Evelyn Underhill: Mother of Modern Mystics

Evelyn Underhill: The Mother of Modern Mystics

Artist Profile Series 40

Who was Evelyn Underhill, and why does her work continue to shape the modern contemplative movement more than a century later?

In this Artist Profile episode of Makers & Mystics, Stephen Roach explores the life of Evelyn Underhill, writer, spiritual director, retreat leader, and one of the most influential voices on Christian mysticism in the twentieth century.

Although she is often remembered for her landmark book Mysticism, Underhill's own spiritual journey was anything but straightforward. From youthful encounters with transcendent beauty to explorations of the occult, philosophy, and Roman Catholicism, her search eventually led her into the Anglican tradition, where she discovered that mystical experience finds its deepest fulfillment not in extraordinary visions but in the ordinary rhythms of worship, sacrament, and life with Christ.

In an age captivated by spirituality yet often disconnected from historic faith, Evelyn Underhill's life reminds us that the deepest longing of the human heart is not simply for transcendent experiences, but for communion with the living God.

In This Episode

•  The surprising spiritual journey that shaped Evelyn Underhill's life 
•  How Mysticism became one of the defining books on Christian contemplation 
•  Why Underhill believed mystical experience should be part of ordinary Christian life 
•  Her friendship with Baron Friedrich von Hügel and its profound influence 
•  The relationship between artists, beauty, and the contemplative life 
•  Why her final book, Worship, marked the culmination of her life's work 
•  What her story offers Christians, artists, and seekers today 

Notable Quotes

"The mystic is called to be a creative artist of the highest kind."

"Beauty is simply Reality seen with the eyes of love."

"Long before we begin searching for God, God has already begun searching for us."

Books Mentioned

• Mysticism: A Study in the Nature and Development of Man's Spiritual Consciousness — Evelyn Underhill 
• Practical Mysticism — Evelyn Underhill 
• Worship — Evelyn Underhill 
• Confessions — Augustine of Hippo 
• Dark Night of the Soul — St. John of the Cross 

People Mentioned

•  Baron Friedrich von Hügel 
•  T. S. Eliot 
•  Julian of Norwich 
•  St. John of the Cross 
•  William Blake 
•  Augustine of Hippo 

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