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JCS Editor • June 5, 2025Special Issue Article
Love’s Deepest Abyss: A Contemplative Ecology of Darkness
“Love’s Deepest Abyss: A Contemplative Ecology of Darkness” by Douglas E. Christie is a part of Special Issue #03: Contemplative Ecology. Abstract: “Love’s deepest abyss is her most beautiful form,” so claims Hadewijch of Antwerp, the great medieval Flemish mystic. This… -
JCS Editor • June 5, 2025Special Issue Article
Beyond Technical Fixes: Sufism, Contemplation, and Climate Change as Human Predicament
“Beyond Technical Fixes: Sufism, Contemplation, and Climate Change as Human Predicament” by Muhammad U. Faruque is a part of Special Issue #03: Contemplative Ecology. Abstract: Building on the works of the Sufi philosopher Seyyed Hossein Nasr and the German sociologist Hartmut… -
JCS Editor • May 8, 2025Special Issue Article
The Contemplative Mood of Nan Shepherd’s The Living Mountain: Toward an Embodied Ecocentric Epistemology
“The Contemplative Mood of Nan Shepherd’s The Living Mountain: Toward an Embodied Ecocentric Epistemology” by Jared R. Lindahl is a part of Special Issue #03: Contemplative Ecology. Abstract: Nan Shepherd (1893–1981) was a Scottish novelist, poet, educator, and mountaineer. Her primary work of… -
JCS Editor • April 24, 2025Special Issue Article
The Persistence of Habit: Tantric Engagements with Dharmakīrti’s View of Yogic Perception
After a century and a half of focus on Buddhist doctrine, academic attention is increasingly being paid to practice. What remains undertheorized, however, is the relation between the two. An example of this is the idea that tantric practice is… -
JCS Editor • April 10, 2025Special Issue Article
Self-Transformative Research: Effects on Researchers of a Holistic Collaborative Study of Spiritual Exemplars
After a century and a half of focus on Buddhist doctrine, academic attention is increasingly being paid to practice. What remains undertheorized, however, is the relation between the two. An example of this is the idea that tantric practice is… -
JCS Editor • March 13, 2025Special Issue Article
Riven: A Mysticism of Place in Times of Grief
After a century and a half of focus on Buddhist doctrine, academic attention is increasingly being paid to practice. What remains undertheorized, however, is the relation between the two. An example of this is the idea that tantric practice is… -
JCS Editor • March 6, 2025Special Issue Article
Contemplative Life amidst Mass Extinction: Catholic Revisions of Spirituality, Law, and Multispecies Justice
After a century and a half of focus on Buddhist doctrine, academic attention is increasingly being paid to practice. What remains undertheorized, however, is the relation between the two. An example of this is the idea that tantric practice is… -
JCS Editor • February 7, 2025Special Issue Article
Supreme Patriarch Suk Kai Thuean’s Method of Visualizing the Elements
After a century and a half of focus on Buddhist doctrine, academic attention is increasingly being paid to practice. What remains undertheorized, however, is the relation between the two. An example of this is the idea that tantric practice is… -
JCS Editor • January 19, 2025Book Review
Review of Night of Beginnings: A Passover Haggadah
Reviewed by Ariel Evan Mayse, this review discusses Marcia Falk’s Night of Beginnings, a reimagined Passover Haggadah designed to inspire contemplative practice. Falk combines poetic liturgy, gender-inclusive language, and mystical reflections to offer new interpretations of traditional Jewish texts. She…
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JCS Editor • April 16, 2026Contemplation + Indigeneity
An Interview With Lance Henson
JCS: I’d first like to tell you what an honor it is for me to be able to have this conversation with you, Lance. I’d like to start our conversation in asking whether contemplative practices have always been part of your life. What did your upbringing look like,… -
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JCS Editor • March 19, 2026Contemplation + SENSEmaking
An Interview With James Gentry
JCS: Thanks so much for talking with me today, James. First, we’re really interested in how your upbringing led to your being interested in contemplative practices and general spiritual openness. JG: Yeah, that’s such a big question. For me, it was essentially… -
JCS Editor • February 26, 2026Contemplation + SENSEmaking
An Interview with Andrew Holecek
JCS: Welcome—I’m excited to talk with you today. I have three core questions, but first I’d love it if you could give us a brief bio and a background of who you are and where you’re coming from. AH: I come from Boulder, Colorado and have an academic background. I got a… -
JCS Editor • February 20, 2026ISCR 2025 Contemplative Studies Update
From November 3rd to the 6th, 2025, the International Society for Contemplative Research (ISCR) held its third academic conference. The Friday Conference Center offered a pleasant venue for a week’s worth of professional networking, stimulating lectures, and intermittent contemplative exercises. Walking through the front doors on the first day,… -
JCS Editor • February 13, 2026AAR 2025 Contemplative Studies Update
With an Honor Song ringing out, resonantly, at an AAR panel, it’s clear that contemplation as a category, as a way to collect voices, perspectives, and insights, is not just a recapitulation of tired and ingrained modes of academic pursuit. While Contemplative Studies as an organized and self-conscious field is still…