Andrew Louth's should be read by everyone with an interest in the Christian mystical tradition. Louth is not only a brilliant scholar and professor of theology, he is himself also an Orthodox Christian. In this book he gives a brilliant exposition of central parts of the Christian mystical tradition. Many Christian thinkers have been Platonists. Its is thus interesting that Louth starts his book with Plato. He then goes on to covering Philo and Plotinus. Then the Christian mystics are presented. Origen and his contemplative, cognitivist mysticism is important. The Nicene Orthodox thinkers like Athansius and Gregory of Nyssa are presented. Louth's exposition of Evagrius of Pontus is also interesting. Evagrius was a hermit in the Syrian desert for 16 years. He was an intellectualist mystic, believing that the highest goal was to contemplate the divine Trinity -Theologia. Also significant are the treatments of Augustine and Denys. It is clear that Augustine was a mystic and reported experiences of an infusion of grace. Reading Augustine's The Teacher in combination with Louth's volume will give you a good picture of Augustine's views on religious experiences and the role of direct perceptions of metaphysical realities in theology. This book is a good one, no doubt. It shows you the role of experience in mysticism and in much of the canonical Christian theology. It deals with cataphatic versus apophatic theology. It shows the reader how much of the premodern Christian theology was more than an academic dicipline -it was connected to living a pious and spiritual life. Although some of the mystics here were far too fanatic, they were special personalities and great thinkers. The book also contains many passages from the original texts, and I certainly do recommend it.
Prof. Louth dicusses the origins of Christian theology, especially the "mystical" theology. He doesn't limit himself to the latin west, thankfully, but rather embraces the eastern perspective as well. He works through Plato, Philo, Plotinus, Origen, Nicene Orthodoxy (Athanasius and Gregory of Nyssa), the monastic contrabution (Evagrius of Pontus, the Marcian homilies, and Diadochus of Photice), Augustine (of course), Denys the Areopagite, Patristic Mysticism and Joh of the Cross (divine darkness and the Dark Night), the mystical life and the mystical body (Platonism and mysticism, the communion of saints).
Like his other works, this is exhaustive and articulate. A strong dose of the texts themselves, in translation, helps us meet the minds of these influential thinkers at firsthand (almost).
I would strongly recommend the works of Vladimir Lossky in this regard, especially his "Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church". There are many great books on this subject, but this is a great place to start! Enjoy!
