I was honored to be asked to write an online profile of Evelyn Underhill for the Women in World Religions project, part of an ongoing and important scholarly effort, all online, called the World Religions and Spirituality Project. You can find my post here
I have been reading Underhill’s work since I first encountered her collection Life as Prayer back in 1992 or ’93. She combines a vivid account of the mystical life with a commitment to the ordinary and the practical, the good things in everyday life that open for us a way to all that is truly holy. I believe her work speaks across denominations and faith traditions. I hope my piece provides a good introduction and overview.
To give a flavor, here is one of my favorite quotes from Underhill (one of many favorites.)
In her book The Spiritual Life (a good starting point for those new to her work) she writes “Our favourite distinction between the spiritual life and the practical life is false. We cannot divide them. One affects the other all the time: for we are creatures of sense and of spirit, and must live an amphibious life. . . . For a spiritual life is simply a life in which all that we do comes from the centre, where we are anchored in God: a life soaked through and through by a sense of His reality and claim, and self-given to the great movement of His will (The Spiritual Life (1937) pp.31–32).