do you happen to have any recs ie: books/readings on christian mysticism + theology? i've read a bit about catherine of siena for a history class in university and found her fascinating but i'm not quite sure where further to look as i am very much unfamiliar with the subject - ty !!!! <3
a strange quirk, you might say, of christianity is that we have mystical theology but we struggle to make practical sense of it. mysticism, especially when it presents in women, is often treated as dreaminess or romanticized rather than as authoritative theology (meister eckhart, augustine, and john of the cross, for instance, are regarded as authoritative in a very different way than catherine, hildegard, or teresa of avila, even though all of these women are doctors of the church and were regarded authoritatively in their lifetime). so i'll recommend some theologians who work within mysticism, but i earnestly think that the best way to learn about mysticism is by reading mystical texts themselves, my recommendations of which i'll list below.
bernard mcginn is arguably the foremost authority on christian mysticism. the varieties of vernacular mysticism, the crisis of mysticism, and his anthology the essential writings of christian mysticism is a very good primer with a wide variety of texts. caroline bynum walker is not a theologian but she's another major authority: holy feast and holy fast, jesus as mother, and wonderful blood are good books, but she's written a lot of wonderful papers as well: i especially like her reply to leo steinberg and women mystics and eucharistic devotion in the thirteenth century. michael sells is good too- a wonderful comparative religious theologian and i recommend his book mystical languages of unsaying.
in terms of mystics, simone weil's waiting for god and gravity and grace are indispensable; hildegard of bingen's scivias; teresa of avila's the interior castle, the way of perfection, and autobiography; marguerete porete's the mirror of simple souls; mechthild of magdeberg the flowing light of the godhead; mother maria skobtsova's essential writings; catherine of siena's dialogue; the book of margery kempe. you might also like the way of the cross by john of the cross and the work of meister eckhart. but i highly recommend getting mcginn's anthology- it was how i started off and is without a doubt the best way to begin getting a feel for mysticism.
