Jacob Boehme: The Way to Christ

The Classics of Western Spirituality

by Jakob Böhme, Peter C. Erb (Translator, Introduction)

This volume contains an introduction to the thought and spirituality of Jacob Boehme (1575-1624), a German Lutheran and one of the greatest Christian mystics. The Way to Christ is a collection of nine treatises intended to serve as a meditation guide.

Genres: Christianity, Religion, Theology, Philosophy, Mysticism, Spirituality, God

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1624

About the author

Jakob Böhme (probably April 24, 1575[1] – November 17, 1624) was a German Christian mystic and theologian. He is considered an original thinker within the Lutheran tradition, and his first book, commonly known as Aurora, caused a great scandal. In contemporary English, his name may be spelled Jacob Boehme; in seventeenth-century England it was also spelled Behmen, approximating the contemporary English pronunciation of the German Böhme.

Reviews

[Timár_Krisztina]

Böhmét olvasni rendkívül nehéz. Ha költészetnek tekinti az ember (lehet, hiszen gyönyörű), vagy ha eleve abból indul ki, hogy itt most egy felsőbbrendű igazságban fog részesülni, akkor boldoggá fogja tenni az olvasás. (Jó eséllyel ilyenek voltak azok a korabeli olvasók, akik körében akkora sikereket aratott, hogy még megvédelmezni is hajlandók voltak, miközben a saját egyháza kitagadta. Még mecénásokat is talált közöttük.) Én sajnos hívő emberként sem vagyok ehhez elég egzaltált, főleg, hogy nem is a saját felekezetemről van szó. Amikor látni és érteni akarom a másikat, akkor is a racionalitás működik bennem: tudni akarom, mit állítunk és miről. Nos, most már nemcsak azt mondhatom, hogy kezdem felfogni, Böhme mit állít miről, hanem azt is saját tapasztalatból mondhatom, hogy érdemes megdolgozni érte.

Írásom a blogon:
https://gyujtogeto-alkoto.blog.hu/202...

[Elizabeth Andrew]

I waded through this tome because Cynthia Bourgeault leans heavily on Boehme to help her tie the Law of Three to Christian theology. Boehme has a creation theory that tackles not just how the world came to be but also how God birthed Godself in and through creation. Pretty wild. I can't say I understand half of it, but the bit I do understand has profoundly shaped how I think about transformation and humanity's participation in creation's ongoing evolution.

[Harrison King]

A dense and complicated work, but with beautiful ideas. A great addition to the line of mystical thinking that dates back to Plato. The alchemical cosmology is hard to follow without a guidebook or prior knowledge, but the meat of his ideas in the middle of the book were fantastic and easy to follow. The importance of silence, contemplation, meditation, letting go of the Ego and self-will could have all come straight from Buddhist or other Eastern traditions, but Boehme brings a Western Lutheran perspective that looks at the same ideas from a different angle.

[Bruno Pimenta]

Be afraid... be very afraid!

[Kelly Head]

Pretty much indistinguishable from psycho-babble, which explains his influence on German Idealism. I definitely agree with Samuel Johnston about Böhme: "If Jacob saw in his vision 'unutterable things,' he wanted the good sense of the apostle, or he would not have attempted to utter them."

[Margaret Gray]

Don't get it, don't think there's just one thing to get, inherited Wolfson's distaste. I mean how insane is it to appropriate sacred Kabbalistic ideas and then say that they can't actually be understood without considering Christ. I will always remember Wolfson saying "you have to appreciate he's trying to do something here. He isn't succeeding, but he's trying"

[Wesley]

The nine chapters are a mix, for sure. Like in some of the chapters the alchemy is just too heavy, and when I read tinctur my mind turns off.

But the “good” chapters, especially clustered in the middle, starting at the end of 3 and them on to 4 etc, are some of the best Christian/Spiritual writings I’ve read

[Edvard Taylor]

A great book by one probably the greatest German mystic.

[myron campbell]

I read this book every single day!!! This book has laid the foundation for my spiritual life.

[C. Forrest Gard]

I became intrigued with the Teutonic Philosopher, otherwise known as Jakob Böhme (Anglicized Jacob Behmen) when I came across someone on Substack who was frequently referencing him, and then further when I read his wikipedia write up and surmised that he was indeed a unique figure in Christian history. This little work of his I cannot recommend enough. Jakob reaches depths of the tension between flesh and Spirit that few if any writers I've read previously plunge to. He does well to illustrate the war that we sojourners in Christ endure whilst walking upon the earth in this life, explaining the soul's journey in a way seemingly only he can or has. For an uneducated shoemaker, he does it beautifully, I might add.

[Dionysius the Areopagite]

Wondrous.

[Kyle]

I found this rich and edifying.