Synopsis
The author of Homage to the Sun journeys around the world to explore the vital, living world of Christian mysticism, a collection of practices and teachings based on ancient Christian traditions. 12,500 first printing.
Reviews
The journeys of contemporary spiritual seekers are often marked by the search not only for the soul's home but also for a true leader who, like Dante's Virgil, can accompany them on their quest of self-discovery. Markides here provides a kind of spiritual travelogue in which he chronicles his own search for authentic teachers of the sophia perennis. From his study of the Orthodox Christian mystical tradition, the author draws parallels with the spiritual principles enunciated in Hinduism, Buddhism and other Eastern systems of religious expression; he even counsels ways of distinguishing false teachers from true ones. Unfortunately, however, the book is marred by a soupy spirituality whose attempt to synthesize a variety of beliefs and practices into a universal spirituality represents the worst of the New Age. The book will, nonetheless, have wide appeal to those readers seeking the simple integrations of pop spirituality.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
This is a difficult book to categorize. On one level, it is simply another addition to the mountain of New Age literature. On another level, it is an entertaining collection of stories from a gifted storyteller. On a third level, it is a corrective to the tendency of New Age literature to uncritically appropriate non-Western spiritual traditions, often without appropriate attribution or sensitivity to context. Markides speaks with an identifiably New Age voice, and he shares the New Age fascination with non-Western traditions and paranormal phenomenon. But he also searches for a spirituality that includes space for the paranormal within his own tradition and that seeks some guidelines for spiritual discernment. The book's autobiographical tone gives it spiritual authenticity as a report of Markides' experience. Encounter with the living mystical tradition of Mount Athos, rooted in ancient Christianity, commends it to a broader audience--as both entertainment and information. Steve Schroeder
Despite his promising subtitle, Markides (sociology, Univ. of Maine) will disappoint readers interested in classical Christian mysticism. Anecdotal evidence for paranormal phenomena such as teleportation, clairvoyance, levitation, dematerialization, and channeling, along with a disorganized collage of references to Marx, Nietzsche, Plato, Huston Smith, P.D. Ouspensky, etc., are presented in the first part of the book. Markides does not succeed in his attempt to place New Age religion and paranormal psychology within the context of classical mysticism. Where he does succeed is in the account of his visit to the monasteries of Mount Athos on the coast of Greece and his encounter there with monks of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Libraries with collections in New Age materials and parapsychology will want to consider this book, but collections in Christian mysticism would be better served by such recent publications as Evelyn Underhill's classic Mysticism (Oxford Univ. Pr., 1993. reprint).
Linda V. Carlisle, Southern Illinois Univ., Edwardsville
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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