Review: "The New Big Book of Christian Mysticism" by Carl McColman

“Love is real, God is love and God dwells in your heart. And this God-who-is-Love wants nothing more than for you to realise what is already yours: the limitless joy of union with divine love as you behold the eyes of infinite compassion - and allow that compassion to guide your own life into care and service for others.” (pg. 1)

If this resonates with you in any way, this book might be for you. I was lucky to be sent a copy of this for review, and enjoyed it much more thouroughly than I thought I might. This guide to contemplative spirituality is both an introduction to what mysticism, and specifically Christian mysticism, is, as well as being a guide to the practices that invite an embodied experience of God. Both sections are clear and comprehensive, weaving in quotes from Christian mystics through time.

But the real joy of this book is the love that Carl brings to this work, both for God and community in all its wonderful variety. McColman acknowledges how oppressive and unsafe the Church has been and continues to be for many - particularly for women and members of the LGBTQI community - as well as its self-serving complicity in widespread economic inequality. McColman also addresses God-language - the way that male-centered language and imagery have convinced seemingly everyone that God is male. He posits something more radical - that God is Father, God is Mother and God in nonbinary. This is so in my wheelhouse and honestly for me worth the price of admission.

This book offers no easy remedies to these issues but rather invites us to consider how a felt sense of God’s love might transform individuals and in turn community, to dismantle “all forms of injustice, privilege or oppression and fostering relationships and communities based in equity, inclusivity, peace and justice.”

I am deeply repelled by the Church, and deeply spiritual. And I found this book wonderfully loving, generous and moving, one I think that will support much pondering and future musing.