Carl McColman's Blog, page 9

If You’re in Atlanta, Come to the Book Launch Party on August 31!

Hi friends, just inviting you to come to the Cathedral of Saint Philip at 7 PM on Thursday, August 31 to celebrate the publication of The New Big Book of Christian Mysticism.

Here’s the write up from the Cathedral Bookstore’s Website:

Book Launch Celebration for:
The New Big Book of Christian Mysticism by author Carl McColman
When:  August 31, 2023 at 7:00p.m.
Where:  The Cathedral Bookstore inside the Cathedral of St. Philip, Atlanta, GA
Pre-order the book:  click here

This program is free an...

Praise for the New (and Old!) Big Book of Christian Mysticism

The other day I was speaking with a dear friend who said she really loves to read the endorsements in a book — the short blurbs that get printed on the book’s cover or before the title page, where other authors share how much they enjoyed reading the book. For any author, asking your peers to read your not-yet-published book (and waiting to hear back from them) is an angst-producing step in the book’s production process, but it’s always a joy when they respond, usually in ways that make me feel ...

Register Now for the Upcoming Contemplative Prayer Summit!

I’m happy to invite you to register for an online offering Contemplative Prayer Summit that is taking place on September 23 and 24, 2023. Click here to register.

Just for the sake of transparency, I am not speaking at this event (I’m leading a retreat that week) — but plenty of wonderful people are, like Kaira Jewel Lingo, Ruben Habito, Cassidy Hall, Matthew Wright, and Margaret Benefiel! Any one of these people would be worth the cost of this event — so it’s a bargain to have access to all of t...

How Does My New Christian Mysticism Book Differ from the Old Edition?

A reader on Facebook wrote,

Congratulations the new book. Just curious how the new one is different from the older?

I’ve been meaning to write a blog post explaining the difference, so thanks for the nudge!

Here’s the run down. Keep in mind that The New Book of Christian Mysticism is both revised and expanded from the original version.

The new edition is 33% longer than the original. (old edition: 94,000 words; new edition: 140,000); this translates to over ninety pages longer (but the price o...

Margaret Simon, Patron Saint of Interspiritual Seekers

The other night my wife and I watched Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. Like the 1970 book by Judy Blume, this is a coming-of-age story about girls entering into the scary and wonderful world of puberty. Since the producers of the movie wisely kept the setting of the film in the early 1970s, for us watching this movie was mostly a nostalgia trip (if Margaret were a real person, she would have been one grade behind my wife, and two years ahead of me). But as the title suggests, there is an in...

Pre-Order My New Book (and Get the Old Edition at a Bargain Price)!

Friends, I’m running a flash sale on the first edition of The Big Book of Christian Mysticism — I only have a few copies left in stock, and I need to find them new homes to make room for my forthcoming inventory of the second (new) edition!

I’m selling them now for only $4.99 plus shipping! Each one will be autographed, so get a copy or two to give away! Once these are gone, they’ll be discontinued from my website.

Here’s the link to order The Big Book of Christian Mysticism (first edition) for ...

Register Now for an Online Retreat: Mystical Path to a Joyful Life (August 4-5, 2023)

Friends, I hope you’ll join me on August 4 and 5 for an online contemplative retreat focussing on one of my favorite topics: Joy!

Co-sponsored by Contemplative Outreach of New Orleans and the School for Contemplative Living, this retreat will weave together Centering Prayer with spirited exploration of how the heart contains all the wisdom, blessings and gifts we need to embrace a life of deep and lasting joy. The retreat is based on my book Eternal Heart, but you do not need to read the book in...

Interspirituality and Cultural Appropriation, or, How to Expand Your Faith Without Stealing From Others

Recently I spoke about Christian mysticism and interspirituality for the Closer than Breath Christian Mystic Summit. One attendee, a person named Kurt, wrote a follow-up email to me and asked this question:

Does the experience of interspirituality open one up to charges of some sort of ‘cultural misappropriation’ because I might adopt some practices or texts or whatever from a spiritual/religious tradition that was not my own? Is it only a hardened fundamentalist who would level that charge if I...

Deep and Wide: Integrating Christian Mystical Practice with Interspiritual Exploration

Here’s a video of the talk I gave last night for the Christian Mystics Summit sponsored by Closer Than Breath. My topic was the integration of Christian mysticism with interspirituality. I discuss the many different ways of approaching mysticism within Christianity, as well as different ways of understanding interspirituality or engaging in interspiritual practice. My takeaway is that we have so many different invitations into how we can respond to the loving call of the Spirit into the mystica...

A Conversation about Mysticism! Kate Rademacher and I talk about “The New Big Book” and other fun stuff

My first interview talking about The New Big Book of Christian Mysticism has been released. It’s embedded above, or you can check it out on Youtube by clicking here.

Kate Rademacher of Writing for Your Life and Compassionate Christianity sat down with me the other day for a Zoom chat about mysticism, theology, spirituality, writing, publishing, and other fun topics, like “How to talk about mysticism with your agnostic family members” — that sort of thing. We talked about the proper way to prono...