Do we really need another book on Christian mysticism?

Okay, after a rather spirited exchange of comments with Simon yesterday, I’ve owned up to the fact that my post Remain in Love was driven, in large measure, by my own defensiveness. As we say here in the south, “A hit dog hollers.” Not to say that I don’t stand by what I said, it’s a question of what motivated me to say it. Sure, Simon’s initial question got me to thinking about how so many Christians seem to embody a veiled or not-so-veiled hostility to things of this world; but in all honesty that was just an elaborate ploy to avoid the question itself: to paraphrase, “Why bother writing another book on Christian mysticism when there are already so many?” When Simon rather calmly pointed out to me that in my initial response I “protested too much,” … well, he was right.

So with all due respect to Simon and to anyone else who might be wondering the same thing, this morning I’ll try to refrain from deflecting the issue with a blustering argument about why I don’t like the question itself (!), and instead just attempt to answer it.