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Through their refusal to treat worldviews as reductive models, these thinkers are presented as offering radically alternative pictures of life that preserve everyday mystery. The study contends that “pure” experience can reveal the irreducibly mystical character of daily existence and supports theological conversations, while warning against impoverishing scientific and philosophical reductions.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":15,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/literature/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/a-mystical-philosophy-a-mystical-way-of-knowing/330493/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/a-mystical-philosophy-a-mystical-way-of-knowing/330493.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Genevieve","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-22","2026-09-21",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":39},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What is the central thesis of A Mystical Philosophy?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"The study claims that Woolf and Murdoch, despite being famous atheists, contain irreducibly mystical contents in their accounts of everyday life, revealed through “pure” experience.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How does the book characterize Woolf and Murdoch’s approach to understanding the world?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"It highlights their refusal to construe worldviews using reductive models, arguing they instead provide radically alternative pictures that preserve life’s mysteriousness.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What warning and positive guidance does the author offer for contemporary knowledge?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"The author warns against reductive scientific and philosophical models that impoverish understanding of self and world, and endorses ways of knowing that restore art and contemplation to a central role.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},330493,1790215715,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":14,"category_name":15,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":39,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145},1374391974585,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_276721f389ce27ea32af1340a28f341c","A Mystical Philosophy  \nA Mystical Philosophy contributes to the contemporary resurgence of interest in Spirituality, but from a new direction. Revealing, in an original and provocative study, the mystical contents of the works of the famous atheists Virginia Woolf and Iris Murdoch, the author shows how these women thinkers’ refusal to construe worldviews on available reductive models brought them to offer radically alternative pictures of life which maintain its mysteriousness, and promote a mystical way of knowing. This study makes a daring claim: that a return to ‘pure’ experience is sufficient to demonstrate, for the contemporary imagination, the irreducibly mystical contents of everyday life, and, therefore, the enduring appropriateness of theological conversations. The author reveals how these atheist thinkers offer crucial spiritual-intellectual advice for our times: a warning against reductive scientific and philosophical models that impoverish our understanding of our selves and the world, and a powerful endorsement of ways of knowing that give art, and a restored concept of contemplation, their consummative place.  \nAlso available from Bloomsbury  \nExcursions with Kierkegaard, Edward F. Mooney Iris Murdoch: Philosophical Novelist, Miles Neeson  \nMysticism: A Guide for the Perplexed, Paul Oliver  \nThe Reception of Virginia Woolf in Europe, edited by MaryAnn Caws and Nicola Luckhurst  \nA Mystical Philosophy Transcendence and Immanence in the Works of  \nVirginia Woolf and Iris Murdoch  \nDonna J. Lazenby  \nLONDON • NEW DELHI • NEW YORK • SYDNEY  \nBloomsbury Academic  \nAn imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc  \n50 Bedford Square 1385 Broadway  \nLondon New York  \nWC1B 3DP NY 10018  \nUK USA  \n[www.bloomsbury.com](www.bloomsbury.com)  \nBloomsbury is a registered trade mark of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc First published 2014  \n© Donna J. Lazenby, 2014  \nDonna J. Lazenby has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designsand Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this work.  \nAll rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers.  \nNo responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting on or refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by Bloomsbury Academic or the author.  \nBritish Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data  \nA catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.  \neISBN: 978-1-4725-2310-5  \nLibrary of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data  \nLazenby, Donna J.  \nA Mystical Philosophy : Transcendence and Immanence in the Works of Virginia Woolf and Iris Murdoch / Donna J. Lazenby.  \npages cm  \nSummary: “A provocative re-reading of famous atheists Iris Murdoch and Virginia Woolf as profoundly mystical thinkers”– Provided by publisher.  \nIncludes bibliographical references and index.  \nISBN 978-1-4725-2280-1 (hardback)– ISBN 978-1-4725-2554-3 (epub)– ISBN 978-1-4725-2310-5 (epdf) 1. Woolf, Virginia, 1882–1941–Criticism and interpretation. 2. Murdoch, Iris–Criticism and interpretation. 3. Spirituality in literature. I. Title.  \nPR6045 .O72Z77286 2014 823’.912–dc23 2013039116  \nTypeset by Newgen Knowledge Works (P) Ltd., Chennai, India  \nContents  \nAbbreviations viii  \nAcknowledgements x  \nCopyright Acknowledgements xi  \n1. Introduction 1  \nPart One: The Point of Departure  \n2. The Point of Departure: Readdressing the Mystical in Virginia Woolf 13  \n(i) Readdressing the Mystical in Woolf:  \nA Literary Context 13  \n(ii) Readdressing the Mystical in Woolf:  \nA Philosophical and Aesthetic Context 26  \n3. The Point of Departure : Readdressing the Mystical in Iris Murdoch 47  \n(i) Mysticism in Murdoch: A Philosophical and  \nAesthetic Context 47  \nPart Two: A Mystical Philosophy  \n4. Exploring the Cataphatic Dimension of V","cbCairK2e5nQqqx0","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCairK2e5nQqqx0","pdf",1596774,345,"English","# Contents\n## Abbreviations\n## Acknowledgements\n## Copyright Acknowledgements\n## Introduction\n## Part One: The Point of Departure\n## The Point of Departure: Readdressing the Mystical in Virginia Woolf\n## Readdressing the Mystical in Virginia Woolf: A Literary Context\n## Readdressing the Mystical in Virginia Woolf: A Philosophical and Aesthetic Context\n## The Point of Departure: Readdressing the Mystical in Iris Murdoch\n## Mysticism in Murdoch: A Philosophical and Aesthetic Context\n## Part Two: A Mystical Philosophy\n## Exploring the Cataphatic Dimension of Virginia Woolf’s Work: Virginia Woolf and Plotinus\n## Exploring the Cataphatic Dimension of Iris Murdoch’s Work\n## Exploring the Apophatic Dimension of Virginia Woolf’s Work\n## Exploring the Apophatic Dimension of Iris Murdoch’s Work: An Iconoclastic Pilgrimage\n## Part Three: Contributions to a Contemporary Theological Aesthetic\n## Conclusion: Mystical Contributions to a Theological Aesthetic: Virginia Woolf and Iris Murdoch\n## Notes\n## Bibliography\n## Index","[{\"question\":\"What is the central thesis of A Mystical Philosophy?\",\"answer\":\"The study claims that Woolf and Murdoch, despite being famous atheists, contain irreducibly mystical contents in their accounts of everyday life, revealed through “pure” experience.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the book characterize Woolf and Murdoch’s approach to understanding the world?\",\"answer\":\"It highlights their refusal to construe worldviews using reductive models, arguing they instead provide radically alternative pictures that preserve life’s mysteriousness.\"},{\"question\":\"What warning and positive guidance does the author offer for contemporary knowledge?\",\"answer\":\"The author warns against reductive scientific and philosophical models that impoverish understanding of self and world, and endorses ways of knowing that restore art and contemplation to a central role.\"}]","A Mystical Philosophy - A Mystical Way of Knowing | PDF",1789989160,531]