Henry Suso

"The Classics of Western Spirituality (TM) series has itself become the acknowledged 'classic' in English for the study of Western spirituality."
Jorge Floria

Henry Suso: The Exemplar with Two German Sermons
translated, edited, and introduced by Frank Tobin
preface by Bernard McGinn

"This is the ground and foundation for our happiness-becoming less and an annihilation of oneself. Whoever wants to become something he is not, must of necessity become less of that which he is. Pure desirable Goodness, which is called and is God, exists in itself and dwells in its own substantial being, one substantial, immutable being existing and being for itself. All things should exist for him, not for themselves, but for him and through him. He is being, activity, life and all things; we are nothing except in him."
Henry Suso (c. 1300-1366)

The Dominican friar, Henry Suso, was one of the most fascinating mystics of the fourteenth century, an era of singular richness in the history of Christian mysticism. His Exemplar, here translated in its entirety, contains a rich diversity of religious experience- autobiographical, devotional, speculative and pastoral. Suso's Life compares with Augustine's Confessions in the realm of spiritual autobiography, while his major mystical works, the Little Book of Eternal Wisdom and the Little Book of Truth, witness to the intermingling of speculative mysticism dependent on Meister Eckhart and a devotional piety typical of the late Middle Ages. Henry Suso was one of the most popular of all late medieval writers. His Exemplar is a true classic of Western Spirituality.
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