Cynthia Bourgeault describes the foundations of her theology: a cosmological seeing with the eye of the heart, Benedictine daily rule informed by wisdom from the Asian traditions. She explains the influence of philosophers built on the cornerstones of the Incarnation and the Paschal Mystery, tied by the Trinity as a cosmogonic principle.
Centering Prayer is the path to a wonderful and radical new way of seeing the world. It is not, as is sometimes thought, simply an act of devotional piety, nor is it a Christianized form of other meditation methods. Cynthia Bourgeault here cuts through the misconceptions to show that Centering Prayer is in fact a pioneering development within the Christian contemplative tradition. She provides a practical, complete course in the practice and then goes deeper to analyze what actually happens in Centering Prayer: the mind effectively switches to a new operating system that makes possible the perception of nonduality. With this understanding in place, she then takes us on a journey through one of the sources of the practice, the Christian contemplative classic The Cloud of Unknowing, revealing it to be among the earliest Christian explorations of the phenomenology of consciousness. Cynthia Bourgeault’s illumination of the Centering Prayer path provides compelling evidence of how important the practice has become in the half-century since it first arose among American Trappist monks, and of its maturation and refinement over the ensuing years of sincere study and practice. It will resonate with beginners on the Centering Prayer path as well as with seasoned practitioners.
Drawing on resources as diverse as Sufism, Benedictine Monasticism, the Gurdjieff Work, and the string theory of modern physics, Cynthia Bourgeault has crafted her own unique vision of the Wisdom way in this very accessible book, nicely balanced between concept and practice." —Gerald May, senior fellow, Shalem Institute, and author, Addiction and Grace and Will and Spirit "The spiritual wisdom and practical suggestions in this lively and beautiful book will be helpful to many who find themselves setting out on the interior journey." —Bruno Barnhart, a Camaldolese monk and author, Second Simplicity: The Inner Shape of Christianity "Cynthia Bourgeault's book is a valuable contribution to the much-needed reawakening of spiritual practice within a Christian context. Her sincerity, good sense, metaphysical depth, and broad experience make her a source to be trusted." —Kabir Helminski, Sufi Shaikh, the Threshold Society
The author of The Wisdom Jesus takes readers on a journey to discover the real Mary Magdalene—and finds a powerful, ancient model for 21st-century spirituality Mary Magdalene is one of the most influential symbols in the history of Christianity—yet, if you look in the Bible, you’ll find only a handful of verses that speak of her. How did she become such a compelling saint in the face of such paltry evidence? In her effort to answer that question, Cynthia Bourgeault examines the Bible, church tradition, art, legend, and newly discovered texts to see what’s there. She then applies her own reasoning and intuition, informed by the wisdom of the ages-old Christian contemplative tradition. What emerges is a radical view of Mary Magdalene as Jesus’s most important disciple, the one he considered to understand his teaching best. That teaching was characterized by a nondualistic approach to the world and by a deep understanding of the value of the feminine. Cynthia shows how an understanding of Mary Magdalene can revitalize contemporary Christianity, how Christians and others can, through her, find their way to Jesus’s original teachings and apply them to their modern lives.
A new view of Jesus as a Buddha-like wisdom teacher who taught the transformation of consciousness—with traditional contemplative practices you can do yourself If you put aside what you think you know about Jesus and approach the Gospels as though for the first time, something remarkable happens: Jesus emerges as a teacher of the transformation of consciousness. The Wisdom Jesus provides a new perspective on Christ and an expansive interpretation of His message. Cynthia Bourgeault creates a masterful guide to Jesus's vision and the traditional contemplative practices you can use to experience the heart of his teachings for yourself.
This groundbreaking book shares the evolution of Cynthia Bourgeault's spiritual journey and offers a new map to understanding energy and our collective reality. In Eye of the Heart, Cynthia Bourgeault investigates the imaginal realm--an energetic realm well known to the mystical traditions but often forgotten in our own times. It is invisible to the physical eye, but clearly perceptible through the eye of the heart. The imaginal realm has long been associated with the personal world of dreams, prophecy, and oracles, and it also points toward a higher vision of our human purpose that is both evolutionary and collective. Bourgeault explores both aspects of imaginal reality and shows readers how we can cooperate more fully with its guidance in our lives. Expertly blending her own lived experiences with research on the imaginal realm, Bourgeault explores how her personal relationships have helped to bring these teachings into sharper focus and the role this realm plays in Christian and other mystical traditions. She delves into the connections between our inner consciousness and what happens in the world, exploring the transformative energy and governing conventions that make the manifestation of this realm possible. Eye of the Heart presents Bourgeault's spiritual journey with the imaginal realm and encourages readers to attune their hearts for the well-being of the world.
Ablaze with passion for the one essential task of the monk: total inner transformation". —Brother David Stendl-Rast "Libraries offering titles on mysticism, inner transformation, or dealing with grief will find this a unique and welcome addition."—Library Journal This powerful book, written by an Episcopal priest, tells of her intense relationship with Brother Raphael Robin, a seventy-year-old Trappist monk and hermit. Both believed that a relationship can continue beyond this life, and here Cynthia Bourgeault describes her search for that connection before and after Robin's death. Bourgeault's previous books include The Wisdom Jesus and Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening.
In five interwoven meditations, Mystical Hope shows how to recognize hope in our own lives, where it comes from, how to deepen it through prayer, and how to carry it into the world as a source of strength and renewal.
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In this formula that Christians recite as though on autopilot lie the secrets for healing our world, rekindling our visionary imagination, and manifesting the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. It’s an astonishing claim, but one that is supported by Cynthia Bourgeault’s exploration of Trinitarian theology—and by her bold work in further articulating the deep truth it contains. She looks to the ancient concept in light of the ideas of G. I. Gurdjieff and Jacob Boehme to reveal the Trinity as the "hidden driveshaft" within Christianity: the compassionate expression of the Uncreated Reality in creation.
Chanting the psalms, or psalmody, is an ancient practice of vital importance in the Christian spiritual tradition. Today many think of it as a discipline that belongs only in monasteries—but psalmody is a spiritual treasure that is available to anyone who prays. You don’t need to be musical or a monk to do it, and it can be enjoyed in church liturgical worship, in groups, or even individually as part of a personal rule of prayer. Cynthia Bourgeault brings the practice into the twenty-first century, providing a history of Christian psalmody as well as an appreciation of its place in contemplative practice today. And she teaches you how to do it as you chant along with her on the accompanying CD in which she demonstrates the basic techniques and easy melodies that anyone can learn. “Even if you can’t read music,” Cynthia says, “or if somewhere along the way you’ve absorbed the message that your voice is no good or you can’t sing on pitch, I’ll still hope to show you that chanting the psalms is accessible to nearly everyone.”
The pure and penetrating message of the Divine Feminine - Wisdom - can become a companion for your own spiritual journey The first of God's creations and God's endless delight, Wisdom (also known as Chochma and Sophia) is the Mother of all life, the guide to right living - She is God manifest in the world you encounter moment to moment. Her teachings, embedded in the Holy Scriptures of Jews and Christians, are passionate, powerful calls to live in harmony, love with integrity and act joyously. Through the Hebrew books of Psalms, Proverbs, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes and Job, and the Wisdom literature books of Sirach and the Wisdom of Solomon, the Divine Feminine speaks to you directly, and Her only desire is to teach you to become wise. Rami Shapiro's contemporary translations and powerful commentaries clarify who Wisdom is, what She teaches, and how Her words can help you live justly, wisely and with compassion. This is not a book about Wisdom but the voice of Wisdom Herself, liberating, uplifting and compelling. Now you can experience the Divine Feminine and understand Her teachings with no previous knowledge of Wisdom literature. This SkyLight Illuminations edition presents insightful commentary that explains Sophia's way of wisdom and illustrates the countless opportunities to experience Her creative energy through which God fashions all things.
The best-selling author of The Wisdom Jesus and The Meaning of Mary Magdalene demystifies the popular Christian meditation method rooted in contemplative prayer Centering Prayer is the path to a wonderful and radical new way of seeing the world. It is not, as is sometimes thought, simply an act of devotional piety, nor is it simply a Christianized form of other meditation methods. Cynthia Bourgeault here cuts through the misconceptions to show that Centering Prayer is in fact a pioneering development within the Christian contemplative tradition. She provides a practical, complete course in the practice and then goes deeper to analyze what actually happens in Centering Prayer: the mind effectively switches to a new operating system that makes possible the perception of nonduality. With this understanding in place, she then takes us on a journey through one of the sources of the practice, the Christian contemplative classic The Cloud of Unknowing, revealing it to be among the earliest Christian explorations of the phenomenology of consciousness. Cynthia Bourgeault’s illumination of the Centering Prayer path provides compelling evidence of how important the practice has become in the half-century since it first arose among American Trappist monks, and of its maturation and refinement over the ensuing years of sincere study and practice. It will resonate with beginners on the Centering Prayer path as well as with seasoned practitioners.
Chanting the psalms, or psalmody, is an ancient practice of vital importance in the Christian spiritual tradition. Today many think of it as a discipline that belongs only in monasteries—but psalmody is a spiritual treasure that is available to anyone who prays. You don’t need to be musical or a monk to do it, and it can be enjoyed in church liturgical worship, in groups, or even individually as part of a personal rule of prayer. Cynthia Bourgeault brings the practice into the twenty-first century, providing a history of Christian psalmody as well as an appreciation of its place in contemplative practice today. And she teaches you how to do it as you chant along with her on the accompanying CD in which she demonstrates the basic techniques and easy melodies that anyone can learn. “Even if you can’t read music,” Cynthia says, “or if somewhere along the way you’ve absorbed the message that your voice is no good or you can’t sing on pitch, I’ll still hope to show you that chanting the psalms is accessible to nearly everyone.”
Drawing on resources as diverse as Sufism, Benedictine Monasticism, the Gurdjieff Work, and the string theory of modern physics, Cynthia Bourgeault has crafted her own unique vision of the Wisdom way in this very accessible book, nicely balanced between concept and practice." —Gerald May, senior fellow, Shalem Institute, and author, Addiction and Grace and Will and Spirit "The spiritual wisdom and practical suggestions in this lively and beautiful book will be helpful to many who find themselves setting out on the interior journey." —Bruno Barnhart, a Camaldolese monk and author, Second Simplicity: The Inner Shape of Christianity "Cynthia Bourgeault's book is a valuable contribution to the much-needed reawakening of spiritual practice within a Christian context. Her sincerity, good sense, metaphysical depth, and broad experience make her a source to be trusted." —Kabir Helminski, Sufi Shaikh, the Threshold Society
The modern-day mystic and beloved author of The Wisdom Jesus shares the evolution of her spiritual journey, offering a bold interpretation of Christian mysticism, energy, and our collective reality In Eye of the Heart, Cynthia Bourgeault investigates the imaginal realm—an energetic realm well known to the mystical traditions but often forgotten in our own times. It is invisible to the physical eye, but clearly perceptible through the eye of the heart. The imaginal realm has long been associated with the personal world of dreams, prophecy, and oracles, and it also points toward a higher vision of our human purpose that is both evolutionary and collective. Bourgeault explores both aspects of imaginal reality and shows readers how we can cooperate more fully with its guidance in our lives. Expertly blending her own lived experiences with research on the imaginal realm, Bourgeault explores how her personal relationships have helped to bring these teachings into sharper focus and the role this realm plays in Christian and other mystical traditions. She delves into the connections between our inner consciousness and what happens in the world, exploring the transformative energy and governing conventions that make the manifestation of this realm possible. Eye of the Heart presents Bourgeault’s spiritual journey with the imaginal realm and encourages readers to attune their hearts for the well-being of the world.
In The Corner of Fourth and Nondual, a title inspired by Thomas Merton's moment of revelation 'at the corner of Fourth and Walnut' in his celebrated essay 'A Member of the Human Race', Cynthia Bourgeault--internationally renowned retreat leader, and a practitioner and teacher of centering prayer--describes the foundations of her theology: a cosmological seeing with the eye of the heart, and classic Benedictine daily rule informed and enlightened by wisdom from the Asian traditions. She explains the influence of the author of The Cloud of Unknowing, Teilhard de Chardin, Boehme, Barnhart, Keating, and Gurdjieff, among others in a philosophy built on the cornerstones of the Incarnation and the Paschal Mystery, tied by the Trinity as a cosmogonic principle, the fundamental generative mechanism through which all things came into being. In the My Theology series, the world's leading Christian thinkers explain some of the principal tenets of their theological beliefs in concise, pocket-sized books. There are sixteen titles total.
The author of The Wisdom Jesus takes readers on a journey to discover the real Mary Magdalene—and finds a powerful, ancient model for 21st-century spirituality Mary Magdalene is one of the most influential symbols in the history of Christianity—yet, if you look in the Bible, you’ll find only a handful of verses that speak of her. How did she become such a compelling saint in the face of such paltry evidence? In her effort to answer that question, Cynthia Bourgeault examines the Bible, church tradition, art, legend, and newly discovered texts to see what’s there. She then applies her own reasoning and intuition, informed by the wisdom of the ages-old Christian contemplative tradition. What emerges is a radical view of Mary Magdalene as Jesus’s most important disciple, the one he considered to understand his teaching best. That teaching was characterized by a nondualistic approach to the world and by a deep understanding of the value of the feminine. Cynthia shows how an understanding of Mary Magdalene can revitalize contemporary Christianity, how Christians and others can, through her, find their way to Jesus’s original teachings and apply them to their modern lives.
In this revealing look at home care, Cynthia J. Cranford illustrates how elderly and disabled people and the immigrant women workers who assist them in daily activities develop meaningful relationships even when their different ages, abilities, races, nationalities, and socioeconomic backgrounds generate tension. As Cranford shows, workers can experience devaluation within racialized and gendered class hierarchies, which shapes their pursuit of security. Cranford analyzes the tensions, alliances, and compromises between security for workers and flexibility for elderly and disabled people, and she argues that workers and recipients negotiate flexibility and security within intersecting inequalities in varying ways depending on multiple interacting dynamics. What comes through from Cranford's analysis is the need for deeply democratic alliances across multiple axes of inequality. To support both flexible care and secure work, she argues for an intimate community unionism that advocates for universal state funding, designs culturally sensitive labor market intermediaries run by workers and recipients to help people find jobs or workers, and addresses everyday tensions in home workplaces.
God’s Welcome: A Co-Creative Vision of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius for Women By: Cynthia Byers Walter While remaining true to the original Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, God’s Welcome presents the exercises in a more dialogical format that respects the range of experience of twenty-first century seekers. Conceived as a response to the issues women typically face when making the Exercises, this book appeals to anyone interested in a deeper, co-creative, and cooperative relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Using the Ignatian pattern of a daily discipline of prayer, God’s Welcome takes the seeker through a journey of about nine months, in which spiritual growth is informed not only by Holy Scripture, but by the scripture of daily life and experience.
Essays range from historical overviews and historiographic surveys of children's health in various regions of the world, to disability and affliction narratives - from polio in North American to AIDS orphans in post-Apartheid South Africa - to interpretations of artistic renderings of sick children that tell us much about medicine, family, and society at specific times in history.
This volume takes a closer look at three New Testament letters. In the analysis of Philippians, Elsa Tamez endeavors to utilize non-patriarchal, inclusive language, which helps us to see the contents of the letter with different eyes. And finally, taking into account historical, structural, and rhetorical dimensions of Philemon." -- Inside cover
WINNER OF A CHOICE OUTSTANDING ACADEMIC TITLE AWARD 2018 In the early twentieth century, Marguerite Zorach and Georgiana Brown Harbeson were at the forefront of the modern embroidery movement in the United States. In the first scholarly examination of their work and influence, Cynthia Fowler explores the arguments presented by these pioneering women and their collaborators for embroidery to be considered as art. Using key exhibitions and contemporary criticism, The Modern Embroidery Movement focuses extensively on the individual work of Zorach and Brown Harbeson, casting a new light on their careers. Documenting a previously marginalised movement, Fowler brings together the history of craft, art and women's rights and firmly establishes embroidery as a significant aspect of modern art.
Seize the joy and healing power of dance! Drawing from her years of experience as a dance and movement teacher, and as cofounder of the international dance organization InterPlay, Cynthia Winton-Henry helps you overcome your embarrassment or anxiety and discover in dance a place of solace and restoration, as well as an energizing spiritual force. She taps into the spirit of dancing throughout history and in many world cultures to provide detailed exercises that will help you learn to trust your body and interpret its physical and spiritual intentions. For both newcomers and seasoned movers alike, she encourages you to embrace dance as a spiritual tool to:
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