Desire, Darkness, and Hope: Theology in a Time of Impasse

by Laurie Cassidy (Editor), M. Shawn Copeland (Editor), Brian McDermott SJ (Foreword by)

Overview

2022 Catholic Media Association second place award in theology: morality, ethics, Christology, Mariology, and redemption

For some decades, the work of Carmelite theologian Constance FitzGerald, OCD, has been a well-known secret, not only among students and practitioners of Carmelite spirituality, but also among spiritual directors, spiritual writers, retreatants, vowed religious women and men, and Christian theologians.

This collection sets out to introduce the work of Sister Constance to a wider and more diverse audience–women and men who seek to strengthen themselves on the spiritual journey, who yearn to deepen personal or scholarly theological and religious reflection, and who want to make sense of the times in which we live. To this end, this volume curates seven of Sister Constance’s articles with probing and responsive essays written by ten theologians.

           Contributors include:

• Susie Paulik Babka
• Colette Ackerman, OCD
• Roberto S. Goizueta
• Margaret R. Pfeil
• Alex Milkulich
• Andrew Prevot
• Laurie Cassidy
• Maria Teresa Morgan
• Bryan N. Massingale
• M. Catherine Hilkert, OP

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780814688014
Publisher:	Liturgical Press
Publication date:	06/04/2021
Pages:	480
Sales rank:	1,066,448
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.88(d)

About the Author

Laurie Cassidy, PhD, is a theologian and spiritual director currently teaching in the Christian Spirituality Program at Creighton University. An award-winning author and editor, her books include InterruptingWhite Privilege: Catholic Theologians Break the Silence, edited with Alex Mikulich. Her latest book, The Scandal of White Complicity in US Hyper-Incarceration: A Non-Violent Spirituality of White Resistance, is co-authored Alex Mikulich and Margaret Pfeil. As well as being an anti-racist activist, she has ministered in the area of spirituality for the past thirty years and provided spiritual direction, retreats, and workshops across the United States. Her research and writing explore the political and cultural impact of Christian mysticism in personal and social transformation.

Table of Contents

Foreword Brian McDermott, SJ ix

Acknowledgments xii

Introduction: Rowing Toward God in an Anguished World M. Shawn Copeland 1

1 A Discipleship of Equals: Voices from Tradition-Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross Constance FitzGerald, OCD 21

2 Constance FitzGerald, OCD, Contemplative Colette Ackerman, OCD 65

3 Impasse and Dark Night Constance FitzGerald, OCD 77

4 Contemplative Prayer and the Impasse of White Supremacy Laurie Cassidy 103

5 The Sentinel Maria Teresa Morgan 131

6 The Desire for God and the Transformative Power of Contemplation Constance FitzGerald, OCD 151

7 Impasse and Catastrophe: What the Virus Teaches Susie Paulik Babka 173

8 Impasse and the Preferential Option for the Poor Roberto S. Goizueta 195

9 Impasse and Climate Crisis: A Contemplative View Margaret R. Pfeil 211

10 Transformation in Wisdom: The Subversive Character and Educative Power of Sophia in Contemplation Constance FitzGerald, OCD 231

11 Contemplative Transformation in Sophia-Wisdom: A Way of Decolonizing Faith and Society Alex Mikulich 305

12 Toward a Spirituality for Racial Justice: The Transformation of Consciousness and the "Souls of White Folks" Bryan N. Massingale 325

13 Passion in the Carmelite Tradition: Edith Stein Constance FitzGerald, OCD 347

14 Grace in a Violent World: Constance FitzGerald's Reading of Edith Stein Andrew Prevot 373

15 Preaching the Dark Wisdom of the Cross Mary Catherine Hilkert, OP 391

16 Dark Night and the Transformative Influence of Wisdom in John of the Cross Constance FitzGerald, OCD 409

17 From Impasse to Prophetic Hope: Crisis of Memory Constance FitzGerald, OCD 425

List of Contributors 455

Selected Writings of Constance FitzGerald, OCD 461

Editorial Reviews

For decades, pioneering contemplative theologian Constance FitzGerald has been creatively exploring how the wisdom of the Carmelite tradition can help address our contemporary experience of impasse and darkness, and our deepest desires for personal and social transformation, in the face of so many current crises. Gathered here are seven of her most important essays, together with contributions from a variety of theologians, who draw upon her insights as they grapple with such issues as the COVID-19 pandemic, economic injustice, environmental degradation, violence and dehumanization, systemic racism, and the oppression of women and minorities. Sometimes provocative, always thought provoking and change-oriented, this anthology is a rich resource for all those ‘urgently longing’ for a timely reintegration of theology, contemplation, and the struggle for social justice.”
Steven Payne, OCD, author of The Carmelite Tradition: Spirituality in History

From the Publisher

Wonderful and unusual in equal parts, this is truly an extraordinary book. Constance FitzGerald’s notion of social impasse is the occasion for a lively and important dialogue with a bevy of distinguished scholars. It may be that this collection of essays illumines Karl Rahner’s remark that the Christian of the future will be a mystic or will not exist at all. But what is undoubtedly true is that it reveals how prayerful theology today needs to be if it is to help to lead us beyond the many impasses of our times.

Fairfield University - Paul Lakeland

What a rare marvel this book is. While emphatically celebrating the God awareness, spirituality, and theological prowess of Carmelite contemplative theologian Sister Constance FitzGerald, the theologians, activists, and spiritual directors engage FitzGerald’s understanding of desire, darkness, hope, passion, and impasse, and prayer—all in her yearning for and union with God—through their insightful and formidable contributions. In their critical engagement with Constance FitzGerald’s theology, the intentionally diverse contributors at once are inspired, challenged, and stretched to respond, relate, react, and reimagine how they encounter God and witness about God to their sisters and brothers amid the virulent ‘dark night of the world.’ These essays are a timely invitation to the reader into the spiritual life of FitzGerald as she offers hope and wisdom in these disconcerting times.

Black Catholic Theological Symposium, Author of Thea Bowman: Faithful and Free - Maurice J. Nutt

At once eternal and timely, this book is the most-rare of treasures for those who want to think deeply about the spiritual journey of our time, one shaped by twin pandemics, ‘the coronavirus disease and white racist supremacy.’ Constance FitzGerald’s singular wisdom always invites greater intimacy with God, but particularly so during this time of impasse. She illuminates the path of prophetic hope. In this book, FitzGerald’s outstanding interpreters lay bare the enduring fecundity of her contribution. By any measure, a must read.

Loyola Marymount University - Nancy Pineda-Madrid

In this generous book we encounter a secret treasure: the wide, wise heart and mind of a great lover of the divine and of humanity. Shawn Copeland and Laurie Cassidy have done theologians, ‘nones,’ and lovers everywhere an enormous service by introducing Constance FitzGerald and her cloud of witnesses to a broader audience. May their light shine long and brightly.

Redlands University - Wendy Farley

This volume is an invaluable contribution to the deepening reflection in the theological academy on the role of the Christian (especially the Carmelite) mystical tradition in the project of engaging the most important issues of personal and social transformation in our time. It makes available seven of the now classic studies of that tradition by Carmelite scholar, Constance FitzGerald, OCD, which are each engaged by scholars with expertise in the areas in question.

IHM, Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University - Sandra M. Schneiders

Laurie Cassidy and M. Shawn Copeland have performed an astonishing service to the Christian community in collecting seven of Constance FitzGerald’s essays on profound themes, specifically dark night experiences, in the works of St. John of the Cross that shed light on and offer guidance in confronting several situations of impasse in contemporary society. They have done so not only by making these essays available in one place, but also by inviting the contemplative engagement of a variety of theologians, women and men whose own work deals with these same intransigent conditions of injustice and suffering that cry for remedy and brings them into dialogue with the wisdom of John of the Cross and the patterns of transformation he describes as Constance has appropriated them. Although FitzGerald rarely directly alludes to her personal experience in prayer in her appropriation of the teaching of John of the Cross for our times, there are moments when the reader catches glimpses when FitzGerald’s own experience all but merges with that of John of the Cross.

RSM, Yale Divinity School - Janet Ruffing