Christian Mysticism Today
Presentation: May 1, 2010
Fr. Ronald Rolheiser, PhD
Brief Description of Presentation
The presentation will explore Mysticism -- The Mystically Driven Life
What should be the fruits of a mystically-based life? A Full, Healthy, Balanced, Generative, Empathic, Self-Sacrificing, Deeply Committed yet Communally-Based, Iconoclastic yet Reverent, Passionate yet Pure, Other-Worldly yet very Sensate, Obedient yet Radically-free, life. This presentation will attempt a synthetic picture of what a person should radiate in his or her life if that life is drawing upon its mystical center.
Prayer Exercise
Centering Prayer
Preparation for Session and Bibliography
Preparation article: "Dry Bones; Why Religion Can’t Live without Mysticism" by Luke Timothy Johnson.
To view and print out the article, click on this link:
http://www.commonwealmagazine.org/dry-bones
A specific bibliography on the subject will be furnished with the handouts that provided on the morning of the presentation.
About Fr. Ron Rolheiser
Ronald Rolheiser, a Roman Catholic priest and member of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, is president of the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, Texas. He is a community-builder, lecturer and writer. His books are popular throughout the English-speaking world and his weekly column is carried by more than sixty newspapers worldwide. For much of his priesthood, he taught theology and philosophy at Newman Theological College in Edmonton Alberta. From 1998–2004 he served his religious community, The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, on their General Administration. In August 2005, he began a five-year assignment as the President of the Oblate School of Theology. Among other degrees, he received a Ph.D/STD University of Louvain, Belgium, 1983. His specializations include systematic theology, philosophy, Augustine, mysticism and spirituality.
His publications include:
Secularity and the Gospel: Being Missionary to our Children, The Crossroad Publishing Company, New York, 2006.
The Restless Heart, Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1988. Re-released, Doubleday, New York, 2004, winner of the 1990 Winnifred Sanford Award, for best popular spiritual book in the United Kingdom.
The Holy Longing, Doubleday, New York, 1999, winner of the Catholic Press Book award for 2000, in spirituality.
Against an Infinite Horizon, Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1995 and Crossroads, New York, 1996.
The Shattered Lantern, Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1994, and Crossroads, New York, 1995, winner of the Catholic Book Award for best paperback spirituality book, USA Catholic Book Awards, 1996.