Classical mysticism was virtually unknown in evangelical circles until 1978, when Quaker minister Richard J. Foster published Celebration of discipline, the path to spiritual growth. Hailed by Christianity Today as one of the ten best books of the twentieth century, and voted by the readers of that magazine as the third most influential book after the Bible, Celebration of discipline has blown the doors off an evangelical understanding of spirituality.
What Foster has done, in essence, is reintroduce to the church the so-called ‘masters of the interior life’, as he likes to call the Medieval mystics. He declares that they alone have discovered the key to true spiritual life. Over the last few years, he has convinced multitudes that he is right.
It seems to me that Foster’s recipe for Christian living has been simmering in the pot for over two decades but has now caught fire. Organisations such as Youth Specialties, numerous Bible colleges, and a rash of books and speakers, are all busy introducing mystical theology and practices to our young people and our young ministers.
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