The Presence of God, A History of Western Christian Mysticism, vol 2: The Growth of Mysticism.

In the first volume of his history of Western Christian mysticism (The Foundations of Mysticism [1991]), Bernard McGinn set out by insisting, as he restates it in the present volume, that mysticism should (a) be understood as an aspect or element in concrete religious communities and/or traditions and not as something discrete; (b) that the proper way to approach Christian mysticism is through historical study as mysticism develops in the tradition; and (c) that mysticism be understood. as that process or preparation by which a person prepares for, and is conscious of, the direct experience of God.

The third point is most useful because it permits McGinn to sidestep or bracket those largely interminable and never quite conclusive debates about whether author X is or is not a mystic if that author did not leave behind some firsthand autobiographical account of his or her experience. It also gets away from conundra like those which ask: if mystical experience is totally ineffable how can it be described adequately? and, also, if the ineffability is described oxymoronically (for example, the Sanjuanista todo y nada) is the experience the same for all mystics? These are not uninteresting questions, but as McGinn shows in an elaborate appendix to his first volume, there is no unanimity on these and many other topics and, finally, it is not his topic.

Volume 2 surveys the Christian West from roughly the end of the patristic period down to circa A.D. 1200. Heirs to a tradition that went back as early as Origen, Christian writers believed that one could come to an experience of God through an intense encounter with the Word of God, that is, sacred Scripture. There was, in short, right through the period McGinn surveys, an intimate nexus between exegesis and mysticism. Indeed, theologia mystica meant nothing esoteric; it meant speech about God deriving from an authentic understanding of the hidden (mystikos) meaning of the Bible. Hence the emphasis on reading (lectio) in the monastic tradition; as a later writer would put it, reading leads to contemplation.

The Second fact about this period (roughly A.D. 500 to 1200) is that Christian mystical writing was largely a product of monastic culture. As McGinn notes, over thirty monastic rules were written between A.D. 400-700. It was Benedict's Rule that would, in the Carolingian period, become the best known, but much earlier Pope Gregory the Great (540?-604), drawing on Benedictine sources (it was from him that we know anything at all about Benedict), crafted a wonderfully coherent theory and vocabulary of contemplation and its nexus to the apostolic life.

The great bridge builder of the early Middle Ages is John Scotus Erigena (died 877), an incredibly learned Irishman who, among other things, translated the writings of the Pseudo-Dionysius into Latin and thus, in a stroke, started a stream of "dark" or apophatic theology which would leave its mark on every major medieval thinker as well as subsequent figures like the great mystics John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila. In addition, as McGinn shows, Erigena emphasized in the West (largely through his knowledge of the Eastern fathers) the sophianic character of Christ, the power of divine grace to "deify" us, and the dialectical character of our knowledge/nonknowledge of God.

The period after the reforms initiated by Pope Gregory VII (1020?-1085) saw an outbreak of new orders, both cremetical and cenobitic, which is surveyed by McGinn. The second half of his book focuses most expansively on the Cistercians, for it is among them that, to use McGinn's formulation of it, experience becomes paramount: "I believe that I might experience," and that "experience" is the love of God. In a brilliant chapter on Bernard of Clairvaux, McGinn sets out the Bernardine doctrine of love of God as Bernard develops it in his synthesis of Christology, theological anthropology, and exegesis. A subsequent chapter treats William of Saint Thierry, and a third treats the other Cistercian masters. The book ends with a consideration of the Parisian Victorine school, whose masters would be so important in the transition period when theology shifts to the university.

It is impossible in the short space of this column to do an adequate description of the comprehensiveness of this work in progress. However, there are a few points worth emphasizing. First, this is a work of deep scholarship. The two hundred pages of notes, bibliographies, and indices not only provide a resource for further study but McGinn has cited all of his primary works, quoted in the text, in their original language so that those so inclined might check his translations against the original. Second, by discussing mysticism in the context of the Christian community as it historically evolves, he "demystifies" mysticism, allowing us to see two things: its close connection to the larger reality known as the Christian faith and, second, how certain motifs and insights deriving from the mystical tradition still exert their power on our lives today.

The ressourcement of the last fifty years, for example, in biblical studies, has brought not only a better grasp of how the Bible is constructed but has spawned an intense interest in biblical study and biblical spirituality. A close reader of McGinn will get more than one hint as to how one might meld biblical study to spiritual enrichment. Thus, his historical study provides background and context for those contemporary efforts of writers who attempt to envision a truly Christian spirituality that is faithful to the biblical witness.

There is, finally, abroad in the theological world today an attempt to bring systematic theology closer to spirituality. McGinn's work is of inestimable help in that enterprise. In his detailed consideration of persons like Gregory, Bernard, William of Saint Thierry, and the Victorines he is at pains to discuss them as theologians while not losing sight of his primary objective, which is their desire for the immediate knowledge of God. It is for that reason alone that I anticipate with eagerness his next volume (tentatively titled The Flowering of Mysticism), where he will consider the period of the scholastics--a period when much of theology shifts from the cloister to the university lecture ball.

In sum, this second volume is a worthy companion to the first. It belongs on the shelf of every serious student of the Christian enterprise (and in all theological libraries) and will be, I am sure, the standard work on the subject for decades to come.

Raymond Brown is, of course, one of the premier Catholic biblical scholars of this century. His work, however, has been complemented by a lifelong attempt to mediate the best results of biblical research to a broader audience. The extensive publication list of now classic works like his commentary on John and his work on the infancy and passion narratives did not keep him from writing both on spiritual topics (biblical reflections on the liturgical seasons) and particular studies of interest to students of the New Testament.