Carl McColman's Blog, page 53
July 25, 2018
The Self, Self-Esteem, and Dying to Self: Contemplative Spirituality and the Ego
A reader of this blog named John wrote to me a while back and asked this question: In your opinion, what role does self worth play in faith and from where does self worth come? Since it’s a broad question, I wrote back to him to get a bit of clarification. In my response, I […] … Read more at Patheos
July 23, 2018
Give Love, Receive the Kingdom: A New Treat for Lovers of English Spirituality
If you love the spirituality of the English people, a new treat awaits you, courtesy of Paraclete Press (and SLG Press in the UK). A collection of essays by Sr. Benedicta Ward, SLG, has just been published, called Give Love and Receive the Kingdom: Essential People and Themes of English Spirituality. Sr. Benedicta Ward teaches […] … Read more at Patheos
July 22, 2018
James Finley: Silence and Vulnerability (Episode 29)
Author, retreat leader, and psychologist James Finley brings his experience as a student and spiritual directee of Thomas Merton to his work guiding others into the mysteries of Christ and of silence. He is the author of Merton’s Palace of Nowhere, Christian Meditation: Experiencing the Presence of God, and The Contemplative Heart. He has also created audio learning series, … Continue reading James Finley: Silence and Vulnerability (Episode 29) → … Read more at Encountering Silence
July 19, 2018
Saying Yes to “Prayer Without Ceasing”
In 1 Thessalonians 5:17, Saint Paul throws down the spiritual gauntlet. He instructs his readers to “pray without ceasing.” For almost two thousand years now, Christian saints, nuns, monks, and mystics have been trying to unpack that simple three-word verse (just two words in the original Greek). What, pray tell, did Saint Paul mean? Did […] … Read more at Patheos
July 16, 2018
Sarah Coakley on Thomas Merton: The Climate of Monastic Prayer
To celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the last book Thomas Merton completed before his death, Liturgical Press has brought out a new edition. The book is The Climate of Monastic Prayer, which has also been published under the title Contemplative Prayer. The new edition features a foreword by noted Anglican theologian Sarah Coakley. Coakley’s foreword is short […] … Read more at Patheos
July 14, 2018
Why Are the Mystics So… Weird?!?
One thing I love about the mystics is just how weird they are. Obviously, there are mystics who see visions, who hear voices, who smell beautiful aromas that no one else can smell, that sort of thing. There are also stories out there of mystics who levitate, who survived for who-knows-how-long eating nothing but the daily […] … Read more at Patheos
July 11, 2018
What’s in a (Sacred) Story? Meditating on the Mysteries of Your Faith
To be a mystic is to be the explorer of both Divine and human mysteries (which corresponds to Jesus’s two essential teachings, “Love God” and “Love your neighbors”). We often think that the essential way to do this is through spiritual practices such as meditation, contemplation, chanting the psalms, and working with a spiritual guide […]http://www.patheos.com/blogs/carlmcco...
July 8, 2018
Paula Pryce: Silence, Bodily Knowing and Ritual (Episode 28)
What happens when a friendly anthropologist conducts an ethnographic study of contemporary contemplative Christianity in America, looking at subjects both in monasteries and in secular life? Paula Pryce does just this kind of work in her insightful book The Monk’s Cell: Ritual and Knowledge in American Contemplative Christianity. Spending several years of research with teachers like … Continue reading Paula Pryce: Silence, Bodily Knowing and Ritual (Episode 28) →http://encounteringsilence.com...
June 25, 2018
Kenneth S. Leong: Silence, Christianity and Zen (Episode 27)
How does silence impact spirituality at the level of interfaith or interreligious engagement? Our guest today, Kenneth Leong, wrote a seminal book on Christian-Buddhist interspirituality, and so we were eager to have him join the Encountering Silence conversation to reflect on how silence takes us to a place beyond the limitations or separations of doctrine, … Continue reading Kenneth S. Leong: Silence, Christianity and Zen (Episode 27) →http://encounteringsilence.com/kennet...-...
June 14, 2018
Barbara A. Holmes: Silence as Unspeakable Joy (Episode 26)
How does the encounter with silence usher us into mystery? And how is our relationship with silence shaped by, or challenged by, the challenges and dynamics of social difference and privilege? What is the relationship between contemplation and community, and how is community actually essential to authentic contemplation? How are tears, and moaning, and dancing, … Continue reading Barbara A. Holmes: Silence as Unspeakable Joy (Episode 26) →http://encounteringsilence.com/barbar......
