Related Books: Christianity and Hesychasm

These two moving studies by the eminent Orthodox theologian and sophiologist Father Sergei Bulgakov are remarkable in many ways. The first is a unique consideration -- from the point of view of Eastern Christianity -- of the Holy Grail, the chalice used by Joseph of Aramathea to catch the blood and water as it flowed from Jesus's side when it was pierced on the Cross by the spear of Longinus. This moment is described in John 19.34. Bulgakov's essay is a "dogmatic exegesis" of this passage in which, with astounding passion and precision, he reveals that the Earth itself and hence the human universe is the Grail wherein Christ lives forever. The second essay is also unique the most important contribution to eucharistic theology by an Orthodox theologian. In the West, the meaning of the Communion bread and wine as the Christ's Body and Blood has been interpreted largely in philosophical terms deriving from Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas. Bulgakov insists on a Christological and Gospel-based interpretation, one with tremendous significance for our understanding of the supernatural and Sophianic nature of a world interpenetrated by the divine. Thus this little book is a priceless gift, enriching our understanding of the Christian mystery and two of its deepest aspects, the Grail and the Eucharist.

Library Journal Review

Davies (humanities, Univ. of Ulster) has written a volume of eight essays that is part of a series including Thomas Moore's The Planets Within and Noel Cobb's Archetypal Imagination. Examining esoteric themes, such as intimate dialog, the soul's journey, and active imagination, he shows how esoteric traditions of the East and the West correspond to the important themes and ideas of the major Romantic poets, such as Byron, Keats, and Shelley. His book builds on Gaston Bachelard's The Poetics of Reverie and works by Owen Barfield but goes beyond these earlier discussions and into the more modern topic of ecological criticism. He ends by relating the themes of the Romantic poets to the study of present-day spiritual quests. As this work is a bit weighty, especially because it encompasses such a variety of ideas, it is recommended for large academic libraries with extensive religion and literary studies collections.--Kim Woodbridge, Athenaeum of Philadelphia Lib.