Teaching Mysticism
Published on 12. January 2012
Book
Hardback
320 pages
978-0-19-975119-8 (ISBN)
Description
The term ''mysticism'' has never been consistently defined or employed, either in religious traditions or in academic discourse. The essays in this volume offer ways of defining what mysticism is, as well as methods for grappling with its complexity in a classroom.
This volume addresses the diverse literature surrounding mysticism in four interrelated parts. The first part includes essays on the tradition and context of mysticism, devoted to drawing out and examining the mystical element in many religious traditions. The second part engages traditions and religio-cultural strands in which ''mysticism'' is linked to other terms, such as shamanism, esotericism, and Gnosticism. The volume's third part focuses on methodological strategies for defining ''mysticism,'' with respect to varying social spaces. The final essays show how contemporary social issues and movements have impacted the meaning, study, and pedagogy of mysticism.
Teaching Mysticism presents pedagogical reflections on how best to communicate mysticism from a variety of institutional spaces. It surveys the broad range of meanings of mysticism, its utilization in the traditions, the theories and methods that have been used to understand it, and provides critical insight into the resulting controversies.
This volume addresses the diverse literature surrounding mysticism in four interrelated parts. The first part includes essays on the tradition and context of mysticism, devoted to drawing out and examining the mystical element in many religious traditions. The second part engages traditions and religio-cultural strands in which ''mysticism'' is linked to other terms, such as shamanism, esotericism, and Gnosticism. The volume's third part focuses on methodological strategies for defining ''mysticism,'' with respect to varying social spaces. The final essays show how contemporary social issues and movements have impacted the meaning, study, and pedagogy of mysticism.
Teaching Mysticism presents pedagogical reflections on how best to communicate mysticism from a variety of institutional spaces. It surveys the broad range of meanings of mysticism, its utilization in the traditions, the theories and methods that have been used to understand it, and provides critical insight into the resulting controversies.
Reviews / Votes
Parsons has succeeded to bring together some of the most important established authorities on mystical traditions, together with emerging authorities, and cover an impressively varied and broad range of subfields within the study of mysticism, esotericism, and Gnosticism. * Religious Studies Review *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Dimensions
Height: 163 mm
Width: 239 mm
Thickness: 28 mm
Weight
567 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-975119-8 (9780199751198)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
William B. Parsons
Teaching Mysticism
E-Book
12/2011
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€42.49
Available for download
William B. Parsons
Teaching Mysticism
E-Book
10/2011
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€60.99
Available for download
Person
Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Rice University
Content
Contributors ; Introduction - Teaching Mysticism: Frame and Content ; William B. Parsons ; Part One: Presenting the Mystical Element: Tradition and Context ; 1. Teaching "Hindu Mysticism," Hugh B. Urban ; 2. Mysticism Before Mysticism: Teaching Christian Mysticism as a Historian of Religion, April DeConick ; 3. Teaching Chinese Mysticism, Livia Kohn ; 4. The Mystical Dimensions of Buddhism, David B. Gray ; 5. Teaching Islam, Teaching Islamic Mysticism, David Cook ; 6. Teaching Jewish Mysticism: Concealing the Concealment and Disclosure of Secrets, Elliot R. Wolfson ; Part Two: Negotiating Mysticism: Expanding the Map ; 7. Chosen by the Spirits: Visionary Ecology and Indigenous Wisdom, Lee Irwin ; 8. Teaching African American Mysticism, Joy R. Bostic ; 9. Teaching Experiential Dimensions of Western Esotericism, Wouter J. Hanegraaff ; Part Three: Investigating Mysticism: Perspectives, Theories and Institutional Spaces ; 10. Teaching the Graduate Seminar in Comparative Mysticism: A Participatory Integral Approach, Jorge Ferrer ; 11. Teaching Mysticism in Dialogue with Gender and Embodiment at a Quaker Seminary: A Feminist Approach, Stephanie Ford ; 12. Mysticism, Spirituality and the Undergraduate: Reflections on the Use of Psychosocial Theory, William B. Parsons ; 13. Mysticism in Ecumenical Dialogue: Questions on the Nature and Effects of Mystical Experience, Michael Stoeber ; Part Four: Tracking Mysticism: Pedagogy and Contemporary Culture ; 14. From "Comparative Mysticism" to "New Age Spirituality:" Teaching New Age as the Raw Materials of Religion, Steven Sutcliffe ; 15. Mystical Education: Social Theory and Pedagogical Prospects, Philip Wexler ; 16. Secrets in the Seats: The Erotic, the Paranormal, and the Free Spirit, Jeffrey J. Kripal