Rev. Dr. Cynthia Bourgeault
 Hermit priest, writer, and internationally known retreat leader, Cynthia Bourgeault divides her time between solitude on Eagle Island, Maine, and a much more extraverted schedule in Vancouver, British Columbia, where she serves as Principal Teacher for the Contemplative Society and an adjunct faculty member at the Vancouver School of Theology.
She is the author of six books: Chanting the Psalms, Mystical Hope, The Wisdom Way of Knowing, Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening, Love is Stronger Than Death and The Wisdom Jesus. She is also responsible for many articles and CDs on the Christian Spiritual Life. She is a past Fellow of the Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural research at St. John's Abbey in Collegeville, MN, and an oblate of New Camaldoli Monastery in Big Sur, California.
As well as her role with the Contemplative Society, she is also a retreat and conference leader, teacher of prayer, writer on the spiritual life, and Episcopal priest. Cynthia is passionately committed to the recovery of the Christian contemplative path and has worked closely with Fr. Thomas Keating as a teacher of Centering Prayer, Fr. Bruno Barnhart, and other Christian contemplative masters, She is also committed to working with leaders of other religious traditions.
To listen to Cynthia on audio files, or to order Cynthia's teaching available on CD click HERE
Cynthia's Writings
Read Cynthia's letter from Summer 2009
Dear friends and fellow contemplatives,
What a wild ride this summer has turned out to be! When I broke camp back in Colorado
shortly after Easter and headed back to my hermitage in Maine, I expected several
months of hermit reclusion in the classic style, my nose to the grindstone on the Mary
Magdalene book. The manuscript did get completed—in about two months, rather than
the four I was allotting—but what opened up for the rest of the summer flung me and my
hermit dreams literally into the stratosphere... MORE
Click on the links or scroll icon to read Cynthia's writings.
Read Cynthia's Spring 2008 letter HERE
Read Cynthia’s Fall 2007 Letter HERE
"In Memory of Frere Roger" a letter from Cynthia, August 22, 2005
Read Cynthia’s notes on "Christophany" by Raimon Panikkar
Read Cynthia's essay "Walking (Hobbling, Flapping)
North" included in a collection called HEAVEN edited by Roger Ferlo, published by Church Publishing Company. The collection contains pieces by Maggie Ross, Alan Jones, Barbara Brown Taylor, and about a dozen major spiritual writers. Cynthia's essay reflects on twelve years of spiritual journeying beyond the grave with her teacher/beloved Raphael, and the implications for our usual notions of death as "rest."
The Divine Feminine in Hebrew Scripture and Biblical Wisdom Literature - Cynthia's foreword to Rami Shapiro's new book
Passion Sunday Homily
Aspen Chapel - April 2, 2006
Libretto for The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ - a new opera by Ray Vincent Adams and Cynthia Bourgeault
Homily Roots of Mysticism - Talk Given by Rev. Cynthia Bourgeault
at Aspen Chapel on March 7, 2004, marking a month-long focus on mysticism.
For more of Cynthia's writing, visit her Regular Column on beliefnet.com
Cynthia's Books
Click the book icon to see the listing of Cynthia's books.
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