The mystics show us the deepest recesses of the human spirit. Now, this remarkable series gives you the rare opportunity to take one of the world's leading experts on mysticism as your personal guide. Boston College's Fr. Harvey Egan draws on 50 years of teaching the Christian mystics. Brilliantly taught, his lectures are filled with faithful insights. Under his guidance, you will explore the mystical life by focusing upon 11 significant figures. You will begin with Ignatius of Loyola and his finding of God in all things.

In Practical Mysticism, Evelyn Underhill distills the essential (and comprehensible) steps that comprise the process of achieving mystical understanding. Though she uses the pantheon of Christian mystics as her guide, her methodology transcends any particular faith and offers a common sense approach to self-improvement and enhanced awareness.

The enlightenment you seek in other religions has been present in Christianity from the beginning. Richard Rohr, a global leader in spiritual awakening, helps you recognize the forces (such as ego resistance and dual thinking) that separate you from your deeper self. Then, drawing from Gospels and the greatest Christian contemplatives, he shows you what it means to be spiritually awake. You will learn why your ego resists change and growth, what is useful about popular ideas such as the law of attraction, what Jesus, the first mythical leader in the West, can teach you.

From the Virgin Mary and Francis of Assisi to the Jesuit poet Gerard Manley Hopkins and the French philosopher Simone Weil, this inspiring course introduces you to the mysticism of ten inspiring luminaries of faith. In 12 lectures, you will look carefully at the lives of these 10 beloved mystics - five men and five women - from the Christian tradition. Bookended by an introduction and conclusion, this series helps you understand mysticism at both the individual community level.

On May 8, 1373, 30-year-old Julian of Norwich, sick and near death, had a series of visions of Christ. In these 16 visions she learnt about God's loving nature. God in Julian's visions was not angry and wrathful. Instead, the three properties of God were presented as life, love and light, and all of His creation was good, including his servant, man. In Julian's version, Man is not to blame for his sin; instead it is something that he must experience and overcome in his spiritual journey with God.

Meister Eckhart (1260-1328) was a priest, a mystic, and nearly a heretic (he died before the Church court's verdict). In the 20th century, the Roman Catholic Church rehabilitated him and the late Pope John Paul II spoke of his work with fondness. However, what makes him of particular interest is the fact that he has influenced a wide range of spiritual teachers and mystics both inside and outside the Christian tradition. Erich Fromm, Eckhart Tolle, Richard Rohr, D. T. Suzuki, and Rudolf Steiner have all credited Eckhart as being an important influence on their thought.

A Course in Miracles is profound, deeply moving, and as boring to read as a bookshelf assembly manual. Pam Grout to the rescue! Her new audiobook is for all those still struggling with the Course. Grout offers a modern-day rewrite of the 365-lesson workbook - the text at the heart of the Course. Unlike the original, it's user-friendly, accessible, and easy for everyone to understand. Grout drills down to the Course's essential message and meaning, grounding it in the context of everyday life in a way that's bound to stick.

Do I Stay Christian? addresses in public the powerful question that surprising numbers of people—including pastors, priests, and other religious leaders—are asking in private. Picking up where Faith After Doubt leaves off, Do I Stay Christian? is not McLaren's attempt to persuade Christians to dig in their heels or run for the exit. Instead, he combines his own experience with that of thousands of people who have confided in him over the years to help readers make a responsible, honest, ethical decision about their religious identity.

In his decades as a globally recognized teacher, Richard Rohr has helped millions realize what is at stake in matters of faith and spirituality. Yet Rohr has never written on the most perennially talked about topic in Christianity: Jesus. Most know who Jesus was, but who was Christ? Drawing on scripture, history, and spiritual practice, Rohr articulates a transformative view of Jesus Christ as a portrait of God’s constant, unfolding work in the world.

The Vision of Enoch the Righteous is largely a forgotten first-century text, not being connected to any of the numbered versions of the Book of Enoch. It is part of a tradition referred to as Apocalyptic Literature. The content of The Vision of Enoch the Righteous alternates between the voice of Enoch and that of a chorus of cherubim, who have descended from heaven, in order to deliver a message to Enoch. Includes a prologue discussing the text.

In these daily reflections, Richard Rohr invites us to rediscover the spring hidden inside. He reminds us of our inherent belovedness and God’s indwelling presence. Remembering who we truly are is a gradual lifelong journey, but Fr. Richard offers insights to ease the process and lead us back to our Source. The meditations follow the arc of life, from innocence, through inevitable brokenness, to putting ourselves back together, through ripening into union - with self, God, the world, and others.

Whether taken as a book of faith or a cultural artifact, the New Testament is among the most significant writings the world has ever known, its web of meaning relied upon by virtually every major writer in the last 2,000 years. Yet the New Testament is not only one of Western civilization’s most believed books, but also one of its most widely disputed, often maligned, and least clearly understood, with a vast number of people unaware of how it was written and transmitted.

These works are considered Weil's primary essays and letters. In addition, Simone Weil's niece has contributed an introductory article entitled, 'Simone Weil and the Rabbi's: Compassion and Tsedekah,' which puts Weil's relationship with Jewish thought into perspective. She includes source material from the Rabbis that put Weil (however reluctantly) in line with rabbinical thought throughout her major themes. The book is the ideal English introduction to the works and thought of Simone Weil.

Hailed by many as the best modern book on Christian spirituality, Celebration of Discipline has helped more than one million seekers discover a richer spiritual life infused with joy, peace, and a deeper understanding of God.

Exploring the relationship between Christianity and Zen, especially through his dialogue with the great Zen teacher D.T. Suzuki, the book makes an excellent introduction to a comparative study of these two traditions, as well as giving the listener a strong taste of the mature Merton. Never does one feel him losing his own faith; rather, one feels that faith getting deeply clarified and affirmed. Just as the body of "Zen" cannot be found by the scavengers, so too, Merton suggests, with the eternal truth of Christ.

This popular and best-selling book from a renowned Franciscan challenges people to move beyond the comfort of a settled life toward an understanding of themselves that is rooted in their connection to God. Only when they rest in God can they find the certainty and the freedom to become all that they can be.

The enlightenment you seek in other religions has been present in Christianity from the beginning. Richard Rohr, a global leader in spiritual awakening, helps you recognize the forces (such as ego resistance and dual thinking) that separate you from your deeper self. Then, drawing from Gospels and the greatest Christian contemplatives, he shows you what it means to be spiritually awake. You will learn why your ego resists change and growth, what is useful about popular ideas such as the law of attraction, what Jesus, the first mythical leader in the West, can teach you.

Listeners will be fully engaged in a unique and altogether fascinating discussion of Christian spirituality. Rolheiser seeks to reconcile the rift between a smorgasbord of spiritual voices and an authentic Christian discipleship by the use of anecdotes, personal examples and a wide range of literary and cultural references. His starting point is the desire within us that longs irresistibly for fulfillment.

Is God a wrathful judge? A gentle healer? A father? Brother? Friend? In The Relentless Tenderness of Jesus, Brennan Manning brings you to a deeper understanding of the true nature of God. Through poignant and unforgettable stories and challenging observations, Manning helps you stretch your mind and reject simplistic explanations of who God really is.

Gerald G. May, MD, one of the great spiritual teachers and writers of our time, argues that the dark "shadow" side of the true spiritual life has been trivialized and neglected to our serious detriment. Superficial and naively upbeat spirituality does not heal and enrich the soul. Nor does the other tendency to relegate deep spiritual growth to only mystics and saints. Only the honest, sometimes difficult encounters with what Christian spirituality has called and described in helpful detail as "the dark night of the soul" can lead to true spiritual wholeness.

In his acclaimed books, renowned writer, speaker, and philosophy professor Dallas Willard explored the nature of Christian life in God's Kingdom. Yet one topic remained undisclosed: Willard's understanding of heaven and eternal life. In the months before his death, Willard engaged in moving and insightful conversations about the meaning of life and the life to come with close friend and theologian Gary Black, Jr. These inspiring dialogues were steeped in biblical theology as well as practical wisdom grounded in the here-and-now.

Is praying a duty or a delight? J. I. Packer and Carolyn Nystrom say that it's both; an essential, expected practice as a follower of Christ, but also a privilege and joy. As we start out learning to pray properly, however, the delight often seems to be missing. Here is practical help for active, honest praying that involves all of who we are - heart, hands and head - and moves us to deeper obedience, joy and intimacy with our Father.

In Wrestling with God, Ronald Rolheiser offers a steady and inspiring voice to help us avow and understand our faith in a world where nothing seems solid or permanent. Drawing from his own life experience, as well as a storehouse of literary, psychological, and theological insights, the beloved author of Sacred Fire examines the fears and doubts that challenge us. It is in these struggles to find meaning, that Rolheiser lays out a path for faith in a world struggling to find faith, but perhaps more important, he helps us find our own rhythm within which to walk that path.

First published in 1992, Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home has become a classic on its eponymous subject. Awarded Christianity Today's Book of the Year award and the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association's Gold Medallion award, Prayer continues to receive widespread acclaim as one of the most thorough and insightful treatments of this central spiritual practice.

The life of Jesus offers each one of us a map to the direct realization of our eternal and divine nature. On Resurrecting Jesus, Adyashanti excavates the deep, mythic underpinnings of the Gospels to show how we can all find in the story of Jesus the spark for our own spiritual unfolding. Jesus crossed all of the boundary lines that separated the people of his time because he viewed the world from the perspective of what unites us, not what divides us.

A gospel, as ancient and authentic as any of the gospels that the Christian bible contains, was buried deep in the Egyptian desert after an edict was sent out in the 4th century to have all copies of it destroyed. Fortunately, some rebel monks were wise enough to refuse - and thanks to their disobedience and spiritual bravery, we have several manuscripts of the only gospel that was written in the name of a woman: The Gospel of Mary Magdalene.

Best-selling author John Ortberg dispels the myth that eternal life is something way out in outer space that we can only hope to experience after we die - and that being saved is merely about meeting the minimal entrance requirements for getting into heaven. Instead, John unpacks the reality that the moment we trust Christ, we are initiated into “eternal living” with God as a here and now reality, one that will continue beyond our life on this earth.

We all suffer from unhealthy dependencies that we continually return to in hopes of having a better life. But after yet another TV show is streamed or another drink is swallowed, we find we once again feel worse, not better, than we did before. Where is the hope for that fully awakened life we long to live?

The Bible is meant to be about transformation, not merely information. In Things Hidden, Richard Rohr invites you to experience Scripture as spirituality - as a living text that can breathe new life into your relationship with God and change your way of seeing the world.

Two dozen select prayer poems to learn from and live with. Poetry and prayer are closely related. We often look to poets to give language to our deepest hopes, fears, losses - and prayers. Poets slow us down. They teach us to stop and go in before we go on. They play at the edges of mystery, holding a tension between line and sentence, between sense and reason, between the transcendent, and the deeply, comfortingly familiar. When Poets Pray contains thoughtful meditations by Marilyn McEntyre on choice poems/prayers and poems about prayer.