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Evelyn Underhill and C.S. Lewis: Elective Affinities

by Ron Dart

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It is this capacity for giving imaginative body to the fundamental doctrines of Christianity that seems to me one of the most remarkable things about your work.

~ Evelyn Underhill letter to C.S. Lewis, January 13 1941

Many with a minimal literary background will have read articles or books by C.S. Lewis. The Lewis of popular consumption is certainly not the more nuanced and layered Lewis. The more popular books by Lewis were, mostly, published in the 1940s-1950s and up to his death in 1963. There have been many letters, books, articles by Lewis published since his death, but, the C.S. Lewis of the 1930s was still in the budding phase with a few blossoms that hinted further fruit.

The rather abstract and initial autobiography of Lewis’ journey to Christian faith, The Pilgrim’s Regress: An Allegorical Apology … Read more

Finding Evelyn Underhill

by Susan Dean

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One spring about twenty-five years ago, when my family still lived in Minnesota, I was trying to decide what to give up for Lent. My friends were mostly giving up chocolate or wine. Those choices would have been perfectly appropriate for me too, but I wanted something different that year, so I went to our associate priest to ask his advice. He suggested that instead of giving anything up, I read a book, and what he came up with for me was Mysticism by Evelyn Underhill.

It may help to know that I had only been back at church for a few years, having not attended for about twenty. I knew very little about theology or spirituality. So Mysticism — with its 519-page description of the unitive life, purification, voices and visions and a whole bunch of … Read more

The Spirituality of Risk

by Donyelle C. McCray, Ph.D.

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Delivered at the Underhill Quiet Day
June 18, 2016

I. The Soft White Bed

I’m often curious about how teachers like Evelyn Underhill spend their leisure time. Somehow it gives me a much-needed window into the personality. I was intrigued when I learned she enjoyed trips to Spain and Italy. Fondness for travel suggests something expansive about her. The fact that she liked the Norwegian mountains said something hardy about her. It helped me even more to learn that she liked sailing. That pointed to an adventurous streak – an interesting complement to an inner life characterized by doubts and insecurity. But I was really blown away when I discovered that during the 1920s, she and her husband Hubert owned a motorcycle with sidecar. They would ride out into the countryside in it together for … Read more

2016-17 The Evelyn Underhill Association Newsletter

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Annual Quiet Day 2017

The Homely Ways of the Spirit: A Day of Quiet Reflection with Evelyn Underhill

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Leader: Bishop Frank T. Griswold, former Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church

Saturday, June 17, 2017, 9:30-3:30
Nourse Hall, St. Albans Parish
Next door to the Washington National Cathedral
3001 Wisconsin Ave NW
Washington DC 20016

As he prepares to be our guide for this year’s annual Quiet Day, Bishop Griswold writes “I was introduced to Evelyn Underhill at the age of 16, by a priest who lent me a copy of Light of Christ. From that day on, Underhill’s practical, “homely” and no-nonsense approach to the inner life has been both an invitation and a steadying guide across the seasons of my life. As I look toward our day together, I am drawn to … Read more

Evelyn Underhill and the Virgin Mary

by Carol H. Poston

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Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941) was a guiding light in Anglican spirituality in the twentieth century, and her best-known works, Mysticism (1911) and Worship (1936) are still read and studied today. Aprolific writer-theologian, poet, novelist, she is frequently anthologized. Her early life and writings—those undertaken before she became an actively-committed member of the Church of England in the 1920s—are, with the exception of Mysticism, less well-known. This article examines the early works that treat the Virgin Mary, and explain how that subject may have influenced the pacifism she later embraced. A feminist reading of those early works also suggests biographical links to her “care for souls,” or spiritual direction, and to her own family. The dutiful child of somewhat remote and distant parents, herself in a childless marriage, Underhill’s spiritual nurture by way of Mary helps explain both … Read more

The Mastery of Time

by Evelyn Underhill

“He that believeth shall not make haste.” Isaiah 28:16

“He that believeth shall not make haste.” That is to say, he won’t get rattled or hustled; he won’t let time get on top of him or dictate to him. Doesn’t that speak to all of us of something which deep down we wish were true of ourselves? Time, the enemy. . . How often do you hear people saying, — how often do you hear yourself saying, “Oh, I haven’t got time!” I haven’t got time. . . No, we haven’t, for time has got us, or most of us.

In this western world we have planned to master time. We think we have got it where we want it — around our wrists or on the wall, there at our disposal by turning a radio knob … Read more

Becoming What We Behold

by Chris Glaser

Daily we behold terrible and diminishing things, not just in the newspaper and on the news, but in films, television programs, books, plays, even music. Daily we also behold our “golden calves” of consumer products in ads, commercials, and our neighbor’s latest acquisition. Daily we are bombarded and distracted by e-mails, text messages, and the multiple layers of the internet. If, as in Evelyn Underhill’s estimation, we become what we behold, we are becoming a mess of noise, violence, and greed with little room for the divine, the holy, and God.

Saints are to be found in “the mess,” as Underhill suggests, but not overwhelmed by it. The reason? Saints, mystics, and everyday fellow travelers take time to be present and available to the eternal, to the inbreaking commonwealth of God, to God. Not for self-improvement, but … Read more

Fr. Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditations

by Father Richard Rohr

Sunday, August 9, 2015

This week we continue exploring the modern mystics who have had the greatest impact on my own theology and practice. Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941) was a prolific British writer who is best known for her book Mysticism: A Study in the Nature and Development of Man’s Spiritual Consciousness. Through her study of the mystics and even more through her lived experiences, Underhill emphasized that the mystical state of union with God produces creative action in the world.

As she puts it, “For [mystics,] contemplation and action are not opposites, but two interdependent forms of a life that is one—a life that rushes out to a passionate communion with the true and beautiful, only that it may draw from this direct experience of Reality a new intensity wherewith to handle the world of … Read more

2015 The Evelyn Underhill Association Newsletter

Download the PDF version of this newsletter.

EVELYN UNDERHILL QUIET DAY

Saturday, June 18, 2016 9:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Sayre House, Washington National Cathedral

“The Spirituality of Risk”
Directed by Donyelle McCray
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“Real prayer begins with the plunge into the water.” Evelyn Underhill makes this observation in a 1928 retreat and repeatedly affirms that risk is an essential component of healthy spirituality. She attributes much of the beauty of Christian life to the interplay of risk and trust and warns against an insistence on constant comfort. During our time together we will explore the role of risk in Evelyn Underhill’s life: What were the great risks in her life story? Why did she see risk as so pivotal in the lives of the saints? How does risk-taking anchor our spiritual thriving today?

Donyelle McCray is Assistant … Read more

Inter-Religious Contexts and Comparative Theology in the Thought of Evelyn Underhill: Symbolic Narratives of Mysticism and the Songs of Kabīr

by Michael Stoeber
Regis College/University of Toronto

This article first appeared in the Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies, Vol. 26 (2013) pp. 91-106. The paper is reprinted by permission of Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies and Digital Commons @ Butler University © 2014.

Introductory Reflections

Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941) regards mysticism as the core of religion. All religions include various dimensions: scripture/ mythology, doctrine/ philosophy, ethics/ law, social/ institutional features, ritual, material aspects, and personal and communal experience². For Underhill, personal religious experience inspires and influences the development of these other aspects of religion—the heart of which is mysticism. Underhill asserts: “The mystics are the pioneers of the spiritual world³” (4); “Mysticism is the art of union with Reality.⁴”

In defining mystics and mysticism generally in this way, Underhill suggests a number of interesting things that pertain … Read more