Life of Evelyn Underhill: An Intimate Portrait of the Groundbreaking Author of "Mysticism."/Evelyn Underhill: Essential Writings, The

Anglican Theological Review, Spring 2004 by Sheldrake, Susie

The Life of Evelyn Underhill: An Intimate Portrait of the Groundbreaking Author of "Mysticism." By Margaret Cropper. SkyLight Lives Series. Woodstock, Vt.: SkyLight Paths Publishing, 2003. xxiii 259 pp. $18.95 (paper).

Evelyn Underhill: Essential Writings. Selected with an introduction by Emilie Griffin. Modern Spiritual Masters Series. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 2003. 144 pp. $15.00 (paper).

Since the 1970s I have had a profound interest and indeed a passion for Evelyn Underhill. Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941) was a truly remarkable woman whose life was spent intent on adopting, practicing, and Grafting the Christian life and, latterly, the Anglican spiritual tradition. Through her own self-taught endeavors she was and continues to be one of the most significant authors in Christian spirituality of the twentieth century. Her seminal work Mysticism (1911) has been in continuous print to this day. Archbishop Ramsay wrote of her that she did more than anyone else to keep the spiritual life alive in the Anglican Church in the period between the two World Wars.

Underbill is a giant of twentieth-century Anglican spirituality. A recent resurgence of interest in her is to be welcomed and is one of the reasons why the early biography by her friend Margaret Cropper, originally published in 1958, has recently been reissued and a new anthology has appeared in the Orbis Press's Modern Spiritual Masters Series. Underbill has sometimes been relegated to the position of "spiritual hobbyist" and even "amateur theologian." These criticisms fail to understand her true intention-that the study of the mystics, the making of theology, and even becoming a mystic, are not limited to the professional, but are accessible to anyone who is prepared to follow a life intensely dedicated to prayer and service. This mingling of religious experience and practical service was, for Underbill, the key to the true mystic. For this reason, Underbill remains important in today's world. Neither was she narrow in her writings on mysticism. These are wide-ranging and eclectic (from St. Paul to Rabindranath Tagore), making available in English mystical writers who were virtually unknown and including an early awareness of perspectives from other faiths (she translated Bengali mystical poetry). This undoubtedly should appeal to today's reader.

The new edition of Cropper is disappointing in one respect. Its "New Foreword" by Dana Green is extremely brief and consequently slight. This seems to be the format of the series in which the reprint appears. Readers might expect an authoritative piece by Green, who is one of the best modern Underbill scholars, and without it might be tempted to write off Cropper as merely a period piece. A pity, because Cropper has so much to offer, even if her analysis of Underbill is largely uncritical, hagiographical, and ignores her personal struggles with scrupulosity, doubt, and with what today we would call depression. Yet, for the reader interested in the social and religious background to Underbill in the first part of the twentieth century, Cropper is a treasure trove. She includes letters from Baron von Hugel that are not readily available. Equally, within Cropper there is a kind of anthology of Underbill with "tasters" of her books and articles (not to mention diary extracts) that would be difficult for the modern reader to access, as many of them are not in print. Overall the book, though quaint, provides a highly detailed and personal account of this remarkable woman and her idiosyncratic circle of friends and brings her world alive. For readers involved in spiritual direction and retreats, there are many descriptions of types of directee and how Underbill handled them. The renewed availability of Cropper (along with Dana Green's own modern study) offers a vital introduction to Underbill's writings and is a "must read."

In contrast to Greens disappointing foreword to Cropper, Emilie Griffins introduction to the Orbis anthology is first-rate in atl respects. It is beautifully written and manages in fourteen pages to give a succinct and authoritative account of Underbill's life and achievements and also a clear summary of her balanced understanding of "mysticism" and of how well it stands up to modem scrutiny. What struck me about the anthology is that, first, it is very well organized into six sections that act as a primer to Underbills understanding of the journey of the soul and, second, that it draws upon material from Underbills ten most significant and enduring works-including her spiritual letters. Each section begins with a paragraph by the editor which acts as a resume of the theme to be developed and explicitly pinpoints for the reader the central theological and spiritual message of the extracts without becoming intrusive. Reading this anthology made me fall in love with Underhill all over again and is a "must have."

These two books combined are an excellent introduction to the life and works of Evelyn Underbill. Along with her prolific writings, Evelyn Underbills contribution as a spiritual director and retreat-giver are, perhaps, the gifts for which she is best known. Anyone who is seriously interested in the history of twentieth-century spirituality or the study and practice of spiritual direction and retreat-giving will find these books an invaluable resource.