Silent Music: The Science of Meditation (1350-1650.Women of the Reformation;1) - Hardcover

Johnston, William

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0823217744 ISBN 13: 9780823217748

Publisher: Fordham University Press, 1997

Synopsis

Silent Music breaks down the barriers between science and religion, as well as between religions themselves, in order to extrapolate a comprehensive understanding of the "science of meditation." Johnston explores the concept of meditation from all perspectives in a rich account that runs the gamut from friendship to biofeedback. Understanding all approaches and incorporating them into a united vision, Silent Music reveals as new way of understanding the mystical and our search for wisdom in the modern world. Included is a glossary of terms and an index.

About this title

Review:

"In a simple, clear, engaging style that nicely balances necessary fact and edifying anecdote, [Johnston] propounds his belief that the greatest problem in the world today 'is the imperfection of our love; that is to say, our lack of mysticism.'"----Choice

From the Back Cover:

The Inner Eye of Love offers a contemporary theology of mysticism that locates it at the very center of authentic religious experience. It provides as well a practical guide for meditation even as it maps out the oceanic experience toward which meditation points. Johnston begins with the mystical tradition itself, its roots and origins, its appearance and significance in the Gospels, the letters of Paul, and the early Church. He explains what mysticism is and is not, and how it is inextricably bound up with love. It is at the level of mysticism, he maintains, that the two traditions of East and West can at last understand one another and begin to work together to heal a broken world. The Inner Eye of Love escorts the reader through the stages of the mystical journey, from initial call to final enlightenment. Johnston compares and contrasts the Oriental and Christian experience, continually revealing new points of commonality The much discussed "dark night of the soul" is seen here in a positive way, as an emptying preliminary to the overbrimming of the soul with the knowledge and love of God. Finally, the author considers the often misunderstood relation between mysticism and practical action.

About this edition

• Publisher: Fordham University Press
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0823217744
• ISBN 13: 9780823217748
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 190