Book Notices

Studies in Spirituality 27, 323-343. doi: 10.2143/SIS.27.0.3254109 © 2017 by Studies in Spirituality. All rights reserved. BOOK NOTICES The intention of these book notices is very simple: to draw attention to new spirituality books that could be of interest to readers of Studies in Spirituality. Henk Rutten, the librarian and information manager of the Titus Brandsma Institute, lists about sixty titles with short descriptions. They are not meant to be comprehensive and in-depth book reviews. Arblaster, John, & Rob Faesen (Eds.), Mystical Anthropology: Authors from the Low Countries, Basingstoke: Routledge/Taylor & Francis, 2016 (Contemporary Theological Explorations in Christian Mysticism), 240 pages, ISBN: 9781472438034. The question of the ‘structure’ of the human person is central to many mystical authors in the Christian tradition. This book focuses on the specific anthropology in a series of key authors in the mystical tradition in the medieval and early modern Low Countries. Their view is fundamentally different from the anthropology that has commonly been accepted since the rise of Modernity. This book explores the most important mystical authors and texts from the Low Countries including: William of Saint-Thierry, Hadewijch, Pseudo-Hadewijch, John of Ruusbroec, Jan van Leeuwen, Willem Jordaens, Hendrik Herp, Arnhem Mystical Sermons, and the Evangelical Pearl. The most important aspects of mystical anthropology are discussed: the spiritual nature of the soul, the inner-most being of the soul, the faculties, the senses, and crucial metaphors which were used to explain the relationship of God and the human person. Two contribu- tions explicitly connect the anthropology of the mystics to contemporary thought. This book offers a solid and yet accessible overview for those interested in theology, philosophy, history, and medieval literature. John Arblaster is a doctoral student at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, KU Leuven and the Ruusbroec Institute, University of Antwerp. Rob Faesen is Profes- sor of Church History at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, KU Leuven and at Tilburg University, and is a member of the Ruusbroec Institute, University of Antwerp. Billingham, Peter (Ed.), Spirituality and Desire in Leonard Cohen’s Songs and Poems: Visions from the Tower of Song, Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2017, VIII, 168 pages, ISBN: 9781443816861. Emerging from a one day symposium organised by Professor Peter Billingham at the University of Winchester, UK, to celebrate Cohen’s 80th birthday, this Festschrift collec- tion represents a uniquely stimulating, insightful and provocative discussion of the songs and poems of Leonard Cohen, combining academic rigour with serious engage- ment with this remarkable poet and singer-songwriter. 324 BOOK NOTICES Bingemer, Maria Clara, The Mystery and the World: Passion for God in Times of Unbelief, Cambridge, UK: The Lutterworth Press, 2017, 402 pages, ISBN: 9780718894276. In this book, the author explores how the place of religion in society has dramatically shifted since the Enlightenment. The modern era is characterised by a major change in humanity’s fundamental desires that means that reason has taken the place of faith. Human beings, in their ongoing search for a scientific understanding of the world, have drifted away from seeking any essence of transcendence in their lives. The author exam- ines this transition and how, especially in the postmodern era, it has led to technology and superficial happiness becoming all-important as opposed to the more sacred sense of contentment that governed us for centuries prior to the Enlightenment. In her discussion, however, the author demonstrates that we as humans have not lost our innate desire to believe in a higher power and that, even in our world of instant satisfaction, we still need to fill the void left by religion. Through well-researched analysis of the modern era and discussion of some of the mystics of more recent times, she reveals to the reader how religious belief, whilst changed, is not dead and is still an important aspect of our existence. Maria Clara Bingemer is Professor of Systematic Theology at the Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Bocken, Inigo, & Eveline van Buijtenen, Weerbarstige Spiritualiteit: Het Denken Van Michel De Certeau [Rebellious Spirituality: The Thinking of Michel de Certeau], Heeswijk- Dinther: Berne Media, 2016, 192 pages, ISBN: 9789089721525; 9789089721532. Michel de Certeau (1925–1986) is one of the most important sources of inspiration of Pope Franciscus. Among other things, in his historical speech on freedom of religion in Philadelphia, the Pope quotes literally from the writings of this fellow members of the Jesuit order. This is not a coincidence. For, like Pope Franciscus, Michel de Certeau is looking for unexpected places where Christianity is present challenging and liberating in a world governed by the power of money and by social oppression. Who was Michel de Certeau and why and how is his thinking still relevant? In this book, the authors are looking for the deeper intellectual and spiritual motives of this intriguing thinker. Inigo Bocken is Scientific Director of the Titus Brandsma Institute, Nijmegen, Nether- lands, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies at Radboud University, Nijmegen, and Full Professor of Philosophy at the Cusanus Hochschule, Bernkastel-Kues, Germany. Eveline van Buijtenen is currently researching social-critical movements, proceeding from the thinking of Michel de Certeau. Borriello, Luigi, Edmondo Caruana, Maria Rosaria Del Genio, & Raffaele Di Muro (Eds.), Nuovo Dizionario Di Mistica, Roma: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2016, 2246 pages, ISBN: 9788820998653. Christian mysticism in the strict sense is by its very nature an awareness of the mystery of God revealed in Christ. Mystics are the channels through which fragments of this mystery pass into the existence of men of all ages. This book, which collects about 800 entries, using the specific expertise of numerous Italian and foreign scholars, addresses everyone, especially those who feel committed to discovering the ultimate meaning of their existence and the response to God’s design for men. The present dictionary claims BOOK NOTICES 325 to widen the field of investigation on mysticism in general, as interpreted in the various Eastern and Western religions and in some religious-cultural expressions that are now emerging in a globalized world where one can not ignore interdisciplinarity and com- parative studies on this subject. Borup, Jorn, & Marianne Qvortrup Fibiger (Eds.), Eastspirit Transnational Spirituality and Religious Circulation in East and West, Leiden: Brill Academic Pub, 2017 (Interna- tional Studies in Religion and Society; 29), 336 pages, ISBN: 9789004350649. Eastern ideas and practices associated with Asian religions and spirituality have been accommodated to a global setting as both a spiritual/religious and a broader cultural phenomenon. ‘Eastern spirituality’ is present in organized religions, the spiritual New Age market, arts, literature, media, therapy, and health care but also in public institu- tions such as schools and prisons. This book describes and analyses such concepts, practices and traditions in their new ‘Western’ and global contexts as well as in their transformed expressions and reappropriations in religious traditions and individualized spiritualities ‘back in the East’ within the framework of mutual interaction and circulation, regionally and globally. Jorn Borup and Marianne Qvortrup Fibiger are both Associate Professor at Aarhus University. Boyer, Mark G., Fruit of the Vine: A Biblical Spirituality of Wine, Eugene: Wipf & Stock, 2017, 116 pages, ISBN: 9781498242257. This work is designed to help the reader grow in spirituality through reflecting on biblical vineyard stores, wine making, and wine as a metaphor for life. A spirituality of wine – categorized as a spirit – connects the spirit in wine to the universal spirit all share. Wine appeals to all five senses. Its bouquet can be smelled; its complexity, often compared to fruit, can be tasted; its shades of red, designating its body, can be seen as it clings to or quickly runs down the inside of a glass. One can hear the pop as the cork leaves the bottle’s neck and the gurgle of the wine leaving the bottle as it is poured into a glass. Wine is a major sign of transformation in the process of growth from blossom, sunlight, and water to grapes, which are in turn broken apart, integrated into a whole, and fermented into alcohol. While the wine is aged, it undergoes even more transformation. People are transformed when they share this already multiple-times-transformed beverage. The vineyard and all it produces can reveal the divine if a person but opens his or her eyes to see. Mark G. Boyer has taught courses in Bible and film at Missouri State University, Springfield, Missouri, for almost thirty years. Bradford, David T., The Spiritual Tradition in Eastern Christianity: Ascetic Psychology, Mystical Experience, and Physical Practices, Leuven: Peeters, 2016 (Studies in Spirituality Supplements; 26), X, 446 pages, ISBN: 9789042932845. This volume is a comprehensive survey of the means, goals, and motivations of the ascetic life as represented in texts spanning the fourth and the nineteenth century. Contemporary examples are also included. The main themes are the dynamics of the soul, the disabling effects of the passions, mental

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