April 2025
Sarum College has a long history of teaching and learning on Christian mysticism and two new visiting scholars, Eddie Howells and John Arblaster, are world leaders in the field, says Michael Hahn, programme leader in Christian Spirituality. Previous programme leaders Peter Tyler and Louise Nelstrop are also active researchers in the area and continue to contribute to Sarum courses.
“Mysticism is a word that can mean many things, ranging from a focus on religious experience (born out of William James’s work at the turn of the 20th century) to the use of paradoxical language, pushing human abilities to speak and write to their very limits to say something about a God who is entirely beyond language (the view of pseudo-Dionysius who coined the term ‘mystical theology’),” says Michael, whose expertise is in the Franciscan mystical tradition in particular. “Mysticism focuses on the use of paradox and uncovering what is hidden in the physical world and in human speech. It is a search to find what lies beyond what human mouths can utter and what human eyes can see. As such, mysticism’s embrace of wonder and mystery has an enduring appeal for spiritual explorers across the ages.”
Mysticism themes run through a range of modules in the Christian Spirituality MA programme, most notably Western Christian Mysticism, for which both Eddie and John taught in November 2024.
Historical forms of mysticism are considered in the Foundations and Forms of Christian Spirituality module, while the Modern and Postmodern Perspectives on Christian Spirituality course covers modern and postmodern mystics such as Evelyn Underhill, Thomas Merton, Howard Thurman and Annie Dillard.
The Inspiration and Imagination module examines the connections between mysticism and the arts while the Embodied Encounters modules considers the place of the body in mystical writings.
Those interested in studying Christian Spirituality at postgraduate level can choose to enrol on a degree programme, or to participate in courses without registering for academic credit, either as an auditor (no assessment), or as an assessed auditor which includes marked assessments for discipline and feedback without taking on the full programme of study.
Alongside the MA, Sarum hosts a range of short courses focused on the mystical traditions including three sets of webinars on Modern Mystics (details of the next autumn series to be announced soon) and the current Women Mystics series jointly hosted by the Church Times.
Sarum College’s faculty has an excellent reputation that is enhanced by a wider teaching and research community. Visiting scholars play an active role in that wider network by helping to shape the future direction of research and teaching, and by sharing their expertise with students, faculty and other scholars associated with Sarum.
“Under Michael Hahn’s leadership, the Christian Spirituality programme has a wider reach and a richer learning offer. The addition of Eddie Howells and John Arblaster as visiting scholars further strengthens our learning and scholarship in this key area of theological endeavour,” says James Woodward, Sarum College Principal.
“They bring into our community of learning considerable experience of the history and traditions of spirituality,” he adds. “It may be that contemplation, silence and attention to those who have journeyed within the mystical tradition are key to a renewal of the search for truth and wholeness. Scholars working in this area have much to show us about why we live and what we might live for as we seek one another’s flourishing.”
Eddie Howells
Eddie Howells is a scholar of the mystical aspect of Christian theology more generally, and has worked on figures such as Augustine of Hippo and Meister Eckhart. He has particularly worked on the Spanish mystics (such as Ignatius of Loyola, Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross) and is a world-leading figure in this area of study.
With the late Mark McIntosh, Eddie has recently written that the mystical element in Christian theology “deals with what is ‘hidden’, beyond what mortal eyes can see and tongues can speak: the infinite superabundance of divine self-communication availing itself of creaturely modes of expression”. Together they edited The Oxford Handbook of Mystical Theology (2020), the leading companion to the study of Christian mystical theology to date.
Eddie studied with Bernard McGinn at the University of Chicago. This was an incredibly rich period in the study of mysticism — it was the period from which McGinn’s magnum opus, The Presence of God: A History of Western Christian Mysticism (9 volumes, 1991-2021) was born, and out of which many leading scholars (including Eddie) gained their doctoral degrees.
Eddie has since worked at Heythrop College (University of London) and the University of Roehampton, where he remains an Honorary Research Fellow. He is now on the faculty of theology and religion at Ripon College, Cuddesdon. He is the author of two books on Spanish mystics: John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila: Mystical Knowing and Selfhood (2002), and, with Peter Tyler, Teresa of Avila: Mystical Theology and Spirituality in the Carmelite Tradition (2017).
John Arblaster
John Arblaster works particularly on the northern European mystical traditions of the later Middle Ages, including the twelfth-century Cistercian writers Bernard of Clairvaux and William of Saint-Thierry, the thirteenth-century writers in French, Marguerite Porete, and Middle Dutch, Hadewijch, and the fourteenth-century writers from the hermitage of Groenendaal, including John of Ruusbroec and Jan van Leeuwen.
John studied at KU Leuven under Rob Faesen and Thom Mertens, leading scholars of the Middle Dutch mystical traditions. Following a postdoctoral fellowship at KU Leuven, John became Associate Professor at the University of Antwerp and the Director of the Ruusbroec Institute, a centre for the study of the history of spirituality in the Low Countries, at which Michael Hahn is an affiliated researcher.
At the Ruusbroec Institute, John has built on a long tradition of work on the Middle Dutch mystics to cultivate a thriving research community on medieval mysticism where he supervises several research students and has been awarded several million euros of research funding for a variety of projects, including one run jointly with Michael Hahn.
John has co-edited several books with Rob Faesen, most recently Medieval Mystical Women in the West (2025), as well as Mystical Doctrines of Deification (2018), and A Companion to John of Ruusbroec (2014).
Dr Gillian Ahlgren
Dr Ann Conway-Jones
Dr Jane Shaw
Dr Susanna Snyder
Eddie and John join a stellar team of regular contributors and visiting scholars with expertise in Christian mysticism, including Dr Gillian Ahlgren, Dr Ann Conway-Jones, Dr Jane Shaw and Dr Susanna Snyder.
“We are delighted to welcome Eddie and John and to formalise our relationship with these two leading scholars and teachers in the area of Christian mysticism,” Michael says.
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Forthcoming courses on Christian Spirituality
The final session of the Women Mystics series is on Thea Bowman, 19 May 2025.
Details and link to book
Dr Gillian Ahlgen is leading a half-day online on Ignatian spirituality on 19 May 2025.
Details and link to book.
Michael Hahn is leading an online evening taster session on postgraduate study in Christian Spirituality on 18 June 2025.
Details and link to book
Michael Hahn is also running a day course on Clare of Assisi and Franciscan spirituality on 23 July 2025.
Details and link to book
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