Mother Teresa of Kolkata is among the most famous Christian names of the 20th century. But she is not often thought of as a mystical writer. While her private journals and letters have been described as ‘scrawled and desperate documents’ by Christopher Hitchens, we find in these documents deep mystical experiences and engagement with many of the central aspects of mystical theology. Particularly this is doubt and going through what John of the Cross termed the Dark Night of the Soul. This is accompanied by language of darkness, unknowing (apophaticism) and the abyss. Rather than indicating a lack of faith, this instead places Mother Teresa within a rich tradition of Christian mysticism.

• Monday 28th September
• 7:30pm to 9pm
• Online

About the tutor

Professor Ines Angeli Murzaku is Professor of Religion and Director of the Catholic Studies Programme at Seton Hall University in New Jersey. She has published substantially on Eastern European Christianity, Monasticism, and Catholicity. Her forthcoming book is Mother Teresa’s Revolutionary Theology: Prayer, Poverty, Suffering, and Conscience (Routledge).