Digital Logos Edition
The Mystical Works of Evelyn Underhill comprises the most important works of one of the foremost writers on spirituality and Christian mysticism of the early twentieth century. The collection opens with Underhill’s most widely read work: Mysticism. A general introduction to the concept, followed by a comprehensive exploration of the nature and development of human mystical consciousness, this work defined a wing of the Christian religion that found its footing at the turn of the century. The subsequent 10 volumes articulate the finer points of Underhill’s religious philosophy, elucidating the place of mysticism within the personal, practical, historical, and institutional realms. This volume contains the text of Evelyn Underhill’s Abba: Meditations Based on the Lord’s Prayer.
“PRAYER is the substance of eternal life. It gives back to man, in so far as he is willing to live to capacity—that is to say, to give love and suffer pain—the beatitude without which he is incomplete; for it sets going, deepens and at last perfects that mutual in dwelling of two orders which redeems us from un reality, and in which the creative process reaches its goal.” (Page 1)
“But we have come to believe that we can ignore this spiritual imperative, have the shoot without the root; Christian action without Christian contemplation, the fruitful ideology without contact with the Idea.” (Pages 2–3)
“the old woman described by St. Teresa, who spent an hour over the first two words, absorbed in reverence and love.” (Page 7)
“As a consequence this is the prayer in which, with an almost incredible stupidity, they have found the material of those vain repetitions which He has specially condemned.” (Page 7)
“this is essentially the prayer of the living Church, the supernatural society of God’s children, the dedicated Body” (Page 11)