In one of his daily emails, Richard Rohr once admitted that he has some issues with the sayings of the Desert Mothers and Fathers — the early Christian hermits and…
Author: Carl McColman
Soul Friend and Storyteller. Lay Cistercian, Centering Prayer Presenter, Author, Blogger, Podcaster, Speaker, Teacher, Retreat Leader.
Come to the Eternal Heart Publication Day Celebration — June 29, 2021!
Friends, you are invited to a special virtual event: the Eternal Heart Book Launch Celebration! We will gather via Zoom on Tuesday, June 29, 2021 from 7:30 – 8:45 PM (Eastern…
Reclaiming the Bible as a Mystical Masterpiece
Part of the process of reclaiming mystical Christianity in our day will be the equally important task of reclaiming a mystical understanding of the Bible.
What I look for when I read contemplative books
I often get asked to recommend “the best” contemplative books. I’m happy to do so (see this post for a recent attempt to list some of the better books), but…
Take This One-Question Survey: Your Favorite Way(s) to Explore Contemplative Spirituality
Friends, could you take a half a minute and fill out this 1-question survey? I’m planning my calendar for the rest of the year, and I’m trying to gauge how…
When You Pre-order a Book, It Makes a Difference (Here’s Why)
Please click on the button of your preferred retailer to pre-order Eternal Heart: If you have already pre-ordered Eternal Heart, I thank you. If you haven’t, please do so. I’m not…
Why Julian of Norwich Matters to Me
I first “met” Julian of Norwich through reading Evelyn Underhill’s magisterial book Mysticism: The Nature and Development of Spiritual Consciousness. Underhill’s book changed my life, for a number of reasons: it…
Union, Intimacy, and Love: the Dynamics of Christian Mysticism
The best way to understand Christian mysticism (if “understanding” is even a possibility, given the mysterious nature of mysticism) is to approach it as a process: a developmental journey of how one relates to God.
So Many Books, So Little Time…
Lately I’ve been posting on social media a “book of the day.” It’s a combination of new books that I find interesting (which I may or may not have read),…
Even More (!) Advance Praise for “Eternal Heart”
In February I published the first words of endorsement that my forthcoming book, Eternal Heart, received, and then in March I published more words of support from authors like Zenju Earthlyn Manuel,…
A “Top Ten” List of Christian Contemplative Books
A reader writes, Wondering if you have an updated list of top ten books about Christian contemplation? Anyone who reads my blog knows that I have a fondness for publishing…
Twelve Ways to Approach Christian Mystical Spirituality
I cannot nail down a Christian understanding of mysticism in a single session of a class (or in a simple blog post), but hopefully I can offer some lines of thinking that can help readers and students to think about Christian mysticism in a manner that is consistent with how mysticism has been understood by Christian theologians, contemplatives and visionaries.