Christiana N. Peterson - Mystics and Misfits: Meeting God Through St. Francis and Other Unlikely Saints

Because I get several request a day to blurb or review a book, I have to refuse most of them to survive. But I opened this fine book out of curiosity, and found it so well written, and so filled with gems, that I knew I had to pass on the good news! Read Mystics and Misfits by Christiana N. Petersoneven if you think you dont have time.

Richard Rohr , OFM, founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation

I cried healing tears as I read Mystics and Misfits . Christiana N. Petersons breathtaking way with words, coupled with her rare perception, left me pared back and longing for the deeper, more honest things of faith. Anyone grappling for words to express the strange intermingling of joy and suffering needs to look no further.

Amber Haines , author of Wild in the Hollow

Christiana N. Peterson is a bridge-builder: her great gift is the ability to connect the mundane world of the here and now to saints and mystics and ways of seeing and believing that seem distant, strange, and forbidding.

Gregory Wolfe , editor of Image

Mystics and Misfits is a generous invitation to join the saints in everyday conversation about the marrow of life and essence of faith. If you are looking for spiritual companions for your journey, Christiana N. Peterson is ready to offer worthy introductions to Saint Francis and others. With candor and care, Peterson creates a new conversation for those who are hungry for deeper goodness.

Kelley Nikondeha , author of Adopted

Mystics and Misfits is achingly beautiful. It is like a long love letter to holiness. The mystics with whom Christiana N. Peterson engages are ones who wanted so much to be holy, as Jesus asked us all to be, and did it in ordinary and extraordinary ways.

Jon M. Sweeney , author of Francis of Assisi in His Own Words , from foreword

In Christiana N. Petersons beautifully told memoir, the reader comes to understand that our relationships with saints living and dead can take many forms but that, at their heart, they are about the compassion that draws us into community.

Kaya Oakes , author of Radical Reinvention

Mystics and Misfits is part memoir, part biography, part handbook, and entirely wonderful. Mystics and Misfits is a practical and intelligent introduction to the spiritual wisdom of figures as diverse as Francis of Assisi, Margery Kempe, and Dorothy Day, yet it is also a personal story, at once gentle and deeply inspiring.

Christie Purifoy , author of Roots and Sky

Mystics and Misfits is an imaginative and spiritually rich look at the reality of following God in community with a great cloud of witnesses past and present. In the tradition of Kathleen Norris and Madeleine LEngle, Christiana N. Peterson finds the wildness of Gods mercy at work in her ordinary life. Rich and resonant, this book speaks to all who dare to hope that the God of Saint Francis still speaks to us today.

Amy Peterson , author of Dangerous Territory

Mystics and Misfits is the perfect blend of idealism tinged with mortality, of contemplation marred by depression and the mundane realities of moldy rugs. This is a gorgeous, quirky, and heartfelt book inviting the reader to love the mystics and misfits of our worldboth those around us currently and those who came as guides long before.

D. L. Mayfield , author of Assimilate or Go Home

This unflinching narrative of spiritual transformation will first captivate and then challenge readers at the depths of their souls. Despite their eccentricities, the mystics model a deeply human, resilient faith that offers sustenance and hope as Peterson navigates a perilous journey from youthful idealism, through disillusionment, and to a more authentic life.

Marlene Kropf , professor emerita of spiritual formation and worship at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary

Herald Press
PO Box 866, Harrisonburg, Virginia 22803
www.HeraldPress.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Peterson, Christiana N., author.

Title: Mystics and misfits : meeting God through St. Francis and other
unlikely saints / Christiana N. Peterson.

Description: Harrisonburg : Herald Press, 2018. | Includes bibliographical
references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017048471| ISBN 9781513801643 (pbk. : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9781513801650 (hardcover : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Mysticism. | Spirituality--Christianity. | Mystics. |
Christian saints.

Classification: LCC BV5082.3 .P48 2018 | DDC 248.2/2--dc23 LC record
available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017048471

Portions of the book previously appeared at Good Letters, an Image Journal blog.

Portions of are adapted from an article titled The Awkward Feast of My Ideal Church, originally published at ChristianityToday.com. Portions of chapter 22 appeared in Aleteia and are used here by permission. Lyrics from House of Peace on page 208 are by Jim Croegaert, copyright 1974, 1991, Rough Stones Music, 827 Monroe St., Evanston, IL 60202. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

All rights reserved. This publication may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in whole or in part, in any form, by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without prior permission of the copyright owners.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

MYSTICS AND MISFITS

2018 by Christiana Peterson

Released by Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia 22803. 800-245-7894.

All rights reserved.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017048471

International Standard Book Number: 978-1-5138-0164-3 (paperback); 978-1-5138-0165-0 (hardcover); 978-1-5138-0166-7 (ebook)

Printed in United States of America

Cover and interior design by Merrill Miller

22 21 20 19 18 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To my Grandmama Oneta,
the first mystic I ever knew,
who loved reading novels
about a medieval Benedictine monk who solved mysteries.
Thank you for making it okay to stay up too late reading.
And
to my daddy, a bit of a misfit.

Foreword

I SUSPECT THE CHURCHES of my childhood were even less open to saints and mystics than Christiana N. Petersons were. We were nondenominational Baptists in Wheaton, Illinois, and saints were regarded as not just beyond the pale; they were wrapped in papist superstition, designed to lead faithful believers away from Christ.

Ironically, just as Peterson found her adult denominational home among Mennonites, it was also among Mennonites that I was first favorably introduced to saints. At age seventeen, having found no support at church or home for registering as a conscientious objector to military service, I contacted the Lombard Mennonite Peace Center for help. There, Mennonites taught me the peace and justice traditions of the church, and handed me The Nonviolent Alternative by Thomas Merton, for which Im eternally grateful. They, that book, Merton, and the many threads of connection to follow changed my life.

That was nearly thirty-five years ago now, and the churches of my childhood have also changedor, at least, are changing. I find an openness to the message, historical figures, and spiritual practices pondered in Petersons thoughtful book, Mystics and Misfits , even among communities that were once highly suspicious of anything that smacked of Catholicism.