University of Kent

Recommended

The nearest to an overall textbook for the study of mysticism is:

Robert S. Ellwood, Mysticism and religion, 2nd ed. New York and London: Seven Bridges Press, 1999

Other books that take one further into particular areas of the subject include:

P Donovan, Interpreting religious experience, London, 1979
I M Lewis, Ecstatic religion: an anthropological study of spirit possession and shamanism, London: Routledge, 1989
Bernard McGinn, The foundations of mysticism, New York: Crossroad Press, 1991
McIntosh, Mark A. Mystical theology: the integrity of spirituality and theology, Blackwell, 1998
Carol Zaleski, Otherworld journeys: accounts of near-death experience in medieval and modern times

Applicants are also encouraged to start reading some original mystical texts. Suggested texts include the Hindu Upanishads, and writings from the 14th century English mystics:

The Cloud of Unknowing
The Revelations of Julian of Norwich

Indicative

The following selection of titles will give prospective applicants some idea of the variety of themes and diversity of approaches represented within this MA programme.


A H Armstrong (ed), Classical Mediterranean spirituality
Susan Blackmore, Beyond the body
S G F Brandon, Man and his destiny in the great religions
Robert Crookall, The supreme adventure
Caroline Franks Davis, The evidential force of religious experience
E R Dodds, Pagan and Christian in an age of anxiety
Peter Donovan, Interpreting religious experience
Mircea Eliade, Shamanism: archaic techniques of ecstasy
Mircea Eliade, Yoga: immortality and freedom
R S Ellwood, Mysticism and religion
R K C Forman, The problem of pure consciousness
Daniel Goleman, The varieties of the meditative experience
A Hardy, The spiritual nature of man
David Hay, Exploring inner space: scientists and religious experience
John Hick, Death and eternal life
Willard Johnson, Riding the ox home: a history of meditation from shamanism to science
William James, The varieties of religious experience
William Johnston, Silent music
William Johnston, The still point: reflections on Buddhist and Christian mysticism
S T Katz (ed), Mysticism and philosophical analysis
S T Katz (ed), Mysticism and religious traditions
S T Katz (ed), Mysticism and language
Allan Kellehear, Experiences near death: beyond medicine and religion
Marghanita Laski, Ecstasy: a study of some secular and religious experiences
J H Leuba, The psychology of religious mysticism
I M Lewis, Ecstatic religion: an anthropological study of spirit possession and shamanism
Vladimir Lossky, The mystical theology of the Eastern Church
A Maslow, Religions, values and peak experiences
R Moody, Life after life
M Paffard, Inglorious Wordsworths: a study of some transcendental experiences in childhood and adolescence
Nelson Pike, Mystic union: an essay in the phenomenology of mysticism
Nyanaponika Thera, The heart of Buddhist meditation
Kenneth Ring, Life at death: a scientific investigation of the near-death experience
Anne-Marie Schimmel, Mystical dimensions of Islam
G C Scholem, Major trends in Jewish mysticism
S Spencer, Mysticism in world religion
F Staal, Exploring mysticism: a methodological essay
J White, The highest state of consciousness
Ken Wilber, The spectrum of consciousness
Keith Yandell, The epistemology of religious experience
R C Zaehner, Mysticism sacred and profane: an inquiry into some varieties of praeternatural experience
Carol Zaleski, Otherworld journeys: accounts of near-death experience in medieval and modern times
G K Zollschan et al, Exploring the paranormal: perspectives on belief and experience

Select Bibliography

The literature on mysticism is voluminous. The development of the subject through the years is best tracked through periodical literature. This bibliography, however, restricts itself to a selection of general and comparative studies in book form published since 1978. It excludes studies of individual mystics and editions or anthologies of mystical texts.


Austin, James H. Zen and the Brain: Toward an Understanding of Meditation and Consciousness. Cambridge, MA, 1998.

Barnard, G. William. Exploring Unseen Worlds: Williams James and the Philosophy of Mysticism. Albany, N.Y., 1997.

Barnard, G. William, & Jeffrey John Kripal, eds. Crossing Boundaries: Essays on the Ethical Status of Mysticism. New York, 2002.

Brainard, F. Samuel. Reality and Mystical Experience. University Park, PA, 2000.

Bishop, Donald H., ed. Mysticism and the Mystical Experience: East and West. London & Toronto, 1995. A useful collection of essays surveying mysticism in various traditions.

D'Aquili, Eugene & Andrew B. Newberg. The Mystical Mind: Probing the Biology of Religious Experience. Minneapolis, 1999.

Ellwood, Robert S. Mysticism and Religion. 2nd ed., New York & Oxford, 1999. One of the very few introductory surveys of major issues and positions in the study of mysticism, stressing the inseparability of mysticism from the rest of religion.

Forman, Robert K. C., ed. The Problem of Pure Consciousness: mysticism and philosophy. New York & Oxford, 1990. The first of three volumes edited by the leading proponent of the non-constructivist analysis of mysticism.

Forman, Robert K. C., ed. The Innate Capacity: Mysticism, Psychology, Philosophy. New York, 1998.

Forman, Robert K. C. Mysticism, Mind, Consciousness. Albany, N.Y., 1999.

Franks Davis, Caroline. The Evidential Force of Religious Experience. Oxford, 1989.

Gellman, Jerome. Mystical Experience of God: a Philosophical Enquiry. Aldershot, 2001. A critical survey of objections to the argument that mystical experience provides evidence for theism.

Hollenback, Jess Byron. Mysticism: A Comparative Historical Study. Michigan, 1991.

Hollenback, Jess Byron. Mysticism: Experience, Response, and Empowerment. University Park, PA, 1996.

Hollywood, Amy. The Soul as Virgin Wife: Mechthild of Magdeburg, Marguerite Porete, and Meister Eckhart. Notre Dame, IN, 1995.

Hollywood, Amy. Sensible Ecstasy: Mysticism, Sexual Difference, and the Demands of History. Chicago, 2001.

Hunt, Harry T., Lives in Spirit: Precursors and Dilemmas of a Secular Western Mysticism. Albany, N.Y., 2003.

Idel, Moshe. Kabbalah: New Perspectives. New Haven, 1988.

Idel, Moshe, & Bernard McGinn, eds. Mystical Union in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam: An Ecumenical Dialogue. New York, 1996.

Jantzen, Grace. Power, Gender, and Christian Mysticism. Cambridge, 1995.

Jones, Richard H., ed. Mysticism Examined: Philosophical Enquiries into Mysticism. Albany, N.Y., 1993.

Katz, Steven T., ed. Mysticism and Philosophical Analysis. New York, 1978. The first of four volumes edited by the leading proponent of constructivism.

Katz, Steven T., ed. Mysticism and Religious Traditions. New York, 1983.

Katz, Steven T., ed. Mysticism and Language. New York, 1992.

Katz, Steven T., ed. Mysticism and Sacred Scripture. New York, 2000.

McGinn, Bernard. The Presence of God: A History of Western Christian Mysticism. New York, 1994-
An ongoing project in several volumes, already established as the standard history of Christian mysticism.

McIntosh, Mark A. Mystical Theology: The Integrity of Spirituality and Theology. Blackwell, 1998.

Merkur, Dan. Mystical Moments and Unitive Thinking. Albany, 1999.

Mommaers, Paul & Jan van Bragt. Mysticism Buddhist and Christian: Encounters with Jan van Ruusbroec. New York, 1995.

Newell, William Lloyd. Struggle and Submission: R. C. Zaehner on Mysticism. Washington, 1981.

Nieto, José C. Religious Experience and Mysticism: Otherness as Experience of Transcendence. Lanham, MD & New York, 1997.

Petroff, Elizabeth Avilda. Body and Soul: Essays on Medieval Women and Mysticism. New York, 1994.

Pike, Nelson. Mystic Union: An Essay in the Phenomenology of Mysticism. Ithaca, N.Y., 1992.

Roy, Louis. Transcendent Experiences: Phenomenology and Critique. Toronto, 2001.

Roy, Louis. Mystical Consciousness: Western Perspectives and Dialogue with Japanese Thinkers. New York, 2002.

Ruffing, Janet K., ed. Mysticism and Social Transformation. Syracuse, N.Y., 2001.

Sells, Michael A. Mystical Languages of Unsaying. Chicago & London, 1994. A study of the apophatic approach in four different mystical traditions.

Stoeber, Michael. Theo-Monistic Mysticism: a Hindu-Christian Comparison. N.Y., 1994.

Turner, Denys. The Darkness of God: Negativity in Christian mysticism. Cambridge, 1995.

Wainwright, William J. Mysticism: A Study of Its Nature, Cognitive Value and Moral Implications. Madison, WI, 1981.

Wiethaus, U., ed. Maps of Flesh and Light: The Religious Experience of Medieval Women Mystics. Syracuse, N.Y., 1993.