The Other Side of Nothingness: Toward a Theology of Radical Openness

Provides an innovative theology based in mysticism, one that acknowledges the pain of spiritual repression and values religious pluralism. From the mystic’s experience of nothingness and the desert, The Other Side of Nothingness offers a theology of humility sensitive to religious pluralism and to the pain of spiritual oppression. With a passionate concern for contemporary interreligious issues, Beverly J. Lanzetta provides insight into how mystical consciousness overturns claims of dogmatic truth and prepares the self to experience the radical openness of divinity. The work draws on a variety of Christian mystical texts, including those of Meister Ekhart, Gregory of Nyssa, Pseudo-Dionysius, Saint Teresa of Avila, Saint Bonaventure, and the anonymous author of The Cloud of Unknowing while also making reference to Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, and Hinduism and the thought of contemporary social mystics such as Heschel, Gandhi, Merton, Thurman, and Day. Lanzetta illustrates how the annihilatory mystical experience draws the seeker to a place beyond a tradition’s self-understanding to new dimensions of the sacred and, in some cases, to new revelatory paradigms. It is here that she provokes our thought in her statement that the divine nature is itself pluralistic, non-absolute, and continually giving birth to new traditions. By showing how nothingness functions in mystical experience as a catalyst for the liberation of our hearts, we are brought to a vision of theology that is nonviolent and inclusive of all creation.

Religion & Spirituality

Lanzetta, Beverly

Christian Books & Bibles

State Univ of New York Pr

Highlighting pioneers of global spirituality such as Thomas Merton &amp; Mohandas Gandhi, 'Emerging Heart' shows how a variety of religious traditions emerge from &amp; converge on a divine nature &amp; mystic quality that creates a loving heart.

Emerging Heart: Global Spirituality and the Sacred

Fortress Press

Path of the Heart is a modern spiritual classic, and the first written account of the life-changing mystical revelations of divine suffering and divine love that Beverly Lanzetta experienced in 1976. Completed in 1984, and published in 1985, the text describes the interior process of mystical intimacy or union, combining insights from her own transformation with those she witnessed in the souls of people who came to her for spiritual guidance.  Now published in a new expanded edition with Beverly’s commentary on each chapter, Path of the Heart is a guide for those who deeply yearn for spiritual meaning in life. “I hope” she says, “that by passing on the underlying method of the mystical journey, my fellow seekers will be aided in their own search for the Unknown.”   “This is a precise roadmap for the right brain, the chambers of the heart, and the pathways of the spirit. Those who seek to go from heart to heart, from human to divine will find it a reliable guide.” —Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, founder of the Jewish Renewal movement and Professor Emeritus of Religion, Temple University

Path of the Heart

Paragon_House

Nine Jewels of Night is a profoundly moving personal account of theologian and spiritual teacher Beverly Lanzetta’s search for a new expression of the eternal quest for truth. With open-hearted storytelling, she chronicles her growing restlessness to answer a spiritual call until on a gorgeous autumn day, in her twenty-ninth year, she is converted by a series of revelations beyond the boundaries of established religions to the one reality at the heart of all religions, and to an entirely singular path of contemplation. Lanzetta’s compelling and intimate portrayal of the ensuing thirty-eight years invites you to reflect on your own spiritual path as it gently draws you into questions about the nature of God, the monastic heart, suffering, the inner dimensions of mystical experience, composing a contemplative life, following a radical path of devotion, the search for solitude, trusting one’s inner voice, loving the Divine, and being empty of self. “This is a love story of infinite intimacy—a story of how Beverly Lanzetta has come to love and be loved by ‘the Unnameable.’ This work is imbued with a poignancy that is reminiscent of other well-known spiritual autobiographies, particularly Augustine’s Confessions and Merton’s The Seven Storey Mountain. Beautiful and moving. Indeed, I found it to be so beautiful and moving that I marked numerous pages for future reference.” Brother Gregory Perron, OSB

Nine Jewels of Night: One Soul's Journey into God

Blue Sapphire Books

THE MONK WITHIN is written for the person seeking a deeper, contemplative orientation to daily life. Yearning for inner realization of divine wisdom, this “new monk” draws on four interlocking themes: embodied spirituality grounded in the sacred web of life; the mystical path of the feminine, inspired by women’s monastic communities; the archetype of the monk that is the deep truth of every person; and the interdependence of the world’s wisdom traditions, expressed through interfaith, interspiritual dialogue.

The Monk Within: Embracing a Sacred Way of Life

A Feast of Prayers: Liturgy to Holy Mystery expresses the song of the soul, an inner depth of feeling spontaneously overflowing in words of praise, petition, thanksgiving, and lament. It is, as well, a call to prayer, to follow a liturgy during designated times of the day in a weekly cycle. 
The impulse to pray is universal. From the moment of birth, until death stills our breath, each human heart, each soul, recites a ceaseless prayer, the very existence of our spirit in physical form an invocation toward the divine. Prayer is the language of the spirit. It is our first language.\nA Feast of Prayers is a joyful and practical companion to sanctifying each day, with morning, afternoon, and evening prayers for each day of the week. Vigils are included for morning and night, as well as prayers for special occasions.

A Feast of Prayers: Liturgy to Holy Mystery

Worship & Devotion

Review\n"Whether you are new to Beverly Lanzetta's work or an old friend, this book is a treasure trove of accessible wisdom. Offered as a daily practice, the 365 entries are a portal to our deepest selves, an entryway to the sacred. They may inspire meditative practices and permeate the day with mystical insight or be a daily reminder of the infinite love we are made of and for. Sacred Seasons is a light in the darkness, and a guidepost on the path toward union."\n—Rev. Cathy Murray Grigsby, MDiv, New Monk, and founder of the Interfaith Ministers of New England\n"Sacred Seasons provides a singular daily moment to be touched by the Divine, to be allured by the Beauty of the Sacred. We are gifted with a daily breviary to deepen our inner lives. These spiritual gems are food for heart, soul, and body that will lure us into intentional living in the context of where life finds us. In this beautiful offering, the soul is fed and the heart sings."\n—Sr. Bernadette Purcell, PBVM, New Monasticisms Ireland and Chaplain, Technological University Dublin\n"Beverly Lanzetta gives us a way to meditate on pithy kernels of her wisdom each day of the year as we move through the sacred seasons and themes as varied and compelling as "wild places," "reverence for monotony," and "the centered point of nowhere."\n—Tessa Bielecki, co-director of The Desert Foundation and author of Holy Daring, Teresa of Avila and Season of Glad Songs\nReaders in search of daily devotions for the deeply devout or those looking for a spiritually uplifting message will find plenty of divulgence on these pages. Creating them for the seasons and starting during December when the daylight is dim will help many who need a positive message in these times. Lanzetta's soothing words will help the reader to slow down and breathe. As this book is beautifully written, it is as if Lanzetta's pen is enhanced by her spirituality. Her fluid writing delivers an uplifting message in small daily doses. These testaments of spirituality deliver a powerful message. Daily devotions are common and necessary for a peaceful soul; however, these come from a variety of places and are written in various formats: poems, published and unpublished works of the author, lectures, prayers, and meditations. The quiet solitude that Lanzetta provides across each page is refreshing and meaningful. Lanzetta's words have the ability to change the reader's perspective. Each message is short and well-executed. Taking the reader through the seasons on a daily basis allows for a different perspective snd literary journey.\n- The Book Life Prize, Publisher's Weekly\nSacred Seasons is a collection of spiritual wisdom drawn from the expressive writings of Beverly Lanzetta. As a daily practice, the meditative entries call us into living light of the Divine, encouraging us to slow down and savor the gift of sacred time. 
There are moments when we feel we have been touched by something elusive and mysterious, by the hidden workings of the universe, as if Spirit were reaching out to us personally. These encounters are special and often change our perception and wishes, even if for a few short minutes. It is hoped that the meditations in this book will be another touch from Spirit, a little opening into the world on the other side of the precious veil that conceals the holy and the beautiful.

Sacred Seasons: A Year of Meditations

Other Religions, Practices & Sacred Texts

About the Contributor(s): Bernadette Flanagan is Director of Research at All Hallows College (Dublin City University). She is the author of The Spirit of the City (1999) and coeditor of With Wisdom Seeking God (2008) and of Spiritual Capital (2012).

Embracing Solitude

Flanagan, Bernadette

Wipf and Stock

Embracing Solitude focuses on the interior turn of monasticism and scans the Christian tradition for women who have made this turn in various epochs and circumstances. New Monasticism is a movement assuming diverse forms in response to the turn to classical spiritual sources for guidance about living spiritual commitment with integrity and authenticity today. Genuine spiritual seeking requires the cultivation of an inner disposition to return to the room of the heart. The lessons explored in this book from women spiritual entrepreneurs across the centuries will benefit contemporay New Monastics--both women and men. The accounts will inspire, challenge, and guide those who follow in the footsteps of the renowned spiritual innovators profiled here. "In this inspiring new work, Bernadette Flanagan seeks not merely to uncover forgotten stories of women's spirituality and prophetic voices, but to probe the reasons for tradition's lack of attention to transformative solitude, intentionally chosen. From the desert of fourth-century Africa to the woods of contemporary America, women's choice of solitude offers new landscapes of the sacred--in ordinary life, in new forms of community, and in exploring mystical processes of inner transformation. A rich gift indeed for all who seek the divine." --Mary Grey, University of Winchester "This speaks to the deepest longings of spiritual seekers today. It answers many of their questions, places them in a historical context, and, most of all, encourages them on their pilgrimage into the heart of God through a mysticism embodied in a shared spiritual solitude, which can be maintained in the midst of the ordinary and the everyday. Just as Christian seekers moved from the city to the desert in the third century, now the move is back to finding contemplative solitude in the midst of the commerce of the city." --From the Foreword by June Boyce-Tillman, University of Winchester "Bernadette Flanagan opens up rich pathways of exploration and discovery into different practices of solitude, monasticism, and contemplation. Drawing on a wide range of examples, with a special emphasis on women's spirituality, this book is a wise and welcome guide for those seeking solitude within and beyond the clamor of modern life." --Tina Beattie, Digby Stuart College, University of Roehampton

Embracing Solitude: Women and New Monasticism

Politics & Social Sciences

Women's Studies

Cascade Books, an Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Lanzetta, Beverly. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Lanzetta, Beverly

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Lanzetta, Beverly. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Other Side of Nothingness: Toward a Theology of Radical Openness

The Other Side of Nothingness: Toward a Theology of Radical Openness

Emerging Heart: Global Spirituality and the Sacred

Path of the Heart

Nine Jewels of Night: One Soul's Journey into God

The Monk Within: Embracing a Sacred Way of Life

A Feast of Prayers: Liturgy to Holy Mystery

Sacred Seasons: A Year of Meditations

Embracing Solitude

Embracing Solitude: Women and New Monasticism