{"product_id":"mystics-9780195300390","title":"Mystics","description":"\u003cp\u003eMystics are path-breaking religious practitioners who claim to have experience the infinite  word-defying Mystery that is God. Many have been gifted writers with an uncanny ability to communicate the great realities of life with both a theologians precision and a poets lyricism. They use words to jolt us into recognizing ineffable mysteries surging beneath the surface of our lives and within the depths of our hearts and  by their artistry  can awaken us to see and savor fugitive glimpses of a God-drenched world.  In Mystics  William Harmless  S.J.  introduces readers to the scholarly study of mysticism. He explores both mystics extraordinary lives and their no-less-extraordinary writings using a unique case-study method centered on detailed examinations of six major Christian mystics: Thomas Merton  Bernard of Clairvaux  Hildegard of Bingen  Bonaventure  Meister Eckhart  and Evagrius Ponticus. Rather than presenting mysticism as a subtle web of psychological or theological abstractions  Harmlesss case-study approach brings things down to earth  restoring mystics to their historical context.  Harmless highlights the pungent diversity of mystical experiences and mystical theologies. Stepping beyond Christianity  he also explores mystical elements within Islam and Buddhism  offering a chapter on the popular Sufi poet Rumi and one on the famous Japanese Zen master Dogen. Harmless concludes with an overview of the century-long scholarly conversation on mysticism and offers a unique  multifaceted optic for understanding mystics  their communities  and their writings. Geared toward a wide audience  Mystics balances state-of-the-art scholarship with accessible  lucid prose.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45666102411317,"sku":"ByrdShop_0195300394","price":43.88,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780195300390.jpg?v=1782419680","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/mystics-9780195300390","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}