Reflections on the Unknowable

by Thomas Keating

Overview

A distillation of over seventy years as a monastic and more than three decades of writing on centering prayer, Reflections on the Unknowable is Fr. Thomas Keating’s latest volume on how we might develop our intimacy with God and our experience of the Christian contemplative tradition. The first part of the book consists of a long interview with Fr. Thomas, in which he examines concepts of the divine‐including the astonishments, playfulness, and transformation available to the individual willing to open the door to God. The second section consists of thirty-one brief homilies, which range over topics as diverse as the Trinity and the message of Epiphany, spiritual evolution and cultivating interior silence, and the treasure of spiritual poverty and the beauty of chaos.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781590564387
Publisher:	Lantern Publishing & Media
Publication date:	04/09/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	637 KB

About the Author

Fr. Thomas Keating was a founding member and the spiritual guide of Contemplative Outreach. He served on Contemplative Outreach's Board of Trustees since the organization's beginning and served as the Chairman of the Board. Fr. Keating was one of the principal architects and teachers of the Christian contemplative prayer movement. He was the author of many books, including Open Mind, Open Heart; Fruits and Gifts of the Spirit; and Invitation to Love. He lived for much of his life at St. Joseph's Abbey, Massachusetts, and St. Benedict's Monastery, Snowmass, Colorado. He died in 2019.

Table of Contents

Part I An Interview with Thomas Keating 9

Part II Reflections on the Unknowable 61

1 The Black Vestment 63

2 The Science of Love 66

3 Are There Persons in the Trinity? 74

4 Spiritual Evolution 76

5 Kenosis 79

6 Christ the Center of the Soul 81

7 The Uniqueness of Jesus 84

8 Are We incarnations of Christ? 87

9 Oneness 90

10 Are We God's Thoughts? 93

11 Reflections on the Unknowable 95

12 Blessing 99

13 What Does Accountability Mean? 102

14 The Treasure of Spiritual Poverty 105

15 Is Scripture to Be Taken Literally? 107

16 How Are the Sacraments Related to the Transformative Process? 110

17 The Birth of Contemplation 113

18 Does God Play Games? 116

19 Game Time 122

20 What Is Centering Prayer? 124

21 How Does Centering Prayer Cultivate the Love of God? 128

22 Is God Always Present? 132

23 Why Cultivate Interior Silence? 134

24 To Be Completely Taken Over by God 136

25 The Transforming Fire of Divine Love 140

26 Is the Universe a Revelation of God? 143

27 Is There a Night of Self? 146

28 The Beauty of Chaos 149

29 The Mystery of the Trinity 151

30 Powerlessness 156

31 Epiphany-The Feast of Contemplatives 161

Appendix 171

About Contemplative Outreach 173

About the Publisher 175