Milton and Jacob Boehme: German Mysticism in 17th Century England

The 17th Century was an age of turmoil in England, but also of great spiritual vitality, and the time when the English language was at the height of its power and expressiveness. Hence the treasury of literature that that generation bequeathed to us: Shakespeare, Milton, Bunyan, Fox, Lead, Pordage, Bromley and, of course, the King James Bible. Margaret Lewis Bailey offers a sweeping historical survey of the mystical and pietist movements of that time, who broke the yoke of the State Church and reintroduced the Christian Gospel in an age of religious sham. Readers of John Milton will be surprised to learn how deeply he was influenced by the writings of the obscure German cobbler, Jacob Boehme. For four centuries the writings of Boehme have been denounced as heresy or dismissed as incomprehensible by the guardians of orthodoxy, but time and time again they have been taken up religious revolutionaries and maverick intellectuals. Some of these, like Isaac Newton, William Blake, William Law, and John Milton, rank among the greatest minds western thought has produced.Bailey has condensed vast historical data into a short, readable volume, and given us one of those rare historical works which does not lose relevance with the passage of time.