The Wisdom Jesus: Transforming Heart and Mind--A New Perspective on Christ and His Message Author: Cynthia Bourgeault | Language: English | ISBN:
B005DXOM62 | Format: EPUB
The Wisdom Jesus: Transforming Heart and Mind--A New Perspective on Christ and His Message Description
If you put aside what you think you know about Jesus and approach the Gospels as though for the first time, something remarkable happens: Jesus emerges as a teacher of the transformation of consciousness. Cynthia Bourgeault is a masterful guide to Jesus's vision and to the traditional contemplative practices you can use to experience the heart of his teachings for yourself.
- File Size: 432 KB
- Print Length: 239 pages
- Page Numbers Source ISBN: B0013TPX5E
- Publisher: Shambhala Publications (July 20, 2011)
- Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
- Language: English
- ASIN: B005DXOM62
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #52,148 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #22
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Religion & Spirituality > Religious Studies > Comparative Religion - #24
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Religion & Spirituality > Christianity > Reference > New Testament Study - #28
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Religion & Spirituality > Christianity > Theology > Christology
- #22
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Religion & Spirituality > Religious Studies > Comparative Religion - #24
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Religion & Spirituality > Christianity > Reference > New Testament Study - #28
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Religion & Spirituality > Christianity > Theology > Christology
Cynthia Bourgeault is a hidden treasure. When I first read her, I encountered, for the first time, the Jesus and the Christianity I had always looked for and longed for. This was confirmed to me yet again with the publishing of the her new book, "The Wisdom Jesus."
With the publication of this book, I was moved to do something I never do: give a religious book to a Catholic priest. And the results have been stunning. The priest was blown away by Bourgeault's synthesis of Jesus and his time on earth. He found new angles on both the Eucharist and the Beatitudes. He can't stop thinking about the book and was moved to give it to another priest. This priest read it and said, "Who is this woman, and why have we never heard of her?" He, too, felt changed by the beauty of Bourgeault's work and promptly bought all her books. He passed it on to another priest, and the story continues.
Cynthia Bourgeault needs to be read by everyone trying to make sense of a Christianity that has been tainted over the centuries. She returns us home. Her wisdon gives me great hope for my faith and my world.
By Gina Ricciardi
While I wasn't overly impressed by Bourgealt's "Mystical Hope", her true potential as Episcopalian minister/guru emerges in "The Wisdom Jesus" which to my mind is the single best work on the practice of lecto divinia and contemplative prayer since Thomas Keating (that "great patriarch", as she calls him) first introduced it to the majority of Catholics in the United States.
The majority of the book is spent on Bourgealt's the very vital theme--for people of any denomination or faith--of "kenosis", an ancient Greek word meaning "self-emptying" but commonly used in Christian theology as the definition of what Christ did when he was on earth. By virtue of his love for others he emptied himself more and more, became increasingly more humble until he was at the bottom of the social, economic and cultural level--and then rose up as infinity of this emptiness. In Philippians 2:7 it is written that: "Jesus made himself as nothing." Bourgealt stresses that even simple and very necessary virtues like humility, love for neighbor, etc will not place us in this state unless we prayerfully ask for it to happen. She is always aware that this will be an uncommon desire for anyone, particularly the comfortable people of faith who are content with what she calls "dogma, a fabricated religious identity, or sectarian complacency."
The last chapters of the book are devoted to furthering the practice of Sacred Scripture reading in our daily lives and the tradition of centering prayer which she demystifies in a fashion I have not yet seen matched. The complications of daily meditation in our busy lives and the simple lack of motivation that even the most outwardly devout Christian has to the practice are given gentle but serious treatment. Recommend for all people of faith!
By J from NY
VINE VOICE
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