The Story of the Christian Mystics: Their Lives and Teachings Through the Ages

The Story of the Christian Mystics offers concise, illuminating portraits of some eighty major mystics of the Christian tradition, from the beginnings to the present. The radiant lives and teachings of these God-seeking women and men transformed their own times, and their profound contributions to divine wisdom continue to impact our own search for meaning. The Story of the Christian Mystics provides the historical and spiritual context of each of these mystics, as well as their experiences of encountering the Divine.
In their witness and writings, mystics have shown that the direct apprehension of God can be radically transformative, not only through the deepening of their own spiritual lives, but also by helping them to deal with, and benefit, the world. For many great mystics, the contemplative and active lives were mutually supportive. Infused with mystical love, Francis of Assisi embraced a state of poverty and served those on the margins of society; Catherine of Siena campaigned for peace among warring factions and tried to unify religious powers; Catherine of Genoa tended to the sick and dying in her local hospital; Teresa of Avila reformed her monastic order and founded new convents, while George Fox founded the Society of Friends, or Quakers; and in the twentieth century, Th r se of Lisieux and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Simone Weil and Thomas Merton were mystics for the troubled times they lived in.
For readers of any faith or none, and for the troubled times we live in, The Story of the Christian Mystics presents this great mystical tradition full of commitment, hope, and inspiration--and encourages us to transform ourselves and our world through the deepening of love.