The Foundations of Mysticism (Bernard McGinn)
Immensely Informative Text on Christian Mysticism
[My 5-star Amazon review (NDA) of “the Foundations of Mysticism: Origins to the Fifth Century” by Bernard McGinn.]
I seldom read a spiritual book more than once, but I’ve read Bernard McGinn’s The Foundations of Mysticism: Origins to the Fifth Century three times, and plan to read it again. Why? Because McGinn, the foremost scholar on Western Christian mysticism, is immensely informative and, unlike many academics, engagingly readable. In this volume, McGinn doesn’t limit himself to Christian mysticism; he also examines Jewish, Greek, and Latin mysticism; and for his “grand finale,” provides a deep, nuanced psychological, philosophical, and theological consideration of mysticism in general. I’ve read close to a hundred books on Christian mysticism, and the two I have learned the most from are McGinn’s The Foundations of Mysticism and Meditations on the Tarot, by Valentin Tomberg.
Although every McGinn book is good, The Foundation of Mysticism, the first volume in McGinn’s series on Western Christian mysticism, is considerably better than the second one: The Growth of Mysticism: From Gregory to the Twelfth Century. Hence, if you decide to purchase a McGinn book on Christian mysticism, this first volume is the one to get.
[My 5-star Amazon review (NDA) of “the Foundations of Mysticism: Origins to the Fifth Century” by Bernard McGinn.]
I seldom read a spiritual book more than once, but I’ve read Bernard McGinn’s The Foundations of Mysticism: Origins to the Fifth Century three times, and plan to read it again. Why? Because McGinn, the foremost scholar on Western Christian mysticism, is immensely informative and, unlike many academics, engagingly readable. In this volume, McGinn doesn’t limit himself to Christian mysticism; he also examines Jewish, Greek, and Latin mysticism; and for his “grand finale,” provides a deep, nuanced psychological, philosophical, and theological consideration of mysticism in general. I’ve read close to a hundred books on Christian mysticism, and the two I have learned the most from are McGinn’s The Foundations of Mysticism and Meditations on the Tarot, by Valentin Tomberg.
Although every McGinn book is good, The Foundation of Mysticism, the first volume in McGinn’s series on Western Christian mysticism, is considerably better than the second one: The Growth of Mysticism: From Gregory to the Twelfth Century. Hence, if you decide to purchase a McGinn book on Christian mysticism, this first volume is the one to get.
