Brief Book Review: Daily Readings with a Modern Mystic

Brief Book Review: Daily Readings with a Modern Mystic: Selections from the Writings of Evelyn Underhill

Author: Delroy Oberg, editor

Publisher: Darton Longman & Todd, and Twenty-Third Publications, softcover, 179 pages, including: Acknowledgments, Dedication, Chronology, Introduction, 13 chapters, an Epilogue, Notes, and Sources

Reviewed by Rev. Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson

The Authors 

Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941), an Anglican by faith, was a British, 20^th century pioneer author, scholar, lecturer, retreat leader, and spiritual director. A prolific author, she was one of the first women in the 20^th century to study and publish works on mysticism and spirituality. She studied at King’s College, the University of London, and later lectured there, as well as at Oxford University, and the University of St. Andrews. The Roman Catholic lay theologian, Baron Friedrich von Hügel was her spiritual director.

The editor of this volume, Delroy Oberg, has written numerous articles about Evelyn Underhill’s life and work. She is a teacher and tutor. She has a BA, BEd and an MLittStud, with her thesis titled ‘The Spirituality of Evelyn Underhill.’ Oberg lives in Queensland, Australia. 

Contents

Each of the chapters focus on a theme or themes in the spiritual and mystical life, and Delroy Oberg provides introductions to the chapters. The chapters consist of citations from Evelyn Underhill’s works. The chapter themes and titles are as follows: 1 Saints And Mystics, 2 The Spiritual Life And Mysticism, 3 The Church, 4 Homeliness, 5 Time Given To God: Retreats, 6 The Eucharist, 7 Prayer, 8 The Stages Of Prayer, 9 Prayer And Belief, 10 Intercession, 11 War And Peace, 12 Letters Of Direction, 13 The Cross, 14 Epilogue is Oberg’s very brief summary sketch of Underhill’s spiritual and mystical life, and those that were “pleased” with Underhill’s life and works. 

Three Quotations

To stimulate the curiosity of readers of this short review, as an encouragement to read this volume, here are three quotations from Underhill’s works. 

The first one is from chapter 2, and comes from Underhill’s The Spiritual Life, pp. 30-32: “Indeed, if God is All and His Word to us is All, that must mean that He is the reality and controlling factor of every situation, religious or secular; and that it is only for His glory and creative purpose that it exists. Therefore our favorite distinction between the spiritual life and the practical life is false” (p. 28). 

The second quotation is from chapter 7, and comes from Underhill’s The House of the Soul, pp. 110-11: “For real prayer is simply the expression and the experience of Faith, Hope, and Charity, each penetrating and enhancing the other, and merging to form in us that state of energetic and loving surrender, in which our spirits have according to their measure communion with the Spirit of God” (p. 97). 

The third quotation is from chapter 13, and comes from Underhill’s The School of Charity, pp. 59-60: “Every Christian is required to be an instrument of God’s rescuing action; and His power will not be exerted through us except at considerable cost to ourselves. Muzzy, safety-first Christianity is useless here. We must accept the world’s worst if we are to give it of our best” (p. 171). Given “the world’s worst” today, there are infinite opportunities for every Christian “to be an instrument of God’s rescuing action”!