Read the Bible like a Mystic

""Carl McColman writes from a heart transformed by mystical love and invites the reader onto a powerful journey of seeing Scripture in new ways. What a gift this book is, to help save the ancient texts sacred to Christian and Jewish traditions from fundamentalist agendas, and to invite us into ways of reading that are spacious, imaginative, full of mystery and wonder, and overflowing with deepened love and transformation. Carl gives his readers a generous map to the heart of wisdom through imaginative encounters with the sacred texts. Highly recommended reading for all contemplatives."" --Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, online abbess of Abbey of the Arts and author of more than twenty books on the contemplative path ""If you've been hankering for a deeper engagement with the Bible but find yourself put off by the heavy-handed ways in which its teaching is so often delivered these days, Carl McColman proposes a refreshing alternative: Why not learn to read the Bible like a mystic? In this delightful, non-technical book, he lets you in on an open secret known to Christian monks and mystics for nearly two thousand years: that reading the Bible is not about dogma and certainty; it's an open-ended engagement with the Infinite, which calls on the best of your own creativity and spiritual imagination and prizes the unique authority of your own experience. Drawing on the lives of mystics both ancient and contemporary, he shows you how this engagement works and the surprising places it can lead you if you're willing to take it seriously and work at it patiently."" --Cynthia Bourgeault, author of The Wisdom Way of Knowing and The Wisdom Jesus ""Some read the Bible thinking it's a menu. Mystics read the Bible knowing it's the meal: internalizing its wisdom and making it a part of their being and becoming. Carl McColman's Read the Bible like a Mystic is a powerful invitation to pick up the Bible and ""come and eat"" (John 21:12). I hope you are brave enough to accept it."" --Rabbi Rami Shapiro, author of Perennial Wisdom for the Spiritually Independent ""Read the Bible like a Mystic is for anyone who has ever felt astonished, mystified, or frustrated by Christian Scripture. Particularly for those who've known the pain of Scripture weaponized against them, and for those who've attempted to make sense of its complexities, but experienced a mix of headache, disagreement, longing, and wonder, Carl McColman's wise book is an honest, helpful guide."" --Carmen Acevedo Butcher, PhD, poet and award-winning translator of The Cloud of Unknowing, Practice of the Presence by Brother Lawrence, and Hildegard of Bingen ""Carl McColman's Read the Bible like a Mystic is a vital guide for those seeking a deeper, more transformative relationship with Scripture. In a time when the Bible is often misused to divide, oppress, and harm, McColman invites us to rediscover its power as a source of justice and profound spiritual wisdom. This book is a must-read for anyone yearning to engage the sacred text with fresh eyes and a contemplative heart."" --Brandan Robertson, pastor and author of Queer & Christian: Reclaiming the Bible, Our Faith, and Our Place at the Table ""In these times of fear and exile, we are grasping for wisdom to survive. When our terror and alienation get projected onto the Bible, we sadly distort the wisdom we are desperately reaching for. Carl McColman, in this book, is offering us an invitation and instructions on how to pause and reorient our minds and hearts toward mystery and wholeness--mystic consciousness--so that we may truly discover the wisdom we seek in the Bible and experience the heaven on earth we can create."" --Pamela Ayo Yetunde, ThD, pastoral counselor and author of Casting Indra's Net and Dearly Beloved: Prince, Spirituality, and This Thing Called Life