There are many different kinds of mystics in all religions, and in recent years we have become increasingly aware of their existence and heritage. Many people today are drawn to mystics for inspiration and transformation. They offer a message of wholeness and healing, of harmony, peace, and joy; also of immense struggles fought and won. The mystical experience has found richly diverse expression during the two thousand years of Christian history and underpins all of Christian ritual and doctrine-not as a secret divine knowledge but as a deeper spirituality for all believers. By and large, however, the inspiring examples of the Christian mystics are little known. Christian Mystics introduces sixty men and women whose great devotion and mystical relation to God transformed the times in which they lived and continues to affect our search for spirituality today. Beginning with major figures among the early Christians, this beautifully written book moves on to the great flowering of mysticism during the Middle Ages and the early modern period. Including a presentation of the Eastern Orthodox mystic tradition and concluding with the mystics of our time, Christian Mystics presents an inspiring history of the quest for spiritual meaning and transcendence. As a leading authority on religious history and mysticism, Ursula King uses both scholarly knowledge and her gifts as a writer to elucidate this profound story of selfless love, encompassing the great breadth and depth of the Christian mystical tradition and the problems and questions mystics face. Christian Mystics offers entrance into a deeper inner dimension that can animate and sustain the life of readers of any faith or none.