Modern Mystics 2: Mother Teresa of Kolkata
Mother Teresa of Kolkata is among the most famous Christian names of the 20th century. But she is not often thought of as a mystical writer. While her private journals and letters have been described as ‘scrawled and desperate documents’ by Christopher Hitchens, we find in these documents deep mystical experiences and engagement with many of the central aspects of mystical theology. Particularly this is doubt and going through what John of the Cross termed the Dark Night of the Soul. This is accompanied by language of darkness, unknowing (apophaticism) and the abyss. Rather than indicating a lack of faith, this instead places Mother Teresa within a rich tradition of Christian mysticism.
About the tutor
Professor Ines Angeli Murzaku is Professor of Religion and Director of the Catholic Studies Programme at Seton Hall University in New Jersey. She has published substantially on Eastern European Christianity, Monasticism, and Catholicity. Her forthcoming book is Mother Teresa’s Revolutionary Theology: Prayer, Poverty, Suffering, and Conscience (Routledge).
About the Modern Mystics Series
We often think that mysticism is a thing of the past, that the great mystics like Francis of Assisi, Julian of Norwich or Teresa of Avila are resigned to times long gone, and that mysticism died in the Reformations, the Enlightenment, or the Quietist Controversy.
However, there are important mystical elements of all major world religions today including Christianity, and many 20th-, and 21st-century figures exemplify mysticism.
In our fifth series of webinars on Modern Mystics, we are excited to look at three major figures of the 20th century. Each webinar will be led by an expert on the mystic in question, and will consist of a 50-minute introductory lecture on that figure and their mystical writings. After a quick break we will have 30 minutes for Q&A with our expert. Each webinar runs from 7:30-9 PM (UK time) on Zoom on a Monday evening.
This series will look at three extraordinary writers and figures of this period. Each session is led by an expert who has researched and published on the specific mystical writer and the Christian mystical tradition more broadly.
Schedule and speakers
Monday 21st September: Egied Van Broeckhoven with John Arblaster
Monday 28th September: Mother Teresa of Kolkata with Ines Murzaku
Monday 5th October: Iris Murdoch with Donna Lazenby
