"Mystics" Book Review

For my book review, I read "Mystics" by William Harmless, which profiles ten mystics-- 8 Christians, Rumi (Muslim), and Dogen (Zen Buddhist). It was an interesting book, however Harmless works on the definition of mysticism as mystical theology, which I thought was slightly limiting. He only included one woman mystic, which is disappointing because the mystical tradition is rich with women contributors.

He did make some interesting points about how to read mystical texts-- to take note of their history and lives, not just their theologies, to take note of the genre of their writings, and to understand the role of scripture within the context of their revelations.

I'll do a few more posts specifically about bits that I found particularly interesting.