The Biggie Theory of Christian Growth

In the last TPC, Dave Schmelzer talked about how a profound union with God is what 1,200 years of Christian spirituality teaches is what you and I most want--though you might not have been taught this after the Reformers went in a different direction. In this episode, Dave dives into the most lasting theory in the Christian tradition about how we might get this union, Teresa of Avila's seven-stage "The Interior Castle."  (A note: The Pocket Contemplative will break until September after this episode.)Mentioned on this podcast:If you'd like to receive Dave's Thursday notes in your inbox (resuming in September), you can sign up for that here.Some books Dave touches on about Teresa of Avila:Julienne McLean's Towards Mystical Union: A Modern Commentary on The Interior CastleSo, that said, McLean's book is out of print. Amazon will sell it to you for a robust $77. So maybe a summary of her look at Teresa will be enough for you. You can find that in the chapter on Teresa in Kim Nataraja's Journey to the Heart: Christian Contemplation Through the Centuries. Also technically out of print, but you can get that book (a good one) for a mere $37 on Amazon. The Lutheran pastor Dave mentions who wrote on Teresa is R. Thomas Ashbrook. His book is Mansions of the Heart: Exploring the Seven Stages of Spiritual Growth