I monitor an email discussion group called the "Contemplative Evangelical Dialogue." From the
name of the group, you can see that its members want to dialogue about the contemplative forms
of Christian spirituality, and do so from an expressly Evangelical theological basis.
In a message written on June 22, 2001, one of the active members related an event in her life five
years earlier. "I had the feeling," she wrote,
Holy Land trip), then God would honor that and the result might be a deepening of my
faith. . . . I chose to visit two sites in particular, Avila, where Teresa lived and was the
head of the Carmelite order for about 30 years, and Mount Montserrat, where there is a
Benedictine Monastery dedicated to the Black Madonna. . . . Miracles happened and I
even had several appearances of what can only be described as angels. . . . One of the
miracles was that I got to stand in the cell that Teresa lived in for 27 years and feel the
power of her presence there.
purchase icons (small paintings on wood) of these two influential and courageous
women, . . .
them? Not really, I pray to God and to Jesus. But sometimes I'll just lean over and say
to Teresa and Mary, "Well, girls, how're we doing?" . . . I believe they are Jesus with
skin on and they give me hope and courage.
Is this sort of talk and practice outside the boundaries of Evangelical spirituality? It depends
entirely on which Evangelicals you ask. Some would say that, rightly understood and with the
proper qualification of terms, yes, this could be within our boundaries. Others would
immediately declare, "Absolutely not! Some of our Evangelical forefathers lost their livelihoods
or their lives in order to withstand such as this."
Evangelicals, it is quite common today to find Catholic and mystical influences permeating both