perceived and studied today. The notion of Jewish mysticism was established when western scholars accepted the modern idea that mysticism is a universal religious phenomenon of a direct experience of a divine or transcendent reality and applied it to Kabbalah and Hasidism. ‘Jew- ish mysticism’ gradually became the defining category in the modern academic research of these topics. This book clarifies the historical, cultural, and political contexts that led to the identification of Kabbalah and Hasidism as Jewish mysticism, exposing the underlying ideological and theological presuppositions and revealing the impact of this ‘mystification’ on contemporary forms of Kabbalah and Hasidism. Boaz Huss is the Aron Bernstein Professor of Jewish History in the Goldstein-Goren Department of Jewish Thought at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

Idel, Moshe, Vocal Rites and Broken Theologies. Cleaving to Vocables in R. Israel Ba’al Shem Tov’s Mysticism, Chicago: The Crossroad Publishing Company; New York, NY: Herder & Herder, 2019 (Jewish Spiritual Traditions and Contempo), 437 pages, ISBN: 9780824550264; 9780824550257. This book deals with the central practices of the founder of Hasidism, Rabbi Israel Ba’al Shem Tov – known as the Besht – and its sources in the Safedian Kabbalah of Rabbi Moses Corovero. These include the loud pronunciation of the vocables during prayer, study of the Torah, and eventually profane speech, as conducive to some form of union with the divine. Many traditions in his name allow the reconstruction of the specific importance of these vocal rituals, including an architecture of the ‘Hebrew’ sounds. From the historical point of view, Moshe Idel shows that some forms of Greek/Hellenistic magic reached the Muslim culture, and were translated into Hebrew in the thirteenth century, 280 book notices thus enriching Kabbalistic views, especially in Renaissance Kabbalah and in the Safedian Kabbalah of Cordovero and his many followers. They have been adopted in Hasidism by its founder, and were put in relief. Provided the linguistic nature of this practice, it was adapted by popular circles in the mid-eighteenth century, which conjugated it with a variety of theological motifs stemming from different types of theologies, which have been adapted to the vocal practices. This less theological and more ritual linguistic practice is an explanation for the wide adoption of Hasidism by popular circles and its ensuing success.

Kershner, Jon R., Quakers and Mysticism. Comparative and Syncretic Approaches to Spir- ituality, Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2019 (Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Study of Mysticism), XIV, 255 pages, ISBN: 9783030216528; 9783030216535. This book examines the nearly 400-year tradition of Quaker engagements with mystical ideas and sources. It provides a fresh assessment of the way tradition and social context can shape a religious community while interplaying with historical and theological antecedents within the tradition. Quaker concepts such as ‘Meeting,’ the ‘Light,’ and embodied spirituality, have led Friends to develop an interior spirituality that intersects with extra-Quaker sources, such as those found in Jakob Boehme, Abu Bakr ibn Tufayl, the Continental Quietists, Kabbalah, Buddhist thought, and Luyia indigenous religion. Through time and across cultures, these and other conversations have shaped Quaker self-understanding and, so, expanded previous models of how religious ideas take root within a tradition. The thinkers engaged in this globally-focused, interdisciplinary volume include George Fox, James Nayler, Robert Barclay, Elizabeth Ashbridge, John Woolman, Hannah Whitall Smith, Rufus Jones, Inazo Nitobe, Howard Thurman, and Gideon W. H. Mweresa, among others.

Kesel, Marc De, & Inigo Bocken (Eds.), Down Town / Down Soul. Early Modern Mys- ticism, the Self & the Political, Leuven: Peeters, 2020 (Studies in Spirituality Supple- ments; 34), VI, 244 pages, ISBN: 9789042941441; 9789042941458. It is just as possible to live deep down in the innermost of the soul in the heart of ‘down town’ as it is in the quiet of a monastery cell. ‘Town’ and ‘soul’ are not in con- tradiction to each other. The mystics who agree on this are not the minor ones. And yet, as we read in the works of the same mystics, ‘town’ and ‘soul’ – the inner path and social engagement – do not go together easily. Of course, the mystic embraces the commandment of neighbourly love, but is his charity not merely an ‘instrument’ helping him – and only him – to come in closer contact with God? This and similar questions are central to Down Town / Down Soul. Part One (‘Mysticism’) presents studies on the typically ‘mystical’ character of the inner life. Part Two (‘Down Town’) reflects upon the relationship between the mystical and the political, while Part Three (‘Down Soul’) returns to the soul and its abysmal – ‘mystical’ – condition.

Keyzer, Ad de, & Paul Verheijen, Bachs Onvoltooide Passie. Een Spiritueel Liturgische Benadering Van De Vier Johannes-Passionen Van Johann Sebastian Bach [Bach’s Unfin- ished Passion. A Spiritually Liturgical Approach to the Four St John Passions by Johann Sebastian Bach], Baarn: Adveniat, 2020, 463 pages, ISBN: 9789493161221. Bach’s St John Passion is wrongly overshadowed by his great St Matthew Passion. Both deserve to be explored from the original, never-before-tested perspective of spirituality. book notices 281

There is not one St John Passion. Bach has composed four versions of this passion that show interesting differences. Strangely enough, his second version, the greatest work that Bach had ever written at that time in his life, is his most unknown work. As both authors have previously shown in their book Bachs grote passie [Bach’s Great Passion] about the St Matthew Passion they have now carefully explained the St John Passion according to the seventeen fragments in which Bach has divided the passion story according to John. Those who dare to let themselves be touched in heart, mind and soul will experience the secret of the effect of Bach’s St John Passion. This book aims to help listeners, performers and researchers find answers to the question: What have I heard? Why does this affect me? Ad de Keyzer is a theologian and a former research fellow at the Titus Brandsma Insti- tute in the field of liturgical spirituality. Paul Verheijen is a New Testament scientist and a former teacher of philosophy in secondary education.

Kierkegaard, Søren, & Christopher B. Barnett, Søren Kierkegaard. Discourses and Writ- ings on Spirituality, Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2019 (The Classics of Western Spiritu- ality), XIX, 345 pages, ISBN: 9780809106486. Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) is primarily known as a philosopher, even though much of his writing was explicitly dedicated to spiritual growth (what he called ‘upbuilding’). This volume redresses this situation by demonstrating not only that Kierkegaard was a spiritual author, but also how he brings out the beauty and diversity of the Christian spiritual life. Particular attention is given to his writings on God, creation, humanity, and Jesus Christ. A general introduction helps orient the reader to Kierkegaard’s life and thought, while brief introductions to each selected reading deepen the reader s acquaintance with the Danish thinker’s oeuvre.

Klueting, Harm, & Edeltraud Klueting (Eds.), Edith Stein’s Itinerary. Phenomenology, Christian Philosophy, and Carmelite Spirituality / Edith Steins Intellektueller Weg. Phänomenologie, Christliche Philosophie Und Karmelitische Spiritualität, Münster: Aschendorff, 2020 (Schriften Des Forschungsinstituts Der Deutschen Provinz Der Karmeliten; 4), 704 pages, ISBN: 9783402121412. The 5th Biennual International Conference of the International Association for the Study of the Philosophy of Edith Stein (IASPES) took place at the University of Cologne, Germany, in August 2019 under the direction of the Cologne historian and theologian Harm Klueting. The congress volume contains 29 contributions in English, 21 in German, and seven in Spanish or French on the subject areas ‘Biographical Ques- tions’, ‘Edith Stein and Thinkers of the Past’, ‘Edith Stein and other Contemporary Thinkers’, ‘Anthropology – Women and Men’, ‘Philosophy – Phenomenology and Christian Philosophy’, ‘Society and Politics’, ‘Theology and Spirituality’, and ‘Experi- ences with Edith Stein’.

Kohav, Alex S. (Ed.), Mysticism and Experience. Twenty-First-Century Approaches, Lan- ham, MD: Lexington Books, 2020, 330 pages, ISBN: 9781498599375. This work embarks on an investigation of the concept of mysticism from the stand- point of academic fields, including philosophy, anthropology, religious studies, mysticism studies, literary studies, art criticism, cognitive poetics, cognitive science, 282 book notices psychology, medical research, and even mathematics. Scholars across disciplines observe that, although it has experienced both cyclical approval and disapproval, mysticism seems to be implicated as a key foundation of religion, alon with the highest forms of social, cultural, intellectual, and artistic creations. This book is divided into four sections: The Exposure, The Symbolic, The Cognitive, and The Scientific, covering all fundamental aspects of the phenomenon known as mysticism. Contributors, taking advantage of recent advances in disciplinary approaches to understanding mystical phe- nomena, address questions of whether progress can be made to systemically enrich, expand, and advance our understanding of mysticism. Alex S. Kohav teaches in the Department of Philosophy at Metropolitan State Univer- sity of Denver.

Kramp, Igna Marion, Begegnung mit den Geheimnissen des Lebens Jesu Christi. Zur Biblischen Hermeneutik der Exerzitien [Encounter with the Mysteries of the Life of Jesus Christ. Biblical Hermeneutics of the Spiritual Exercises], Münster: Aschendorff, 2020, 124 pages, ISBN: 9783402122358. Biblical considerations play a central role in the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises. Those who practice them look at the biblical scenes as if they were there today. The text becomes the space in which he who prays enters. Today, because experience is very important among religiously seeking people, this is more relevant than ever. But how does Igna- tius of Loyola deal with Scripture even in the Spiritual Exercises? How did the first Jesuits include his instructions in their spiritual life? And what can today help the spiritual guide and the retreatant to get from the Christocentric center of the Exercises to the fullness of biblical prayer? Although the Ignatian Exercises in their original form were rediscovered in the last century and their practice has been established for decades, surprisingly little was asked about the biblical foundations in the Spiritual Exercises themselves. In this book, the biblical hermeneutics of the Ignatian Exercises is compre- hensively reflected for the first time.

Lee, Yongho Francis, Mysticism and Intellect in Medieval Christianity and Buddhism. Ascent and Awakening in Bonaventure and Chinul, Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2020, 301 pages, ISBN: 9781793600714; 9781793600707. This book explores two influential intellectual and religious leaders in Christianity and Buddhism, Bonaventure (c. 1217-1274) and Chinul (1158-1210), a Franciscan theologian and a Korean Zen master respectively, with respect to their lifelong endeavors to integrate the intellectual and spiritual life so as to achieve the religious aims of their respective religious traditions. It also investigates an associated tension between different modes of discourse relating to the divine or the ultimate – positive (cataphatic) discourse and negative (apophatic) discourse. Both of these modes of discourse are closely related to different ways of understanding the immanence and transcendence of the divine or the ultimate. Through close studies of Bonaventure and Chinul, the book presents a unique dialogue between Christianity and Buddhism and between West and East. Yongho Francis Lee is professor of systematic theology at the Pontifical University Antonianum. book notices 283

Loudovikos, Nikolaos, Analogical Identities: The Creation of the Christian Self : Beyond Sprirituality and Mysticism in the Patristic Era, Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, 2019 (Studia Traditionis Theologiae. Explorations in Early and Medieval Theology; 28), XV, 386 pages, ISBN: 9782503578156. Is it possible for nihilism and an ontology of personhood as will to power to be incubated in the womb of Christian Mysticism? Is it possible that the modern ontology of power, which constitutes the core of the Greek-Western metaphysics, has a theological grounding? Has Nietszche reversed Plato or, more likely, Augustine and Origen, re-fashioning in a secular framework the very essence of their ontology? Do we have any alternative Patristic anthropological sources of the Greek-Western Self, beyond what has been traditionally called ‘Spiritu- ality’ or ‘Mysticism’? Patristic theology seems to ultimately provide us with a different understanding of selfhood, beyond any Ancient or modern, Platonic or not, Transcendentalism. This book strives to decipher, retrieve, and re-embody the underlying mature Patristic concept of selfhood, beyond the dichotomies of mind and body, essence and existence, transcendence and immanence, inner and outer, conscious and unconscious, person and nature, freedom and necessity: the Analogical Identityof this Self needs to be explored. Nikolaos Loudovikos is a professor of dogmatics and Christian philosophy at the Uni- versity Ecclesiastical Academy of Thessaloniki, a visiting professor at the IOCS Cam- bridge, and a research fellow at the University of Winchester.

Manga, Francois-Hubert (Ed.), Les Textes Spirituels De Léopold Sédar Senghor. Corre- spondances L.S. Senghor – C. Bartels [The Spiritual Texts of Léopold Sédar Senghor. Correspondence L.S. Senghor – C. Bartels], Paris: Editions L’Harmattan, 2020, 164 pages, ISBN: 9782343191287; 9782140147999. In letters to Cees Bartels, a Dutch Carmelite, with whom he had a long and cordial friendship, Senghor unreservedly presents himself as a religious person. These letters show that, during the thirty years that their correspondence lasted, Senghor never ceased to ask himself questions about the meaning of the Catholic faith which he confesses and the political developments of the world in which he is often actor. They show how Senghor extends his reflection far beyond ecclesial activity and questions on the relationship between Christian faith and socialism of which Senghor is a fervent supporter. François H. Manga is a graduate in systematic theology. He also specializes in the spirituality and mysticism of the medieval Netherlands.

Masaeli, Mahmoud, & Rico Sneller, Responses of Mysticism to Religious Terrorism. Sufism and Beyond, Oud Turnhout: Gompel & Svacina, 2019, 281 pages, ISBN: 9789463711906. This book explores how mystical traditions of either Abrahamic or non-Abrahamic religions hold the potential to challenge the discourse of political Islam and its terrorist intentions. It discusses the urgent need to reconsider mystical messages of love and recognition of difference against the poisonous evil of terrorism issuing from religious contexts. Throughout the publication, the editors draw together the main ideas and perspectives surrounding mystical Islam in real life and the practice of mystics alongside illustrating common beliefs and practices of Islamic mysticism. This book analyses the message and impacts of mysticism on the battle against the evil of religious terrorism, whilst examining successful stories and cases against violence and religious terrorism. 284 book notices

Mahmoud Masaeli is the executive director of Alternative Perspectives and Global Con- cerns (APGC). Rico Sneller is a philosopher and vice president of APGC.

McGinn, Bernard, The Persistence of Mysticism in Catholic Europe. France, Italy, and Germany 1500-1675, Chicago: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 2020 (The Pres- ence of God; 6, part 3), 500 pages, ISBN: 9780824501952; 9780824589004. This volume brings to a close a lengthy examination of mysticism in early modern Europe, a time of Reformation, religious wars, growing absolutist government and the revival of Roman Catholicism associated with the Council of Trent and the Counter-Reformation. Volume V of The Presence of God, entitled The Varieties of Vernacular Mysticism, 1350-1550, was published in 2012. As the author began the research and writing of Volume VI, it soon became clear to him that what was origi- nally conceived of as a single volume would have to be divided, given the richness of the sources, the complexity of the developments, and the plethora of important mystics of the period roughly 1500-1650/75. A tripartite division of Volume VI soon emerged as the most reasonable way to deal with the issue. Part 1 is Mysticism in the Reformation and part 2 Mysticism in the Golden Age of Spain. Part 3 is called The Persistence of Mysticism (1500-1675) and deals with the other Catholic areas in this period, concentrating on France. Other areas covered are England, Italy, Germany and the Low Countries. Bernard McGinn is the Naomi Shenstone Donnelley Professor emeritus at the Divinity School of the University of Chicago, where he taught for thirty-four years before retir- ing in 2003.

Mishra, Sushanta Kumar, & Arup Varma (Eds.), Spirituality in Management. Insights from India, Cham: Springer International Publishing Imprint, 2019 (Palgrave Studies in Indian Management), XVII, 203 pages, ISBN: 9783030139841. With spirituality being brought to the fore of management and organisation studies, this timely collection takes a closer look at the relationship between religion and work in India. Bringing together experts from various backgrounds, this book provides a comprehensive review of the topic, addressing its key underpinnings and complexities. This work is divided into four sections, covering the evolution of workplace spirituality, its causes, characteristics and outcomes, and culminating in a critical analysis. This book provides an Indian perspective on managing spirituality at work, and offers insights into successful organisational practice.

Nelstrop, Louise, On Deification and Sacred Eloquence. Richard Rolle and Julian of Nor- wich, London; New York, NY: Routledge, 2019 (Contemporary Theological Explora- tions in Mysticism), XIX, 293 pages, ISBN: 9781472489418. This book considers the place of deification in the writings of Julian of Norwich and Richard Rolle, two of the fourteenth-century English Mystics. It argues that, as a consequence of a belief in deification, both produce writing that is helpfully viewed as sacred eloquence. The book begins by discussing the nature of deification, employing Norman Russell’s typology. It explores the realistic and ethical approaches found in the writings of several Early Greek Fathers, including Irenaeus of Lyons, Cyril of book notices 285

Alexandria, Origen, and Evagrius Ponticus, as well as engaging with the debate around whether deification is a theological idea found in the West across its history. The book then turns its attention to Julian and Rolle, arguing that both promote forms of deification: Rolle offering a primarily ethical approach, while Julian’s approach is more realistic. Finally, the book addresses the issue of sacred eloquence, arguing that both Rolle and Julian, in some sense, view their words as divinely inspired in ways that demand an exegetical response that is para-biblical. The book is offering an important perspective on a previously understudied area of mysticism and deification.

Orlov, Andrei A. (Ed.), Jewish Roots of Eastern Christian Mysticism. Studies in Honor of Alexander Golitzin, Leiden: Brill, 2020 (Vigiliae Christianae, Supplements; 160), XX, 387 pages, ISBN: 9789004429529; 9789004429536. The essays collected in this volume intend to honor Alexander Golitzin, a scholar known for his keen attention to the Jewish matrix of Eastern Orthodox spirituality. Following Golitzin’s insights, this Festschrift explores influences of Jewish apocalypti- cism and mysticism on certain early and late Christian authors, including Irenaeus, Origen, Evagrius of Pontus, Pseudo-Dionysius, and Symeon the New Theologian. Spe- cial attention is given to Jewish theophanic traditions regarding the beatific vision of the divine Glory (Kavod), which profoundly shaped Eastern Christian theology and liturgy. This volume demonstrates that recent developments in the study of apocalyptic literature, the Qumran Scrolls, Gnosticism, and later Jewish mysticism throw new and welcome light on the sources and continuities of Orthodox theology, liturgy, and spirituality.

Pansters, Krijn (Ed.), A Companion to Medieval Rules and Customaries, Leiden: Brill, 2020 (Brill’s Companions to the Christian Tradition; 93), XII, 438 pages, ISBN: 9789004431546; 9789004324442 This volume offers an introduction to the rules and customaries of the main religious orders in medieval Europe: Benedictine, Cistercian, Carthusian, Augustinian, Premon- stratensian, Templar, Hospitaller, Teutonic, Dominican, Franciscan, and Carmelite. As well as introducing the early history and spirituality of the orders, scholars survey the central topics – organization, doctrine, morality, liturgy, and culture, as documented by these primary sources. Contributors are: James Clark, Tom Gaens, Jean-François Godet-Calogeras, Holly Grieco, Emilia Jamroziak, Gert Melville, Stephen Molvarec, Carol Neel, Krijn Pansters, Matthew Ponesse, Bert Roest, Kristjan Toomaspoeg, Paul van Geest, Ursula Vones-Liebenstein, and Coralie Zermatten. Krijn Pansters teaches Christian spirituality at Tilburg University (School of Catholic Theology, Franciscan Study Center).

Pattison, George, & Kate Kirkpatrick, The Mystical Sources of Existentialist Thought. Being, Nothingness, Love, London; New York, NY: Routledge, 2019 (Contemporary Theological Explorations in Mysticism), 222 pages, ISBN: 9781138092372. At the time when existentialism was a dominant intellectual and cultural force, a number of commentators observed that some of the language of existential philosophy, 286 book notices not least its interpretation of human existence in terms of nothingness, evoked the language of so-called mystical writers. This book takes on this observation and explores the evidence for the influence of mysticism on the philosophy of existentialism. It begins by delving into definitions of mysticism and existentialism, and then traces the elements of mysticism present in German and French thought during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The book goes on to make original contributions to the study of figures including Kierkegaard, Buber, Heidegger, Beau- voir, Sartre, Marcel, Camus, Weil, Bataille, Berdyaev, and Tillich, linking their existentialist philosophy back to some of the key concerns of the mystical tradition. The work is providing a unique insight into how these two areas have overlapped and interacted. George Pattison is 1640 Professor of Divinity at the University of Glasgow, UK, and formerly Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity at the University of Oxford. Kate Kirk- patrick is lecturer in religion, philosophy, and culture at King’s College London, UK.

Pawar, Badrinarayan Shankar, Employee Performance and Well-Being. Leadership, Justice, Support, and Workplace Spirituality, Milton: Taylor & Francis Group, 2019, 168 pages, ISBN: 9780429244193; 9780429520938; 9780429549106; 9780429534409. This book provides recent inputs from the field of organizational behavior for enhanc- ing employee performance and well-being, a key concern for managers today. It focuses on transformational leadership, organizational justice, organizational support, and workplace spirituality. The author outlines multiple dimensions of employee performance and five forms of employee well-being- physical, emotional, psychological, social and spiritual. The book also presents an overview of the traditional approaches, and draws on relevant literature and empirical findings. It offers exercises from a practi- tioner’s point of view to facilitate managerial actions and will serve as a practical application guide for managers.

Quero-Sánchez, Andrés (Ed.), Mystik und Idealismus. Eine Lichtung des deutschen Waldes. Akten der vom 19. bis 21. Mai 2016 im Kapitelsaal des Predigerklosters in Erfurt stattgefundenen internationalen interdisziplinären Tagung (Meister-Eckhart-Forschungs stelle am Max-Weber-Kolleg der Universität Erfurt), Leiden: Brill, 2019 (Studies in Mys- ticism, Idealism, and Phenomenology = Studien Zu Mystik, Idealismus Und Phänome- nologie; 1), XXXVII, 581 pages, ISBN: 9789004412422; 9789004412439. The book contains the proceedings of the conference ‘A Clearing of the German For- est: Mysticism, Idealism and Romanticism’ (‘Eine Lichtung des deutschen Waldes: Mystik, Idealismus und Romantik’) (May, 19-21, 2016, Dominican Convent, Erfurt), including contributions by some of the most important representatives in this field (Jens Halfwassen, Theo Kobusch, Johann Kreuzer, José, Sánchez de Muri- llo, Glenn A. Magee, Markus Vinzent, Rudolf K. Weigand, Christian Danz, Markus Enders, et al.). The volume presents articles concerning the relationship of Fichte, Hegel, Hölderlin and Schelling with the most characteristic German mystics. The conference was organized in the context of the research project ‘A Historical, Philo- logical and Systematic Study on Mystical Reason and its Reception in Schelling’s Works’. book notices 287

Savary, Louis M., Teilhard De Chardin’s the Phenomenon of Man Explained. Uncover- ing the Scientific Foundations of his Spirituality, Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2020, xx pages, ISBN: 9780809154487; 9781587688409. Teilhard De Chardin’s book The Human Phenomenon (The Phenomenon of Man) developed many of the fundamental concepts of Teilhard’s evolutionary thinking that were the foundational ideas for his integration of evolutionary science with Christian theology and spirituality. In this book, the author examines the connection of Teil- hard’s evolutionary scientific ideas and his spirituality and theology. Consequently, Teilhard de Chardin’s The Phenomenon of Man Explained presents Teilhard’s scientific ideas accessibly while also explaining the text, showing how the ideas presented in each section may be directly applied to theological thinking, spiritual practices, and moral behavior.

Smelik, Klaas A.D. (Ed.), The Lasting Significance of Etty Hillesum’s Writings. Proceed- ings of the Third International Etty Hillesum Conference at Middelburg, September 2018, Amsterdam: AUP, 2019, 500 pages, ISBN: 9789048550173; 9789463722025. This volume contains the proceedings of the third international Etty Hillesum Confer- ence, held in Middelburg in September 2018. It brings together the work of 33 experts from all over the world to shed new light on life, works, inspiration and vision of the Dutch Jewish writer Etty Hillesum (1914-1943), one of the victims of the Nazi regime. Hillesum’s diaries and letters illustrate her heroic struggle to come to terms with her personal life in the context of the Holocaust. This volume revives Hillesum research with a comprehensive rereading of her texts but also by introducing new sources about her life. With the current rise of interest in peace studies, Judaism, the Holocaust, inter-religious dialogue, gender studies and mysticism, this book will be invaluable to students and scholars in a range of disciplines. Klaas A.D. Smelik taught Old Testament and Hebrew in Utrecht, Amsterdam and Brussels, Ancient and Jewish history at the K.U. Leuven, and Hebrew and Jewish studies at Ghent University.

Sviri, Sara, Perspectives on Early Islamic Mysticism. The World of Al-Hakim Al-Tirmidhi and his Contemporaries, London; New York, NY: Routledge, 2019 (Routledge Sufi Series), 416 pages, ISBN: 9780415302838. This monograph explores the original literary produce of Muslim mystics during the eighth-tenth centuries, with special attention to ninth-century mystics, such as al-Tus- tari, al-Muhasibi, al-Kharraz, al-Junayd and, in particular, al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi. Unlike other studies dealing with the so-called ‘Formative Period’, this book focuses on the extant writings of early mystics rather than on the later Sufi compilations. These early mystics articulated what would become a hallmark of Islamic mysticism: a system built around the psychological tension between the self (nafs) and the heart (qalb) and how to overcome it. Through their writings, already at this early phase, the versatility, fluidity and maturity of Islamic mysticism become apparent. This exploration thus reveals that mysticism in Islam emerged earlier than customarily acknowledged, long before Islamic mysticism became generically known as Sufism. The central figure of this book is al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi, whose teaching and inner world focus on themes 288 book notices such as polarity, the training of the self, the opening of the heart, the Friends of God (al-awliya’), dreams and visions, divine language, mystical exegesis and more. This book thus offers a fuller picture than hitherto presented of the versatility of themes, processes, images, practices, terminology and thought models during this early period.

Sweeney, Marvin A., Jewish Mysticism. From Ancient Times through Today, Grand Rap- ids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2020, XVI, 432 pages, ISBN: 9780802864031. Questions of how the divine presence is understood and interacts within the world have been around since the time of the biblical prophets. The Jewish mystical tradition con- ceives God as active, just, powerful, and present while allowing for divine limitation so as to understand the relationship between G-d and the Jewish people in their history. Jewish Mysticism surveys Jewish visionary and mystical experience from biblical and ancient Near Eastern times through the modern period and the emergence of modern Hasidism. The author provides a comprehensive treatment of one of the most dynamic fields of Jewish studies in the twenty-first century, providing an accessible overview of texts and interpreta- tive issues. The author begins with the biblical period, which most treatments of Jewish mysticism avoid, and includes chapters on the ancient Near East, the Pentateuch, the Former Prophets and Psalms, the Latter Prophets, Jewish Apocalyptic, the Heikhalot Lit- erature, the Sefer Yetzirah and early Kabbalistic Literature, the Zohar, Lurianic Kabbalah and the Shabbetean Movement, and the Hasidic Movement. Placing Jewish apocalyptic literature into the larger development of ancient Jewish visionary and mystical experience, the author fills gaps left by the important but outdated work of others in the field.

Teellinck, Willem, Soliloquium. Een Mystieke Oefening in Verlangen. Willem Teellinck. Een Nieuwe Vertaling Door Thom Mertens. Ingeleid Door Herman Westerink [Solilo- quium. A Mystical Exercise in Desire. Willem Teellinck. A New Translation by Thom Mertens. Introduced by Herman Westerink], Heeswijk Dinther: Berne Media, 2020 (Mystieke Teksten), 192 pages, ISBN: 9789089723871. In 1628 Willem Teellinck wrote his Soliloquium, a mystical text in the tradition of medieval ‘soliloquies of the soul’. Central to the text is a sinner’s deep and passionate desire for an encounter with Christ (as bridegroom and savior) and for certainty of elec- tion. This text is a wonderful example of a Calvinistic mystical text, written in passionate and rich language. This new translation makes this special mystical text available again and opens it up to an interested audience. Willem Teellinck (1579-1629) was a minister in Middelburg and one of the most important representatives of the Further Reformation. His edifying, devotional and also mystical texts gave him the name of being a ‘second Thomas a Kempis’, albeit ‘reformed’.

Thrall, James H., Mystic Moderns. Agency and Enchantment in Evelyn Underhill, May Sinclair, and Mary Webb, Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2020, 314 pages, ISBN: 9781498583770; 9781498583787. This book examines the responses of three British authors – Evelyn Underhill (1875- 1941), May Sinclair (1863-1946), and Mary Webb (1881-1927) – to the emerging modernity of the long early twentieth-century moment encompassing the First World book notices 289

War. As they explored divergent but overlapping understandings of what mystical experience might be, these authors rejected claims that modernity’s celebration of the secular and rational left no place for the mystical; rather, they countered, sensitivity to a greater reality could both establish and validate personal agency, and was integral to their identities as modern women. Their preoccupations with the dynamism of human connection drew on prevailing ideas of ‘vital energy’ or ‘life force’ developed by Arthur Schopenhauer and Henri Bergson in ways that channeled modernity’s erotic energy of change. By using their fiction to describe new, self-authenticating forms of mysticism separate from either the prevailing orthodoxy of establishment Christianity or the extreme heterodoxy of their era’s enthusiasm for paranormal experimentation, they also contributed to the rise of a generic concept of ‘spirituality’. The book thus offers historical perspective on contemporary claims for self-constructed, non-institutional spiritual experience associated with the claim ‘I’m spiritual, not religious’. James H. Thrall is Knight Distinguished Associate Professor for the Study of Religion and Culture at Knox College.

Thralls, Chad, Deep Calls to Deep. Mysticism, Scripture, and Contemplation, Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2020, 192 pages, ISBN: 9781608338627; 9781626983984. Integrating the work of scholars and teachers of contemplative prayer, the book introduces the theological issues of Christian mysticism and explains the primary practices necessary to experience mystical consciousness.

Thurston, Bonnie Bowman, Shaped by the End You Live For. Thomas Merton’s Monastic Spirituality, Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2020, XIX, 166 pages, ISBN: 9780814688076; 9780814688328. To understand the life and thought of Thomas Merton, one must understand him as a monk. After introducing his vocation and entrance into the Trappist order, this book highlights some of his basic spiritual presuppositions. Relying primarily on Merton’s writing, the author surveys his thought on fundamental aspects of monastic formation and spirituality, particularly obedience, silence, solitude, and prayer. She also addresses some of the temptations and popular misunderstandings surrounding monastic life. Accessible and conversational in style, the book suggests how monastic spirituality is relevant, not only for all Christians, but also for serious spiritual seekers.

Timmins, Fiona, & Silvia Caldeira (Eds.), Spirituality in Healthcare. Perspectives for Innovative Practice, Cham: Springer International Publishing Imprint, 2019, VI, 223 pages, ISBN: 9783030044206. This book provides a condensed but comprehensive up-to-date overview of spirituality and its application to health care. The need for healthcare workers to provide spiritual care or meet patients’ spiritual needs is gaining increasing importance in nursing and midwifery policy at local, national and international level. Internationally, there is a growing belief in spirituality as a valid dimension of care. The book highlights a range of examples and case studies facilitating the practical application of the recommendations discussed. In addition to presenting new psychological perspectives, various activities throughout will encourage readers to form their own opinion on the issues covered. The 290 book notices suggestions for further reading and useful websites will also help readers interested in exploring specific areas in more depth. Combining contributions by authors from various disciplines, the book offers a valuable tool for qualified professional healthcare workers in practice, including nurses, social workers, doctors and chaplains. Fiona Timmins is an associate professor at the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Trin- ity College Dublin. Sílvia Caldeira is an invited assistant professor at the Institute of Health Sciences, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Lisbon.

Vail III, Kenneth, & Clay Routledge (Eds.), The Science of Religion, Spirituality, and Exis- tentialism, Cambridge, MA: Academic Press, 2020, 502 pages, ISBN: 9780128172049; 9780128172056. This work presents in-depth analysis of the core issues in existential psychology, their connections to religion and spirituality (e.g., religious concepts, beliefs, identities, and practices), and their diverse outcomes (e.g., psychological, social, cultural, and health). Leading scholars from around the world cover research exploring how fundamental existential issues are both cause and consequence of religion and spirituality, informed by research data spanning multiple levels of analysis, such as: evolution; cognition and neuroscience; emotion and motivation; personality and individual differences; social and cultural forces; physical and mental health; among many others. This book explores known contours and emerging frontiers, addressing the question of why religious belief remains such a central feature of the human experience. Kenneth Vail III is a psychological scientist and professor at Cleveland State University, and director of the Social Psychology & Existential Attitudes Research (SPEAR) Labo- ratory. Clay Routledge is a behavioral scientist, writer, consultant, and professor of psychology at North Dakota State University.

Vate, Esther van de, In Godt: Een Fraseologisch Onderzoek Naar De Orativiteit Van Maria Petyt [In God: A Fraseological Investigation into the Orativity of Maria Petyt], Nijmegen: [s.n.], 2019, 472 pages, ISBN: 9789402817423. This dissertation explores the topic of ‘orativity’ in letters by the seventeenth-century Carmelite hermit Maria Petyt (1623-1677) regarding various states of the soul in mystical experience. Orativity is the communicative momentum that takes place between the I of the believer and the You of the divine reality he/she is groping after. The dissertation employed a method from corpus linguistics to map the co-occurrence of two or more words in each other’s neighbourhood irrespective of whether those words are next to each other and/or occur in the same sequence. As a result, we have a clearer picture of Maria’s orativity. Working with fraseological methods offers an important perspective for the future of the study of spirituality.

Wallace, Robert, Philosophical Mysticism in Plato, Hegel, and the Present, London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2019, IX, 270 pages, ISBN: 9781350082861. Few twenty-first century academics take seriously mysticism’s claim that we have direct knowledge of a higher or more ‘inner’ reality or God. But this work argues that such leading philosophers of earlier epochs as Plato, G. W. F. Hegel, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Alfred North Whitehead were, in fact, all philosophical mystics. This book discusses book notices 291 major versions of philosophical mysticism beginning with Plato. It shows how the framework of mysticism’s higher or more inner reality allows nature, freedom, science, ethics, the arts, and a rational religion-in-the-making to work together rather than con- flicting with one another. This is how philosophical mysticism understands the relationships of fact to value, rationality to ethics, and the rest. And this is why Plato’s notion of ascent or turning inward to a higher or more inner reality has strongly attracted such major figures in philosophy, religion, and literature as Aristotle, Plotinus, St Augustine, Dante Alighieri, Immanuel Kant, Hegel, William Wordsworth, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Emily Dickinson, Whitehead, and Wittgenstein. Wallace’s Philo- sophical Mysticism brings this central strand of western philosophy and culture into focus in a way unique in recent scholarship. Robert M. Wallace is a philosopher and translator who has translated Hans Blumen- berg, Hans-Georg Gadamer and Odo Marquard.

Westerink, Herman, Modernity, Melancholy and Predestination. Cultural Historical, Philosophical and Psychoanalytical Perspectives on the Modern Religious Subject, Leuven: Peeters, 2019 (Studies in Spirituality Supplements; 33), VI, 172 pages, ISBN: 9789042939844; 9789042939851. Early modernity is characterized by intensified and in-depth Christianization processes and the development of various models for religious subjectivity. Experiences of anxiety, despair and abandonment often play a central role in the religious literature and practices, notably in a protestant context in which there are intense debates on the place and value of such experiences in religious life. What is the relation between faith and despair? Can one distinguish spiritual despair from melancholia? What is the role played by the doctrine of predestination in faith practices that include despair and desire? This book explores such questions through a reading of a variety of sources with the use of philosophical and psychoanalytical theories and perspectives: the life of Fran- cis Spira, Luther, Calvin, Willem Teellinck, Gisbertus Voetius and Jean de Labadie.

White, Richard, Spiritual Philosophers. From Schopenhauer to Irigaray, London: Blooms- bury Academic, 2020, 232 pages, ISBN: 9781350129139. How does thinking illuminate the spiritual view of life? How does a close examination of key spiritual thinkers help us to live in the modern world? And in what way does philosophy enhance spirituality? In this book, Richard White answers these questions by analysing a range of important philosophers, from Schopenhauer in the first half of the 19th century to Irigaray in the present day. Each chapter examines the work of a single writer and one closely associated theme, such as Nietzsche on gener- osity, Benjamin on wisdom, and Derrida on mourning. The author looks at philosophy and spirituality in the tradition of continental philosophy, and he views spirituality as something that can be separated from religion. With the rise of reductive scientific materialism becoming ever more prevalent in modern society, White seeks to recover the idea of a spiritual tradition which is not otherworldly but philosophical in nature. The thinkers discussed in this book articulate some of the deepest possi- bilities of human existence. Richard White is a professor of philosophy at Creighton University in Omaha, USA. 292 book notices

Wrigley-Carr, Robyn, The Spiritual Formation of Evelyn Underhill, London: SPCK Publishing, 2020, 192 pages, ISBN: 9780281081578; 9780281081585. The publication of Evelyn Underhill’s Prayer Book in 2018 sparked renewed interest in one of the most significant Christian writers of the twentieth century. What lays behind Evelyn Underhill’s spiritual formation? The author’s original research reveals the great influence of Baron Friedrich von Hügel, to whom, Evelyn wrote, ‘I owe . . . my whole spiritual life’. Understanding the nurture she received from this man (who had no less an influence on Eugene Peterson) prepares the way for an exploration of Evelyn’s ‘motherhood of souls’. We learn about her advice to others involved in this ministry, her pioneering work in the conducting of retreats and of the soul care she tirelessly bestowed on her retreatants. Dr Robyn Wrigley-Carr is senior lecturer in theology and spirituality at Alphacrucis College, Sydney, Australia.