With the publication of The New Big Book of Christian Mysticism, I’ve been making the rounds of doing interviews, for podcasts and for print. Here are a few of the recent ones, in case you want to check any of them out…
First up: an interview for Quest Magazine and the Theosophical Society in America, in conversation with noted author Richard Smoley. The full interview was released on Youtube, so you can watch it below, or check out the print version in the Winter 2024 edition of Quest. What’s unusual about this interview is that Smoley criticized the New Big Book for ignoring the esoteric tradition — the Gnostics, Cathars, and other groups like that, that have historically been rejected as heretical by mainstream Christianity. My response was to acknowledge that such “heterodox” groups deserve to be considered mystics, but my book was designed to focus on the kind of mysticism that flourished within the context of “orthodox” monastic and contemplative Christianity. There’s plenty of consciousness-expanding weirdness in folks like Meister Eckhart, John Ruusbroec, and John of the Cross, so that’s who I’ve chosen to focus on. As a movement, Theosophy tends to champion the esoteric traditions of all religions, not just Christianity, so I acknowledged that people with a solid knowledge of Theosophy might find my book a little basic — well, so be it. It made for an interesting and at times spirited conversation about why mysticism has always been on the edge of the institutional church, and how one of the big questions for those who embrace mystical or contemplative teachings is, “Is the institutional church worth fighting for?”
Meanwhile, here are three podcasts, both of which come from speakers more situated in the mainstream Christian world — although who appear to share my concern that institutional Christianity is not always friendly to mysticism. We’ll start with an old favorite: “Spark My Muse” from Lisa Colon Delay. Lisa was the first person to interview me in support of the new book, and here’s a link to the podcast episode:
Kevin Sweeney’s “The Church Needs Therapy” podcast features a number of writers and speakers out of the contemplative tradition: here is Kevin’s and my conversation, both about The New Big Book of Christian Mysticism and about mysticism in general.
Finally, “The Vicar’s Crossing” features two Anglican vicars from Canada who describe themselves as “two regular guys who happen to be priests in the Anglican Church” — their podcast explores “the places where faith intersects with the Public Square,” So naturally, our conversation particularly looked at the social and political dimensions of Christian mysticism. Here’s where you can go for a listen…
Note that I’ve linked these podcasts to Spotify, but you can find them on Apple or Google Podcasts as well.
Happy listening (watching)!
