Updating My Spiritual Reading List, Category 5, Christianity, Judaism, and Gnosticism

In my two nonfiction books (“Beyond the Power of Now” and “Electrical Christianity”), I provide a Spiritual Reading List (of Highly Recommended and Recommended texts in the “Great Traditions”). I made a few changes to the List between “Beyond the Power of Now” and “Electrical Christianity,” and there will be more changes to the List in my forthcoming book “The Power of Now Meditation Guide” (which should be published later this year).

My Spiritual Reading List is divided into nine categories – Advaita Vedanta, Buddhism (Original), Buddhism (Tibetan), Buddhism (Zen), Christianity, Judaism, and Gnosticism, Daism, Hinduism (Yoga), Kashmir Shaivism, and Miscellaneous. In a nine-part series, I will, in turn, consider each category and provide its latest edition.

Herewith is the fifth category, Christianity, Judaism, and Gnosticism, followed by my consideration.

Christianity, Judaism, and Gnosticism 

Highly Recommended

Meditations on the Tarot, Valentin Tomberg. (An astonishing journey into Christian Hermeticism. “Must” reading for anyone interested in Christian mysticism.)

Meister Eckhart. (The Complete Mystical Works of Meister Eckhart is the book I recommend—but it costs $98. Meister Eckhart, trans. Raymond B. Blakney, is a fine compilation of Eckhart’s sermons, and goes for about $15. Scholarly types will want to supplement either of the aforementioned books with The Mystical Thought of Meister Eckhart, by Bernard McGinn.)

Mysticism, Evelyn Underwood. (Wonderful, classic, early twentieth-century text by the first lady of Christian mysticism.)

The Foundations of Mysticism. Bernard McGinn. (Extraordinary presentation of the Western mystical tradition. “Must” reading for scholarly types.)

Recommended

Inner Christianity, Richard Smoley. (Clear and thoughtful guide to the esoteric Christian tradition.)

Jewish Meditation, Aryeh Kaplan.

Open Mind, Open Heart, Thomas Keating. (Classic, best-selling text on the Gospel’s contemplative dimension.)

The Big Book of Christian Mysticism: The Essential Guide to Contemplative Spirituality, Carl McColman. (Good introductory text and resource guide for those interested in Christian mysticism.)

The Mystic Christ, Ethan Walker. (Excellent book for Christians.)

The Practice of the Presence of God, Brother Lawrence, Robert Edmondson, and Jonathon Wilson-Hartgrove. (Classic text on the practice of establishing a conscious relationship with the Divine.) 

The Secret Book of John, trans. Stevan Davies.

The Sermon on the Mount According to Vedanta, Swami Prabhavananda.

The Way of a Pilgrim and the Pilgrim Continues His Way, Multiple fine translations available. (Inspiring book for practitioners of prayer and mantra meditation.)

(Scholarly types into Western Christian mysticism will love all the fine texts by Prof. Bernard McGinn. Check out McGinn’s The Presence of God: A History of Western Mysticism series. This four-volume series includes The Foundations of Mysticism (highly recommended), The Growth of Mysticism, The Flowering of Mysticism, and The Crisis of Mysticism. Beyond this series, McGinn has also graced us with The Essential Writings of Christian Mysticism, an immensely rich anthology of the greatest Christian mystical literature. Selections in this volume include writings from such great mystics as Origen, Augustine, Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, St. John of the Cross, Bernard of Clairvaux, Meister Eckhart, John Ruusbroec, and many more. Relative to a scholarly consideration of Jewish mysticism, I also recommend Gershom Scholem’s Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism and Moshe Idel’s Kabbalah: New Perspectives. Scholem’s text is the canonical modern work on the nature and history of Jewish mysticism, whilst Idel’s is the foremost scholarly consideration of Kabbalah.)

Consideration

I have made four changes to this category since my first book, “Beyond the Power of Now.” I added Bernard McGinn’s “The Foundations of Mysticism,” to the Highly Recommended List, “The Way of a Pilgrim and the Pilgrim Continues His Way” and Moshe Idel’s “Kabbalah: New Perspectives” to the Recommended List, and I deleted Ze’ev Shimn Halevi’s “The Work of a Kabbalist.”

I cannot recommend McGinn’s “The Foundations of Mysticism” highly enough for scholarly types. Idel’s “Kabbalah: New Perspectives” is also a fine academic book. “The Way of a Pilgrim and the Pilgrim Continues His Way” is an inspiring Christian bhakti text, particularly for those who do mantra meditation. I deleted Halevi’s “The Work of a Kabbalist” because, when I read it a second time, I realized it wasn’t that good.