The Mysticism of Ordinary Life: Theology, Philosophy, and Feminism presents a new vision of Christian mystical theology. It offers critical interpretations of Catholic theologians, postmodern philosophers, and intersectional feminists who draw on mystical traditions to affirm ordinary life. It raises questions about normativity, gender, and race, while arguing that the everyday experience of the grace of divine union can be an empowering source of social transformation. It develops Christian teachings about the Word made flesh, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and the Christian spiritual life, while exploring the mystical significance of philosophical discourses about immanence, alterity, in-betweenness, nothingness, and embodiment. The discussion of Latino/a and Black sources in North America expands the Western mystical canon and opens new horizons for interdisciplinary dialogue. The volume challenges contemporary culture to recognize and draw inspiration from quotidian manifestations of the unknown God of incarnate love. It includes detailed studies of Grace Jantzen, Amy Hollywood, Catherine Keller, Karl Rahner, Adrienne von Speyr, Hans Urs von Balthasar, Michel Henry, Michel de Certeau, Luce Irigaray, Julia Kristeva, Gloría Anzaldúa, Ada María Isasi-Díaz, Alice Walker, M. Shawn Copeland, and more.
Foreword, by Maria Clara Bingemer Introduction: A New Vision of Christian Mystical Theology Part 1: Catholic Mystical Theologians in the Twentieth Century 1: Grace in the Ordinary: The Mystical Theology of Karl Rahner 2: Obedience, Love, and Suffering: The Mystical Theology of Adrienne von Speyr and Hans Urs von Balthasar Part 2: Christian Mysticism and Postmodern Philosophy 3: Immanence and Alterity: The Mystical Styles of Michel Henry and Michel de Certeau 4: The Other Within: Constructs of Mystical Femininity in Luce Irigaray and Julia Kristeva Part 3: Intersectional Feminism: Mystical Traditions from the American Side of the Atlantic 5: The Divine in Between: Gloria Anzaldúa, Ada María Isasi-Díaz, and Other Mestizo/a Mystical Sources 6: Divine Darkness Revisited: Alice Walker, M. Shawn Copeland, and Other Womanist and Black Mystical Sources Conclusion
Andrew Prevot is Associate Professor in the Theology Department at Boston College. He earned an MTS and PhD in Systematic Theology from the University of Notre Dame and a BA in Philosophy from The Colorado College. He is the author of Thinking Prayer: Theology and Spirituality amid the Crises of Modernity and Theology and Race: Black and Womanist Traditions in the United States and co-editor of Anti-Blackness and Christian Ethics. He has published over thirty essays and articles on topics in mystical theology, philosophical theology, and political theology.
Reviews for The Mysticism of Ordinary Life: Theology, Philosophy, and Feminism
A complex study highlighting a topic that was rarely visited by recent scholars working on spirituality, Andrew Prevot's Mysticism of Ordinary Life,...is a contribution that should stimulate reading, analysis and debate for every researcher in the field of spirituality. * Iuliu-Marius Morariu, The Recensiones * Certainly where the question of mystical theology is concerned, it is rather rare that a study as fundamental and profound as the one that Prevot now presents to the scientific community sees the light of day. The book therefore also belongs to the category of groundbreaking studies that not only presents a discipline - especially that of mystical theology - with new challenges, but in part already takes up these challenges itself and offers new perspectives to articulate the contemporary task of mystical theology. * Inigo Bocken, Studies in Spirituality * The book makes a significant contribution to the theological study of Christian mysticism and its intersection with contemporary feminist thought, which is a conversation which will hopefully have several more chapters. * Amy Maxey, Theological Studies *
- Winner of Finalist, Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion: Constructive-Reflective Studies, American Academy of Religion.
