Prophecy and Mysticism: The Heart of the Postmodern Church

Prophecy and Mysticism: The Heart of the Postmodern Church. By Mary C. Grey. Scottish journal of Theology: Current Issues in Theology. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1997. 88 pp. $19.50 (paper).

Mary C. Grey, late of the University of Southampton and now scholarin-residence in contemporary theology at Sarum College, Salisbury, has presented a brief discussion about the contemporary need for a prophetic communal voice to address the questions of postmodernism. Her book comprises three essays: the first establishes a dialogue between Thomas Merton and feminist theology; the central question being how one might better influence the world; the second explores the "roots and wings" of relational theology; the third returns to themes and insights from the first, and asks about the dark night of the Church as liberation of community; her fourth and final chapter discusses the children of Sophia and the community as prophet. She notes at the outset that this work is an outgrowth of her Beyond the Dark Night-A Theology of Church (London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1997), and her 1996 Scottish Journal of Theology lectures.

As such, the volume seems to present a conversation into which the reader is thrust, unprepared. Professor Grey, whose prodigious command of contemporary sources of feminist theology is both impressive and confusing to those less tutored, is establishing not just Merton in dialogue with feminist theology and with present issues, but many classic writers in the history of spirituality as well. The progression of her argument is that the true contemplative is not escaping from reality, but rather fully engaged in and with the world if he-or she-is to be a contemplative at all. Such contemplation necessarily engages one in the painful realities of prayer, both in substance and in practice: we become vulnerable, more than we thought, to the crudities of the world, from Sadaam Hussein to the guns of Afghanistan and beyond. Such creates a dark night, by parallel to the individual's dark night a dark night of the Church in relation to the world. This she has tellingly described.

in her final chapter, Professor Grey asks both what kind of prophetic action is necessary for the transformation of society and what revelation of the Spirit of God will refuel the prophetic heart of community. it is her dream and her hope "that even if the dark Night is where we are, even if fragmentation is what we experience, yet, like the phoenix rising from the ashes, our communities, both prophetic and mystical in their counter-cultural response, are already fashioning a new integrity for contemporary society" (p. 80).

Professor Grey's discussion is both dense and sparse: her engagement with feminist theology is not matched by her engagement with classic Christian spiritual writers or themes in spirituality. Yet her book raises important issues for any contemporary thinker, especially those engaged in practical theology, either in the academy or in the Church.

PHYLLIS ZAGANO

New York, New York

Copyright Anglican Theological Review, Inc. Fall 1999
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