Spiritus
September 1, 2025
Ryan Coyne
McGinn's Modern Mystics functions as both a conclusion to his multivolume history, The Presence of God, and an introduction to his broader project. It places that historical work among twentieth-century mystical authors and, more significantly, begins to address the deeper relationship between history and theology evident in McGinn's scholarship. This is seen through his engagements with Marie-Dominique Chenu, Simone Weil, and Bernard Lonergan.
Spiritus
September 1, 2023
G. M. Young
Bernard McGinn's Modern Mystics: An Introduction serves as a coda to his seven-volume series on Western Christian mysticism, addressing the development of Christian mysticism in the twentieth century. The book begins with a description of mysticism as the preparation for, consciousness of, and effect of a direct and transformative encounter with the presence of God. It then examines ten twentieth-century mystics—including Charles de Foucauld, Thérèse of Lisieux, Edith Stein, Simone Weil, and Thomas Merton—evenly divided between female and male figures and representing Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and Hindu-influenced traditions. Each chapter provides biography and discussion of the mystic's teaching, highlighting themes such as visions, suffering, action and contemplation, holistic perspectives, apophatic discourse, crossing traditions, and marginality. The book concludes by considering what it means for present-day people to read mystical texts.