Book recs about Christian mysticism? I tried a tag search but may have been using the wrong terms. Apologies if you’ve answered this; you can always just point me toward links. Thanks!

sarahtaylorgibson:

Hey! No worries, I don’t think I’ve tagged my favorites! These books range from classic theological texts to poetry to some good old woo-woo, but I would categorize them all as texts that view Christianity through a mystical lens. I won’t be able to list all my faves here, so I suggest that you check out the list of books on my Goodreads spirituality shelf for further deep-cut recommendations. We can follow each other and become book buddies <3.

My favorite book on this topic is also my favorite book about the mystery of the Trinity, which is The Divine Dance by Richard Rohr with Mike Morrell. You can read more thoughts on this book over on my website, where I reviewed it last winter. If you only invite one book into your life to help you clean spiritual house and connect more fully to the Trinity’s eternal dance of creation and mutuality, let it be this one.

The Practice of the Presence of God is a slim little book written by a monk named Brother Lawrence about how he remained tapped-in to the presence of God in the mundane, and its still one of the best books on Christian mindfulness out there. If you want to go deeper into the Ignatian tradition of contemplation, imaginative meditation, and soul-communion with God, I suggest starting with James O’Brien’s incredibly accessible and effective The Ignatian Adventure: Experiencing the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius in Daily Life.

I also enjoyed Tantric Jesus by James Hughes Reho.

The book seeks to uncover the mystical, body-positive roots of early Christianity and bring them into conversation with the ancient tradition of tantric yoga. You can learn more from the review I wrote on my website. As usual, read with a grain of salt and don’t go around calling yourself a tantic yogi after one meditation class, but Reho is a smart guy and dedicated practitioner who’s done his research.

Christian Wiman knocks vulnerable, agnostic-yearning-for-God poetry out of the park with My Bright Abyss: Meditation of a Modern Believer, written as he navigated love, cancer, and professorship as a reluctant yet besotted believer.

I would be remiss not to give the Feminine Divine her due and so I recommend

She Who Is by Elizabeth Johnson  is the ONLY defense of the feminine face of God you will ever need, and it is so orthodox yet poetic, so well-researched yet soulful, that it will tap you into new wavelengths of God that have been present in your life for years, guiding and teaching you unseen and unthanked. Johnson is a theology professor at Fordham in New York and also a modern saint. 

Lastly, The Witch in Every Woman by Laurie Cabot is a down-to-earth, conversational book about getting in touch with archetypal feminine power, featuring folktales and exercises to support your journey. Some of the goddess work Cabot describes won’t be applicable to monotheist Christians, and it’s the only book on this list that may be of more interest to girl-aligned folks than others, but by and large it’s a good jumping-off point if you’re interested in getting more in touch with the archetypes and rituals that give meaning to our lives. 

Happy reading!