Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941) was an Anglican writer on mysticism, a novelist, and a metaphysical poet. She was formally educated at King's College for Women in London, where she was later elected as a Fellow. Both her father and her husband were London barristers; she and her husband, Hubert Stuart Moore, grew up together. The couple had no children and spent a part of their leisure hours yachting. 1875 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... For the movie, see 1941 (film) 1941 (MCMXLI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1941 calendar). ... The term Anglican describes those people and churches following the religious traditions of the Church of England, especially following the Reformation. ... Mysticism from the Greek (muo, concealed) is the pursuit of achieving communion or identity with, or conscious awareness of, ultimate reality, the divine, spiritual truth, or God through direct experience, intuition, or insight; and the belief that such experience is an important source of knowledge or understanding. ... Kings College London in London is the largest and second longest serving member college in the federal University of London, with 21,300 registered students (2003-04). ... A barrister (advocate in Scotland and the Channel Islands, barrister-at-law in Ireland and elsewhere) is a lawyer found in some Common law jurisdictions who principally, but not exclusively, represents litigants as their advocate before the courts of that jurisdiction. ... Yachting is a noncommercial boating activity. ...

Called simply "Mrs. Moore" by many of her friends, she published over thirty books either under her maiden name Underhill or under the pseudonym John Cordelier, as was the case with the 1912 release The Spiral Way. Initially an atheist, she gradually began to acquire an interest in Neoplatonism and from there became increasingly drawn to Catholicism, becoming eventually a prominent Anglo-Catholic. Her spiritual mentor was Baron Friedrich von Hügel, who encouraged her to adopt a much more Christocentric view as opposed to the more merely Theistic one she previously held. After his death in 1925, her writings became more focused on the Holy Spirit. Neither her husband nor her parents shared her interest in spiritual matters. Neoplatonism (also Neo-Platonism) is a school of philosophy that took shape in the 3rd century A.D. Based on the teachings of Plato and the Platonists, it contained enough unique interpretations of Plato that some view Neoplatonism as substantively different from what Plato wrote and believed. ... Catholic (from Greek) , universal, from , in general: , according to + , neuter genitive of , whole) can be used as a specifically Christian religious term with a number of meanings: In one widely used sense, it refers to the members, beliefs, and practices of the Roman Catholic Church, particularly in countries and languages... ... Baron Friedrich von Hügel (1852–1925), was an influential Austrian Roman Catholic layman, religious writer and thinker. ... Christocentric is a doctrinal term within Christianity pertaining to teachings focused on Jesus Christ, the second person of the Christian Trinity, as opposed to the Holy Spirit or God the Father. ... Theism is the belief in one or more gods or goddesses. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ...

Before undertaking many of her better known expository works on mysticism, Underhill wrote three highly unconventional through profoundly spiritual novels. Like Charles Williams, Underhill uses her narratives to explore the sacramental intersection of the physical with the spiritual. She then uses that sacramental framework very effectively to illustrate the unfolding of a human drama. Her novels are entitled The Grey World (1904), The Lost Word (1907), and The Column of Dust (1909). Charles Walter Stansby Williams (September 20, 1886 – May 15, 1945), educated at St Albans School, Hertfordshire and University College, London. ...

In her earlier wrirings Underhill often wrote using the terms "mysticism" and "mystics" but later began to adopt the terms "spirituality" and "saints" because she felt they were less given to misunderstanding. In later years, her focus increasingly became interested in "practical mysticism," that is, in laying out a spirituality that the average, ordinary person could enjoy. To this end, she conducted many ecumenical retreats. Christian ecumenism is the promotion of unity or cooperation between distinct religious groups or denominations of the Christian religion, more or less broadly defined. ...

Though conferred with an honorary Doctorate of Divinity from Aberdeen University--and though named fellow of both King's College for Women and King's College--she possessed no degrees herself. Despite this fact, she was the first woman to lecture to the clergy in the Church of England as well as the first woman to officially conduct spiritual retreats for the Church. She was also the first woman to establish ecumenical links between churches and one of the first woman theologians to lecture in English colleges and universities, as she did frequently. She was schooled in the classics, well read in Western spirituality, well informed (in addition to theology) in the philosophy, psychology, and physics of her day, and acquired the prestigious post as editor of The Spectator. More than any other person, she was responsible for introducing the forgotten authors of medieval and Catholic spirituality to a largely Protestant audience. She was a frequent guest on radio, and her 1936 work The Spiritual Life is transcribed from a series of broadcasts given as a sequel to those by Dom Bernard Clements on the subject of prayer. Fellow theologian Charles Williams wrote the introduction to her published Letters in 1943, which reveal much about this prodigious woman. Upon her death, The Times reported that on the subject of theology, she was "unmatched by any of the professional teachers of her day." The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England, and acts as the mother and senior branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion, as well as a founding member of the Porvoo Communion. ... Christian ecumenism is the promotion of unity or cooperation between distinct religious groups or denominations of the Christian religion, more or less broadly defined. ... The Spectator is a conservative British political magazine, established 1828, published weekly. ... Protestantism is a general grouping of denominations within Christianity. ... Charles Walter Stansby Williams (September 20, 1886 – May 15, 1945), educated at St Albans School, Hertfordshire and University College, London. ... The Times is a national newspaper published daily in the United Kingdom. ...

Books

• Mysticism: A Study in Nature and Development of Spiritual Consciousness, 1911, reprint 1999, ISBN 1851681965
• Practical Mysticism, 1914, reprint 1942, ISBN 076610141X
• The Spiritual Life, 1936, reprint 1999, ISBN 1851681973
• The Essentials of Mysticism: And Other Essays, reprint 1999, ISBN 1851681957
• Fruits of the Spirit, reprint 1982, ISBN 0819213144
• The Ways of the Spirit, reprint 1993, ISBN 0824512324
• Concerning the Inner Life, reprint 1999, ISBN 1851681949
• Radiance: A Spiritual Memoir, Bernard Bangley ed., 2004, ISBN 1557253552

External links

• Underhill's writing at the Christian Classics Ethereal Library
• The Evelyn Underhill Association
• Meet Evelyn Underhill
• The Spiral Way (1922 complete text)
• The Spiritual Life (1936 complete text)
• Evelyn Underhill: Mystic and Teacher
• The Roots of Christian Mysticism (Underhill)
• Works by Evelyn Underhill at Project Gutenberg
• Charles Williams's Introduction to the Letters of Evelyn Underhill (1943)