"The Ground of Our Beseeching: Metaphor and the Poetics of Meditation describes the signature styles of meditation in three American poets, and shows how each generated language out of spiritual yearning. The author's inquiry in this area grew out of an interest in the interplay of creativity, language, and religion, and a need to know, as both critic and practicing poet, how metaphor arises, particularly in the context of poetry which hearkens after the sacred. How far, in other words, has metaphor taken some of our central poets - T. S. Eliot, Wallace Stevens, and Theodore Roethke - in matters of belief? No other critique of American poetry, prior to this study, has systematically linked the idea of the sacred with the practice of metaphor. Nor has a compelling case been made, until now, for viewing meditation, a style of thinking close to prayer, as the source or "ground" of these poets."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

In the light of their thirteen years of work on the critical edition of Showings, Colledge and Walsh give us this first modern English rendering from their critical text.

These dialogues between Robert Aitken Roshi, one of the first American-born Zen masters, and Brother David Steindl-Rast, the Roman Catholic monk and hermit, took place during a week-long retreat the two old friends undertook in 1991 in a remote part of the island of Hawaii. Their aim was to approach the dialogue between Buddhism and Christianity in a fresh way, one that takes as its starting point a comparison of the personal experiences of the dialoguers—as a Buddhist and as a Christian, respectively—rather than abstract concepts. The result is the discovery of a surprising amount of common ground—the kind of shared experience that forms a solid foundation for further dialogue.

Unlike other brief summaries of Julian's life in 14th-century Norwich, England, this book goes in-depth to uncover the political, cultural, social and religious milieu that formed and deeply influenced her development as a woman and a Christian mystic.

The last major verse written by Nobel laureate T. S. Eliot, considered by Eliot himself to be his finest work Four Quartets is a rich composition that expands the spiritual vision introduced in “The Waste Land.” Here, in four linked poems (“Burnt Norton,” “East Coker,” “The Dry Salvages,” and “Little Gidding”), spiritual, philosophical, and personal themes emerge through symbolic allusions and literary and religious references from both Eastern and Western thought. It is the culminating achievement by a man considered the greatest poet of the twentieth century and one of the seminal figures in the evolution of modernism.

Julian of Norwich, an anchoress of the fourteenth century, has captured the imagination of our time in a remarkable way. She shares with her readers the deepest and most intimate experiences of her life through her writings.This detailed study of Julian attempts not only to penetrate her theological ideas but also brings to life her world and her life as an anchoress. Grace Jantzen has more than an academic interest in Julian's writings and sets out to integrate scholarly findings with contemporary spirituality. There is much in the thought of this extraordinary woman mystic which is excitingly relevant; her insights into spiritual growth and wholeness foreshadow the modern interest in psychotherapy and her image of Christ as mother has resounding implications for Christian feminist theology.In a new introduction to this edition, the author explores what it might mean to be an anchoress in post modernity, and how reflections on Julian of Norwich and her desire for God can enable us to become the space of divine transformation.This is a book not only for those who have a scholarly interest in Julian, but also for anyone drawn to Christian mysticism and the place of women within that tradition.Julian of Norwich, an anchoress of the fourteenth century, has captured the imagination of our time in a remarkable way. She shares with her readers the deepest and most intimate experiences of her life through her writings.