Twelve Mystical Anthologies That Belong in Every Contemplative Library

There are literally hundreds of mystics in the Christian tradition alone — or, should I say, hundreds of mystics who were writers (no one knows how many great mystics were too humble to write about their union with God, and so their wisdom is lost to history). And while some mystics like Julian of Norwich only wrote a small amount, others like Thomas Merton or Teresa of Ávila left us enough writings to fill multiple books. The bottom line: if you want to savor the wisdom of the mystics, how can you figure out what to read, given that there are more mystical writings than most people can read in a lifetime?

One approach to this problem is to enjoy a number of anthologies of mystical writings. Ever since The Philokalia was compiled in the late 1700s, aspiring mystics and contemplatives have benefited from books that curate and collect key writings from mystics in general, or even from a specific subset of the mystical tradition (for example, The Philokalia features Eastern Orthodox contemplatives, while Karen Armstrong’s Visions of God features the words of 14th-century English mystics). Different anthologies are arranged topically, alphabetically, or chronologically, offering a variety ways to explore mystical wisdom. Some anthologies are specifically devotional in nature, featuring short, pithy quotations intended to foster daily prayer or meditation. Others feature more in-depth selections of mystical writings, and are intended for study and research.

For this blog post I’ve gathered together a dozen titles that I think are representative of the best in mystical anthologies Aside from The Philokalia which is a four-volume set, each of these is a single book, so even the list as a whole is not too intimidating (I hope!). Consider this list as an invitation to dive more deeply in the contemplative and mystical literary tradition within Christianity — don’t expect that every one of those books will necessarily be meaningful for you: just as the mystics themselves represent a variety of voices and theological perspectives and therefore will not all appeal to you (or anyone), so these anthologies offer a wide variety of approaches to the topic. Pick out the ones that appeal to you, and start there. Just don’t be surprised if you find that the more you read the mystics, the deeper…