Genius of the Transcendent

Here, for the spiritual adventurers of our own age, is an accessible introduction to one of the most important of the Christian mystical writers. Jakob Boehme (1575–1624) was a humble shoemaker of Görlitz in eastern Germany who, in response to the visionary experiences that began for him as a teenager, wrote a series of theosophical treatises that explore the nature of God and humanity. His ability to give words to the ineffable has never been surpassed, and his influence can be felt in the generations of mystics who followed him, as well as in Pietists, German Romantics, Quakers, and American utopianists, among many others. Five of Boehme's most essential works are presented here in fresh translations that demonstrate why Underhill called him "one of the most astonishing cases in history of a natural genius for the transcendent.""The great sweep of Boehme's vision includes both man and the universe, the nature of God and of the soul. He remains one of those cloud-wrapped immortals who must be rediscovered and reinterpreted by the adventurers of every age." —Evelyn Underhill, author of MysticismMichael L. Birkel, PhD, is professor of Religion, Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana. He is a member of the Religious Society of Friends.

Jeff Bach, PhD, is Director of the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies and Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania. He is a member of the Church of Brethren.