Evelyn Underhill

Evelyn Underhill was born in Wolverhampton in 1875 and grew up in London, the only child of a barrister. She studied at King’s College for Women in London, wrote novels and poetry, and, after a period of interest in occultism, was drawn to Christianity and to the mystics.

Her Mysticism (1911), a large study of the nature and stages of the mystical life, drawing on Christian and some non-Christian sources, became a classic and went through many editions. She edited The Cloud of Unknowing and other medieval texts, worked with Rabindranath Tagore on his English versions of Kabīr, and wrote shorter books such as Practical Mysticism (1914).

From 1921, under the spiritual direction of Friedrich von Hügel, she became a committed member of the Church of England. In her later years she was one of the first women to lead retreats in the Church, wrote Worship (1936), and gave spiritual direction to many. She became a pacifist, and died in London in 1941.

Underhill wrote as a scholar and as a practitioner, for ordinary readers as much as for specialists. Her work helped to bring the medieval English mystics, such as Julian of Norwich and Walter Hilton, back into circulation, and made the study of mysticism respectable in the English-speaking world at a time when it was widely dismissed. Her letters of spiritual direction were published after her death.