Evelyn Underhill

Anglican mystical poet and writer, born in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, C England, UK. She studied at King's College, London, and became lecturer on the philosophy of religion at Manchester College, Oxford. She led religious retreats, was a religious counsellor, and wrote numerous books on mysticism, including The Life of the Spirit (1922), volumes of verse, and four novels. Her Mysticism (1911) became a standard work.

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 for the 1912 book 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. Neither her husband nor her parents shared her interest in spiritual matters.

Before undertaking many of her better known expository works on mysticism, Underhill wrote three highly unconventional though profoundly spiritual novels. Like Charles Williams, Underhill uses her narratives to explore the sacramental intersection of the physical with the spiritual. Her novels are entitled The Grey World (1904), The Lost Word (1907), and The Column of Dust (1909).

In her earlier writings 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. 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 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. Kessinger Publishing, 1942 reprint: ISBN 0-7661-0158-4 Mysticism: A Study in Nature and Development of Spiritual Consciousness (1911). reprint 1999, ISBN 1-85168-196-5, online edition Practical Mysticism: A Little Book for Normal People (1914). reprint 1942, ISBN 0-7661-0141-X; with Abba: Meditations Based on the Lord's Prayer): ISBN 0-375-72570-9 The Essentials of Mysticism: And Other Essays (1920). reprint 1999, ISBN 1-85168-195-7 The Spiritual Life (1936). reprint 1999, ISBN 1-85168-197-3, online edtition Fruits of the Spirit (1942). reprint 1982, ISBN 0-8192-1314-4 The Letters of Evelyn Underhill (1943). editor Charles Williams, Christian Classics 1989 reprint: ISBN 0-87061-172-0 The Ways of the Spirit, reprint 1993, ISBN 0-8245-1232-4 Concerning the Inner Life, reprint 1999, ISBN 1-85168-194-9 Radiance: A Spiritual Memoir, Bernard Bangley ed., 2004, ISBN 1-55725-355-2