This book will provide an ideal introduction to debates in the field for students and researchers concerned with the impact of women's studies and wider gender issues on religion around the world.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955) was a French Jesuit theologian and scientist renowned for his pioneering field work in paleontology. His visionary writings on the reconciliation of faith and evolutionary theory aroused the suspicions of the Vatican and he was forbidden to publish on religious matters during his lifetime. After his death, the publication of his many books marked him as one of the most influential Catholic thinkers of this century -- a mystic whose holistic vision speaks with growing relevance to contemporary spirituality. Often considered ahead of his time, Teilhard's...

Taking a critical look at feminism and exploring its explicit and implicit spiritual dimensions, this revised and updated new edition of Women and Spirituality engages in a reflective dialogue with contemporary women's voices. It asks to what extent patriarchal oppression and androcentric thinking are inherent not only in Christianity but in all religious beliefs, practices and institutions. This is the only book which provides a comprehensive survey of current discussions in feminist theology and spirituality and offers a wide-ranging account of women and world religions and raising...

Christian Mystics tells the story of sixty men and women whose mystical devotion to God transformed the times in which they lived and still affects our present-day search for spiritual meaning. Moving from key figures of the early Christian age to the great mystics of modern times, and giving special emphasis to the great high points of mysticism in the medieval, early modern and Eastern Orthodox traditions, the book describes the lives of visionaries including Clement of Alexandria, Saint Bonaventure, Blaise Pascal and Simone Weil. It reveals the richly diverse expressions that mystical...

At the beginning of the third millennium, concepts of spirituality are undergoing rapid transformation. While still closely connected to Christian values and beliefs, they are now also applied cross-culturally and used in inter-faith and secular contexts. Around the globe there is an urgent need for greater spiritual well-being, yet it is not clear how this can best be achieved or even what it means. The development of a wholesome spirituality relating to profound personal and social transformations may well be the most urgent task humanity has to address today.

The Search for Spirituality offers a comprehensive overview of the incredibly rich and diverse spiritual landscapes of our world, and explores the global search for a spiritual life at an individual and social level, inside and outside religious traditions, and in the secular world.

An in-depth examination of Teilhard de Chardin's knowledge of the Middle and Far East, especially China, his comments on eastern religions, and his comparative reflections on mysticism and spirituality.