December 27, 2004

MINNEAPOLIS - Fortress Press will soon release Two Worlds Are Ours: An Introduction to Christian Mysticism. In this masterful historical survey, preeminent theologian John Macquarrie demonstrates how Christians, especially the great mystics, have experienced at their own "radiant core" the love and presence of God.

The word mysticism often evokes ecstatic visions, cruel asceticism, and esoteric teaching. Yet, Macquarrie maintains, mystics are better thought of as people who exhibit common human curiosity, long to explore religious mystery, and ultimately find a deep personal relationship with God.

Macquarrie discusses in detail ten common traits of mysticism before engagingly and sympathetically tracing two millennia of Christian mystical experience. He mainly allows the mystics to speak for themselves, but he is also particularly insightful about the greatest Christian mystics-from Paul to the early Platonists through the classic medieval mystics like Bernard and Julian and Catherine of Siena, to the Spanish mystics, the devotio moderna, the tailor John Woolman and preacher Jonathan Edwards, to a host of twentieth-century exemplars. Macquarrie's great gift is to show how each mystic and all of us can experience a deep and abiding intimacy with God.

John Macquarrie has been for a generation the leading Anglican theologian and an important interpreter of modern religious and philosophical thought. Among his most recent works are Christology Revisited (2003), Invitation to Faith (1995), and Jesus Christ in Modern Thought (1991).

ISBN 0-8006-3710-0; 5.5" x 8.5" 288 pp; paperback; $20.00. Rights: CUSA, English.

To order Two Worlds Are Ours please call Fortress Press at 1-800-328-4648 or visit the web site at http://www.augsburgfortress.com/.

Fortress Press