The classic study of spirituality and mysticism in the Western religious tradition, focussing on the life of Catherine of Genoa.
Friedrich von Hügel’s Mystical Element of Religion remains the authoritative study of the spirituality of Catherine of Genoa. First published in 1908, this seminal work develops the author’s major theory of the three basic elements of religion, institutional, intellectual and mystical.
Von Hügel shows how Catherine’s mysticism relates to her life and thought, making his comprehensive and masterly two-volume analysis a classic in the study of Western mysticism.
| Dimensions | 216 × 140 mm |
|---|---|
| Pages | 502 (Volume 1), 428 (Volume 2) |
| Format | |
| Volume | Volume 1 | Volume 2 | 2 Volume Set |
| Trade Information | JPOD |
Preface to the 1923 Edition
Note to the Second Impression
Preface to the First Edition
Part I: Introduction
I. The Three Chief Forces of Western Civilization
II. The Three Elements of Religion
Part II: Biographical
III. Catherine Fiesca Adorna’s Life, up to her Conversion; and the Chief Peculiarities predominant throughout her Convert Years
IV. Catherine’s Life, 1473 to 1506, and its Main Changes and Growth
V. Catherine’s Last Four Years, 1506-1510. Sketch of her Character, Doctrine, and Spirit
VI. Catherine’s Doctrine
VII. Catherine’s Remains and Cultus; the Fate of her Two Priest Friends and of her Domestics; and the Remaining History of Ettore Vernazza
VIII. Battista Vernazza’s Life
Conclusion to Volume I: Wherein Lies the Secret of Spiritual Persuasiveness
Appendix to Part II: Chronological Account and Critical Analysis of the Materials for the Re-constitution of Saint Catherine’s Life and Teaching
Part III: Critical
IX. Psycho-physical and Temperamental Questions
X. The Main Literary Sources of Catherine’s Conceptions
XI. Chapter XI. — Catherine’s Less Ultimate This-World Doctrines
XII. The After-Life Problems and Doctrines
XIII. The First Three Ultimate Questions
XIV. The Two Final Problems: Mysticism and Pantheism. The Immanence of God, and Spiritual Personality, Human and Divine
XV. Summing-up of the Whole Book. Back through Asceticism, Social Religion, and the Scientific Habit of Mind, to the Mystical Element of Religion
Index
Indispensable. The best work in mysticism in the English language.
Evelyn Underhill
An event of prime importance to a wide circle of students of religious phenomena.
The Birmingham Post
