James H. Thrall is Knight Distinguished Associate Professor for the Study of Religion and Culture at Knox College.

In the novels of three early twentieth century English women writers—Evelyn Underhill, May Sinclair and Mary Webb—Thrall finds similarities and divergences in their various attempts to refute the notion that mysticism has no place in secular and rational modernity. Underhill defends a heroic mysticism, and Sinclair and Webb an erotic and natural mysticism, respectively. As such, they are pioneers of a "New Mysticism." All three focus on the authority of individual experience, the importance of psychology, the primacy of the life force, and the necessity of ethical purpose. Thrall is ploughing new terrain, the fruit of which will be of interest to historians, biographers, scholars of religious thought and of gender studies. Thrall's deep research and clear and accessible writing make Mystic Moderns an important and provocative contribution.

• Introduction: Agencies and InnovationsChapter One: Considering the New: “modern,” “modernity,” and “modernism” Part One: Evelyn Underhill’s Heroic MysticismChapter Two: Mystic Modes: Living, Dying, KnowingChapter Three: Catholic Aesthetics and Medieval ModernityChapter Four: Magics and Mysticisms: Finding a New OrthodoxyChapter Five: The Heroic Individual on the Mystic WayChapter Six: Gender, Class, and MysticismPart Two: May Sinclair’s Erotic MysticismChapter Seven: Language and the Lure of IdealismChapter Eight: Deepest Desires: Embracing Erotic MysticismChapter Nine: Maintaining Control: Will and the Boundaries of SelfChapter Ten: Evolution’s Promise: Consciousness, Species, ReligionChapter Eleven: Modernity, War, and Death: Mystic ResponsesChapter Twelve: Meeting the Dead: Ghost Stories for ModernsPart Three: Mary Webb’s Mysticism of NatureChapter Thirteen: Country Living: Tales of Old and NewChapter Fourteen: Agency and Choice: Romanticism, Mysticism, CapitalismChapter Fifteen: Acting Naturally: Christianity, Sexuality, AgencyChapter Sixteen: Other Ways to Think?: The Puzzle of a Medieval TurnConclusion: Connections and Crossings

James H. Thrall is Knight Distinguished Associate Professor for the Study of Religion and Culture at Knox College.

In the novels of three early twentieth century English women writers—Evelyn Underhill, May Sinclair and Mary Webb—Thrall finds similarities and divergences in their various attempts to refute the notion that mysticism has no place in secular and rational modernity. Underhill defends a heroic mysticism, and Sinclair and Webb an erotic and natural mysticism, respectively. As such, they are pioneers of a "New Mysticism." All three focus on the authority of individual experience, the importance of psychology, the primacy of the life force, and the necessity of ethical purpose. Thrall is ploughing new terrain, the fruit of which will be of interest to historians, biographers, scholars of religious thought and of gender studies. Thrall's deep research and clear and accessible writing make Mystic Moderns an important and provocative contribution.

• Introduction: Agencies and InnovationsChapter One: Considering the New: “modern,” “modernity,” and “modernism” Part One: Evelyn Underhill’s Heroic MysticismChapter Two: Mystic Modes: Living, Dying, KnowingChapter Three: Catholic Aesthetics and Medieval ModernityChapter Four: Magics and Mysticisms: Finding a New OrthodoxyChapter Five: The Heroic Individual on the Mystic WayChapter Six: Gender, Class, and MysticismPart Two: May Sinclair’s Erotic MysticismChapter Seven: Language and the Lure of IdealismChapter Eight: Deepest Desires: Embracing Erotic MysticismChapter Nine: Maintaining Control: Will and the Boundaries of SelfChapter Ten: Evolution’s Promise: Consciousness, Species, ReligionChapter Eleven: Modernity, War, and Death: Mystic ResponsesChapter Twelve: Meeting the Dead: Ghost Stories for ModernsPart Three: Mary Webb’s Mysticism of NatureChapter Thirteen: Country Living: Tales of Old and NewChapter Fourteen: Agency and Choice: Romanticism, Mysticism, CapitalismChapter Fifteen: Acting Naturally: Christianity, Sexuality, AgencyChapter Sixteen: Other Ways to Think?: The Puzzle of a Medieval TurnConclusion: Connections and Crossings

James H. Thrall is Knight Distinguished Associate Professor for the Study of Religion and Culture at Knox College.

In the novels of three early twentieth century English women writers—Evelyn Underhill, May Sinclair and Mary Webb—Thrall finds similarities and divergences in their various attempts to refute the notion that mysticism has no place in secular and rational modernity. Underhill defends a heroic mysticism, and Sinclair and Webb an erotic and natural mysticism, respectively. As such, they are pioneers of a "New Mysticism." All three focus on the authority of individual experience, the importance of psychology, the primacy of the life force, and the necessity of ethical purpose. Thrall is ploughing new terrain, the fruit of which will be of interest to historians, biographers, scholars of religious thought and of gender studies. Thrall's deep research and clear and accessible writing make Mystic Moderns an important and provocative contribution.

• Introduction: Agencies and InnovationsChapter One: Considering the New: “modern,” “modernity,” and “modernism” Part One: Evelyn Underhill’s Heroic MysticismChapter Two: Mystic Modes: Living, Dying, KnowingChapter Three: Catholic Aesthetics and Medieval ModernityChapter Four: Magics and Mysticisms: Finding a New OrthodoxyChapter Five: The Heroic Individual on the Mystic WayChapter Six: Gender, Class, and MysticismPart Two: May Sinclair’s Erotic MysticismChapter Seven: Language and the Lure of IdealismChapter Eight: Deepest Desires: Embracing Erotic MysticismChapter Nine: Maintaining Control: Will and the Boundaries of SelfChapter Ten: Evolution’s Promise: Consciousness, Species, ReligionChapter Eleven: Modernity, War, and Death: Mystic ResponsesChapter Twelve: Meeting the Dead: Ghost Stories for ModernsPart Three: Mary Webb’s Mysticism of NatureChapter Thirteen: Country Living: Tales of Old and NewChapter Fourteen: Agency and Choice: Romanticism, Mysticism, CapitalismChapter Fifteen: Acting Naturally: Christianity, Sexuality, AgencyChapter Sixteen: Other Ways to Think?: The Puzzle of a Medieval TurnConclusion: Connections and Crossings