“In a time of radical changes in masculinity and spirituality, Christopher Bezzina’s erudite study offers a fresh and impassioned approach to the perennial ‘Who am I?’ question which is at the back of both the perception of self and the existential understanding of the human spiritual dimension. Combining spiritual theory from John of the Cross and real-life attentive reading of men telling their stories, Bezzina manages to convincingly throw light on the dynamics at play in the painful process of the transformation of desire.”

—Charló Camilleri, OCarm, senior lecturer in moral and spiritual theology, University of Malta

“In this rich and nuanced study, Christopher Bezzina draws on the spiritual doctrine of St. John of the Cross to explore the life stories of men engaging in spiritual direction and their relationship to their spiritual directors. Bezzina offers important insights into men’s spirituality and the spiritual aspects of the construction of masculinities. His study is also relevant for anyone interested in the processes of spiritual direction more generally.”

—Charlotte Methuen, professor of ecclesiastical history, University of Glasgow

«You have done a magnificent study of Julian. The initial chapters are splendidly researched though I missed the Syon Abbey contribution. Then I loved your final chapters where the footnotes keep giving Julian’s text. I especially applaud your seeing the Carmelite aspect which I don’t think others have.»

(Julia Bolton Holloway, Hermit of the Holy Family, Florence)

«A new work on Julian of Norwich is always a cause for celebration and Dr Clemmer’s book is no exception. The reader is enabled to follow Julian closely before, during and after her unique visionary experience, examining contemporary history and spirituality from many angles. And the story continues right up to Edith Stein in the twentieth century. This book will delight all Julian lovers, as well as others who want to know Julian better and appreciate her in greater depths.»

(Sr Elizabeth Ruth Obbard ODC, Quidenham Carmel, Norwich)

Julian of Norwich in Her Phenomenology engages Julian’s primordial religious experience of May 1373; her subsequent definition to its revelation within her spiritual texts; and their hermeneutics made manifest from centuries of historical context. The meaning of Julian’s experience continued to unfold throughout her life: with its grace, and by insight with her own use of phenomenological method. The historical manifestation of Julian’s graced experience is given its closest phenomenological expression within her Short Text (Amherst) and in her Long Text (Sloane), with their collective human-Divine collaborations. But first, they arise phenomenally for Julian in the reciprocal gaze exchanged between her God and her soul. It is by God’s Trinitarian gift of love, and in her grace-filled collaboration with others, that Julian’s spiritual texts preserve, and guard, her experience of prayer and contemplation grounded in God: namely, with humanity’s resting in God’s substance, and with God’s resting and ruling in her own soul as God’s homeliest home.

This book is well-written in a clearly flowing style that is easy to read. The approach to biblical interpretation provides a stimulating and fresh theological perspective, with excellent analogies intended to guide the readers to a better understanding of the biblical texts.

Rev. Dr Martin Micallef
Faculty of Theology, University of Malta

Seeing that my reflections on the role of believers in the political arena is contained in a book that collects the Gospel reflections of the author in the leading newspaper of record, it is only apt to conclude my reflections by quoting Karl Barth’s famous quip to TIME magazine: “Take your Bible and take your newspaper, and read both. But interpret newspapers from your Bible” (1 May 1966).

Ms Alessandra de Crespo