Scholar's Corner

[Scholar's Corner]

[Spring-Summer 2006: Uncommon Resources for Contemplative Scholars]

I. Two Spiritual Dictionaries

Unusual (one almost feels rare) spiritual resources crossed my path: this season, while I was researching and writing another book and The Center's new Listserve letter. Pastors, spiritual directors and scholars with a reflective disposition might enjoy thumbing through these finds. Keep in mind, something I like might not mirror your preferred doctrines; The Center's favorite resources tend to cut across (mostly Westernized) spiritual/ecumenical lines, without endorsement.

Most spiritual scholars delight in digging about in Bible dictionaries, hoping for ever greater Scriptural understanding. For example W.E. Vines' Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words (Nelson), must be the sort of helpful classic most of us stash near our reading chairs. The following two additions may also interest interfaith scholars, especially those with a contemplative flair:

Editor, Allen C. Myers, (et al). The Eerdman's Bible Dictionary. Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdman Publishing Company, 1987. (ISBN 0-8028-4250-X)

For your's truly, this feels like a superior research companion. References are seeped in American Bible scholarship and highlight the archeological side of things. Ideas are presented "as objectively as possible," with definitions intended, we are told, for divergent frameworks of faith -- mainstream Protestant, Pentecostal, Independents, Roman Catholic, Jewish.

Over 5,000 entries include definitions and lengthy discussions of...

Proper names and places found in the Old and New Testament;

Animals, plants and even objects;

Scriptural terms, explored along with their Old Testament (aka: Hebrew Bible) and New Testament meanings (with the major terms substantially discussed, many in terms of historical context/usage, eschatalogical (i.e., theological) and Old and New Testament meanings.

While Vines' Expository seems to emphasize Scripture's language, this one leans toward historical data. (On the other hand, some major words -- righteous, justification, Holy Spirit, etc. -- are discussed for pages and pages!)

The maps, photos and tables are informative; some feel oddly touching. For example, on page 27, we find replicated a reasonably clear photograph of an Isaiah Scroll from Q'umran ("by courtesy of Israel's Department of Antiquities and Museum"). Just seeing the tidy pen strokes transports the mind back in time (and brought this reader closer in feeling to the great prophet and mystic himself.

Metaphysical Bible Dictionary. Lee's Summit, Missouri: Unity School of Christianity, 1933. (No ISBN number provided. Probably out of print. Perhaps available at local libraries and/or through your favorite rare book dealers.)

Compiled by the anonymous student(s) or serious follower(s) of Charles Fillmore (co-Founder of the Unity School of Christianity), the Metaphysical Bible Dictionary aims to "meet a very definite demand" by Bible students and metaphysicians, namely to discuss the inner meanings of Scripture's language -- mostly proper names and places. We are told that the editors traced words back to their Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic or original root ideas; and "Where difference of opinion between authorities of equal weight was found, the most reasonable etymology was followed."

In this Dictionary, one finds proper names and places defined from the basis of a word's esoteric meanings. The author(s), like the Fillmores, emphasize a word's metaphorical relevance to the progression of the soul. This alone makes the Dictionary rare, and may prove its usefulness to pastors, poets, story tellers, sermon givers and other creatives who thrill at the prospect of guiding their own minds (and/or that of their flocks) into little side-eddies of insight with fresh or lesser known spiritual facts.

Consider, for example, two names...

(a) Aaron, brother of Moses. Metaphysically speaking, Aaron also refers to... Executive power of divine law. Not only the high priest of Israel but also "the ruling power of intellectual consciousness," and both Aaron and his sons represent spiritual strength, which becomes the presiding, directive power of a new state of consciousness. " (p. 9)

(b) Zion: Usually known as the fortified hill that David wrested from the Jehusites, and later a part of the city of Jerusalem. Metaphysically speaking, Zion is also

Love's abode in the phase of the subjective [elevated] consciousness where high, holy thoughts and ideals abide.... (p. 701).

What's not to love?

II. Pastoral Prayer and Retreat Resources

On Prayer & Fasting, World Outreach Center, Inc., 1993. (ISBN #1-881256-41-3) Two taped lectures (cassette or CD) by Pastor Benny Hinn on (a) how to pray effectively and (b) how to fast. Those of you who write to us about contemplative prayer and short, responsible fasts, may enjoy this dynamic teaching. Chock full of Scriptural references, the citations guide Pastor Hinn's travels through his topics and guide those of us who enjoy looking up and reading Scriptural references for ourselves. Hinn advises, as does The Center, to always check with your doctor before starting any fast and let him/her direct it for you.

Eastern Orthodox Books (POB 302, Willits, CA 95490). A small, humble catalogue of pamphlets and booklets on saintly lives offers inspiration about (and by) selected saints and leading voices of early Orthodox monasticism, some early Church saints, mostly Irish and British.

In the Order Fulfillment Section of this catalogue we read...

We do not have, nor ever want, a computer. Your order will be read by a real, live, caring and thinking human being.... We try to give good service, however, at times it may take longer to respond due to the press of other aspects of the business.

Some of the booklets, books and pamphlets include...

How to save the soul
Teachings on the Spiritual life (Saint John Cassian)
On Tears
On the Bearing of Grudges
The Sayings of the Fathers

Some booklets are free (i.e., no charge for the first one); others are fifty cents; others, a few dollars. We suspect the catalogue is also free, a labor of love to compile, and we suppose sending a modest, respectful donation with book orders may advance what appears to be an enterprise rooted in spiritual affection. So might be born our own affections.

III. And More Thought-Provoking Books, Including...

Abishiktananda (Dom Henri LeSaux), Prayer. Delhi, India: ISPCK, 1993. (ISBN 81-7214-129-7)

The author, a French monk who traveled to India, returns the reader to "original sources" of contemplation, meaning the whole cultural and spiritual heritage of the context of Near and Middle East "in which the first Christians awoke to faith in the risen Christ..." For your's truly, this slim volume contains a most touching description of the prayer of the Name (i.e., prayer of the heart) -- e.g. "Abba, Father" -- and explains how this can draw us, from within, to the God beyond all signs and every veil in a fashion that traditional prayer may not. For Abishiktanand, the Presence of God is, one suspects, a more experiential encounter, no less faithful, but vividly direct than many who "practice" the Presence in rote or paint-by-numbers fashion.

(Please check back for longer review soon at Scholar's Corner.)

(East/West/Catholic Contemplative)

St. John Cassian, Teachings. Willits, CA: Eastern Orthodox Books. (No pub. date or ISBN # provided; see comments above).

Lots to contemplate in this short book by the Saint called the "founder of European monasticism" (b.360 A.D.). Cassian was himself influenced by the asceticism and solitude of the early desert monks, and then we see imprints of his principles in the writings of St. Benedict and other powerful contemplative thinkers. Of the too many golden ideas to list, some in this little book include... continual prayer; use of Scripture; dejection and "lukewarmness;" on fasting; on Pure Intention.

(Orthodox Monastic)

Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest. Urichsville, OH: Barbour Books, 1963. (ISBN 0-916444-82-2)

"No book, except the Bible, has influenced my walk with Christ at such a deep and maturing level...." So starts the Forward by a former Chaplain to the U.S. Senate. And most of us will agree. A friend sent me Chamber's classic nearly ten years ago, and I've read it ever since, not daily -- but almost.

For Christian pastors, spiritual directors or seminar leaders, no prayerful weekend or season of worship is complete without this devotional by our side. On the face of it, Chambers is no contemplative (if by the word we mean monastic, ascetic, etc.) but consider his feeling for deep, spiritual stillness (to, mostly, paraphrase):

God's silences are His answers.

When God sees you can take a bigger revelation He grants you His Silence

God's silence is proof that He has heard you.

If Christ brings you into the understanding that prayer is for glorifying His Father, He will give you the first sign of His intimacy -- silence.

You think God hasn't answered your prayer, but when He trusts you in the most intimate way possible, He graces you with His silence.

I am swooning.

(Mainstream Protestant)

Billy Graham, The Journey. Nashville: W. Publishing Group/Thomas Nelson, 2006. (ISBN 0-8499-183-29)

The work of a lifetime on living by faith. Not so much autobiographical as self-revealing. Related to our Listserve Letters' current theme of The Mentor's Spirit, Graham's disclosures about his early and later life's influences are choice.

Easy reading, yet much to contemplate, including how to deal with disappointments, temptation and building greater trust. For this reader, Graham offers a most clarifying discussion of the Holy Spirit, quite dissimilar to Metaphysical viewpoints (See Chpt. 14). But his passion for God, coupled with his hospitality for all faiths, is obvious. Both the latter qualities are consistent traits and values of all true contemplatives.

(Mainstream Protestant)

Marsha Sinetar, Sometimes, Enough is Enough. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2000. (ISBN: 0-06-019632-7)

A superb teaching tool for helping professionals who want to help others create what the author names a casual contemplative life. Reviewers called this a pioneering framework for all who think they are too busy to engage in such lofty pastimes as prayer, meditation and contemplation. Here is a deceptively simple book that delves into the deepest contemplative themes that helping professionals can share with their stressed-out constituents. Review it yourself, first. In the first pages we read...

"Put simply, state of mind, not material circumstances, creates your states of harmony, assurance and comfort. Put simplest, with a few adjustments, you can bloom spiritually right where you're planted."

The Introduction describes how the author adjusted her own life toward the casual contemplative one she now enjoys; subsequent chapters discuss how to untangle ourselves from a too-busy schedule, how to evaluate different modes of meditation and, ultimately, "pray in the Spirit" daily.

(Crossover)

Emanuel Swedenborg (trans. John Chadwick), The New Jerusalem. London: The Swedenborg Society, 1990. (ISBN 0-85448-112-5)

Swedenborg was the son of a bishop in the Swedish Lutheran Church during the Enlightment era. He was a man for all seasons, highly accomplished as a scientist and, later in life, as a seer. He influenced the major thinkers of his day (both in Europe and the U.S.) such as Emerson, the Transcendentalists, later, Helen Keller, countless artists, poets, and philosophers and eventually "New Age" metaphysicians. He is less well known than his contributions warrant probably because (a) he's way out there when it comes to angelic experience, and (b) one suspects all manner of contemporary metaphysicians seem to have borrowed his ideas without acknowledgement. (So what else is new?)

Emanuel Swedenborg was prolific. Like most creatively gifted, spiritually intelligent, self-actualizing individuals, he wrote tirelessly, could not stop working. As we have explained in our own books, this is not workaholism; it is vocation's ardor, driven by Wisdom. We are told his spiritual writings began only in mid-life, after he "experienced directly" the deeper truths of Scripture, and the other world -- i.e., heaven and all variety of angels (with whom he spoke). He is not without strong opinion, and some of Swedenborg teachings may astound, inspire and even irritate us!

No spiritual library is complete without at least one Swedenborg book gracing its shelves. My own (i.e. The Center Library) is filled with his writings. Fair warning, some books are as thick as telephone books. By contrast, The New Jerusalem is an easily managed 100 pages; its ideas, so fresh and novel, are arranged by editor/translator John Chadwick into delectable, bite-sized morsels. For example, on free choice & will, we read that choosing true freedom and true Good comes from God's guidance, while choosing evil comes from being led by hell (quotes, paraphrased) :

What one loves, one wills, and, because loving and willing make up our life, so does freedom.

Doing evil freely may look like liberty, but it is really slavery. Because that choice flows from self-love and worldly love, and these loves are from hell. And, after death(so-called) such loves are translated into actual slavery.

Doing good by free choice, we gain real freedom, derived from love of the Lord and the neighbor; for these loves are from heaven. This freedom also lasts after death, for one who enjoys
such loves becomes "a son of the house"... (see Jn. 8:34-36)

May we all enjoy a stimulating Spring and Summer of deeply meaningful spiritual reading for wholesome (holy) growth, whatever each of us freely choose to consider.