Martin Laird, O.S.A., is Professor of Early Christian Studies in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at Villanova University (USA). His publications include Gregory of Nyssa and the Grasp of Faith; Into the Silent Land; A Sunlit Absence; and An Ocean of Light: Contemplation and the Ethics of Silence (forthcoming from Oxford University Press).

Sheelah Treflé Hidden is a Research Associate with the Heythrop Institute Religion and Society at Heythrop College, University of London. Her main interests are Christian and Islamic Mysticism as well as the Mimetic Theory of René Girard. She is editor of Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Mystical Perspectives on the Love of God, and contributing editor to The Handbook of Mimetic Theory.

Introduction:Oracles, Prophets, and Dwellers in Silence James Alison

Part 1. Foundational Soundings

1 Theology as a Way of Life Rowan Williams

2 Undergoing Something from Nothing Brian D. Robinette

3 The Trinity as our Ascetic Programme Nicholaï Sakharov

Part 2. Personal Accounts of a Theological Life

4 Ecumenical Confessions of an Unconventional Protestant Frances Young

5 Augustine on Practicing the Presence of God Margaret R. Miles

Part 3. Theological and Liturgical Retrievals

6 The Liturgy, Icons and the Prayer of the Heart Andrew Louth

7 To Feel so as to Understand: Hadewijch of Brabant and the Legacy of St. Anselm Rachel Smith

8 Etching the Ineffable in Words: The Return of Contemplation to Theology Martin Laird

9 The Guidance of St. Ephrem: a Vision to Live by Sebastian Brock

10 The Threat of Death as a Test for Theological Authenticity Luigi Gioia