Robert Ellwood’s text offers an engaging, comprehensive, and clearly written overview of the major issues and positions in the study of mysticism. I am very impressed with this second edition of Mysticism and Re- ligion. It is lucidly written, thorough, thoughtful, and filled with nu- merous vivid, first person accounts. Ellwood is well grounded in the current scholarly debates on mysticism, and his intellectual so- phistication and even-handed assessment of differing perspectives are readily apparent throughout the text. -G. William Barnard, Southern Methodist University Ellwood’s text is excellent and his methodology is sound; his illus- trations from both past and contemporary mysticism make his work simultaneously challenging and pleasant to read. -Edward Hughes, California State University at Long Beach