1st Edition
Christian Mysticism’s Queer Flame Spirituality in the Lives of Contemporary Gay Men
1 General Introduction Section One: Setting the Interpretative Context 2 The Two Lungs of the Christian Mystical Life: the Cataphatic Way and the Apophatic Way 3 Theories of Mystical Development: the Classical Model According to Evelyn Underhill’s Mysticism 4 Contemporary Approaches to Faith Development and Spiritual Growth 5 Hermeneutical and Methodological Considerations Section Two: Stories of Faith and Patterns of Growth: The Eight Interviews 6 Family, Faith, and the Path towards Coming Out 7 Early Adulthood and the Path Towards Integration Section Three: Towards a Gay Mystical Theology: Creating the Conversation 8 From Awakening to Coming Out 9 From Coming Out to Union with God Conclusion
Biography
Michael Kelly is an Adjunct Research Associate at Monash University’s Centre for Religious Studies, Australia. Over the past twenty years he has led retreats, spoken at conferences, lectured at universities and published essays and papers in Australia, the UK and the USA. He is the author/presenter of The Erotic Contemplative video-lecture series and his book, Seduced by Grace (2011), is held and used in a number of universities.
"Kelly’s latest offering joins a larger corpus of academic work that prioritizes the confluence of queer sexualities and Christianity. What is remarkable about this book is its use of Christian mysticism as an analytical framework for interpreting the journeys of gay men of faith. The seamless marriage of the mystical and the ethnographic in one elegant volume truly sets it apart as a valuable resource with abiding relevance for readers interested in progressive theologies, Christian mysticism, gay spirituality, and queer studies."
- Joseph N. Goh, Monash University, Malaysia
