Fragments from an Inner Life: The Notebooks of Evelyn Underhill

June 10 1923: It came over me vividly at Communion today that the whole of the life of Christ consists and always has in nothing at all but giving himself--to everyone who asks--pleasant or not--dingy beasts like me--anyone--making no demands back cultivating no heavenly joy for Himself--an eternal Risen Life of self-outpouring. It may sound obvious but when you see it its pretty overwhelming. Evelyn Underhill kept notebooks during her crucial mid-life years while she was a successful writer and scholar. These private documents comprise one souls journey in the life of the Spirit yet with a universal dimension. Underhills reflections are the only known sustained records of her private life her doubts and failings obstacles to growth and her gradual awakening to Gods grace and presence. In his Foreword A. M. Allchin writes Evelyn Underhills inner world which was one of contrasts and conflicts of darkness as well as light can stand for the inner world of us all . . . these fragments from her inner story will continue to remind us of the price that was paid for the serenity and wisdom of her latter years. These notes and journal entries have the immediacy of spiritual autobiography and the detail that give texture to her otherwise elusive life history. In order to be best understood they need to be viewed within the context of her public writings. Her personal speculations and correspondence give depth and nuance to the mystic and theologian now commemorated in the church calendar and read by Christians of many communions. Dana Greenes theological astuteness coupled with her skill as a historian shapes the fragments of Underhills notebooks into a coherent mosaic. . . . Even long time students of Underhill will find here fresh perspectives on her life and work. First time readers will long for more. The result is a preveleged intimacy with Underhill . . . an exprerience of being with one of the great spiritual lights of the twentieth century an experience of truth beauty and surprising peace. --Dolores R. Leckey Executive Director Secretariat for Family Laity Women and Youth National Conference of Catholic Bishops Dana Greene is Dean Emerita of Oxford College at Emory University. She is author and editor of several books on Evelyn Underhill.