Evelyn Underhill: Mother of The Modern Mystics

Artist Profile Series 40

Who was Evelyn Underhill, and why does her work continue to shape the modern contemplative movement more than a century later?

In this Artist Profile episode of Makers & Mystics, Stephen Roach explores the life of Evelyn Underhill, writer, spiritual director, retreat leader, and one of the most influential voices on Christian mysticism in the twentieth century.

Although she is often remembered for her landmark book Mysticism, Underhill's own spiritual journey was anything but straightforward. From youthful encounters with transcendent beauty to explorations of the occult, philosophy, and Roman Catholicism, her search eventually led her into the Anglican tradition, where she discovered that mystical experience finds its deepest fulfillment not in extraordinary visions but in the ordinary rhythms of worship, sacrament, and life with Christ.

In an age captivated by spirituality yet often disconnected from historic faith, Evelyn Underhill's life reminds us that the deepest longing of the human heart is not simply for transcendent experiences, but for communion with the living God.

In This Episode

The surprising spiritual journey that shaped Evelyn Underhill's life

How Mysticism became one of the defining books on Christian contemplation

Why Underhill believed mystical experience should be part of ordinary Christian life

Her friendship with Baron Friedrich von Hügel and its profound influence

The relationship between artists, beauty, and the contemplative life

Why her final book, Worship, marked the culmination of her life's work

What her story offers Christians, artists, and seekers today

Notable Quotes

"The mystic is called to be a creative artist of the highest kind."

"Beauty is simply Reality seen with the eyes of love."

"Long before we begin searching for God, God has already begun searching for us."

Books Mentioned

Mysticism: A Study in the Nature and Development of Man's Spiritual Consciousness — Evelyn Underhill

Practical Mysticism — Evelyn Underhill

Worship — Evelyn Underhill

Confessions — Augustine of Hippo

Dark Night of the Soul — St. John of the Cross

People Mentioned

Baron Friedrich von Hügel

T. S. Eliot

Julian of Norwich

St. John of the Cross

William Blake

Augustine of Hippo

Connect with Makers & Mystics

If this episode encouraged you, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who longs to recover beauty, wonder, and the contemplative life.

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What if art isn't simply something we admire, but something that asks something of us?

In this episode, Stephen Roach sits down with acclaimed printmaker, educator, and storyteller Steve Prince for a conversation about the vocation of the artist. Drawing from history, faith, family, and lived experience, Steve shares how his work seeks to preserve memory, confront injustice, and create spaces where genuine transformation can begin.

From the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement to the power of oral storytelling, from New Orleans kitchen tables to ambitious community art projects, Steve reveals why he believes artists are called to help us "remember to remember" and to imagine a more hopeful future together.

Together they explore:

Why artists are called to be truth-tellers
How history shapes both our imagination and our responsibility
The role of beauty in confronting difficult realities
Why storytelling is essential to healing divided communities
Steve's Kitchen Table project and its vision for reconciliation
Creating art that challenges, invites, and transforms
Faith, social justice, and the spiritual calling of creative work
Helping the next generation of artists embrace both courage and adaptability

Whether you're an artist, educator, historian, or simply someone longing for deeper conversations in a fractured world, this episode offers a vision of art as an act of hospitality, remembrance, and hope.

Quote from the Episode

"The artist helps us remember to remember.""Art isn't made to divide us, it creates a pathway toward who we could become.""Every table has something to teach us." - Steve Prince

Resources Mentioned

Steve Prince's Kitchen Table community art project
Trinity City graphic novel initiative
Howard Thurman
Martin Luther
Medgar Evers
Emmett Till
Rosa Parks
Martin Luther King Jr.

If this episode encouraged you, please consider sharing it with a friend, leaving a review, or supporting the work of Makers & Mystics through Patreon.

Produced by Stephen Roach.

Music by Some Were at Sea.

Keep Creating. The World Needs Your Art.

S14 E13: Van Gogh Has A Broken Heart with Russ Ramsey

Russ Ramsey is an author and pastor with a passion for uniting art and faith. He has been in vocational ministry for more than twenty years and currently serves as the lead pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church’s Cool Springs location. He holds an MDiv and ThM from Covenant Theological Seminary, and is the author of six books, including Rembrandt is in the Wind: Learning to Love Art through the Eyes of Faith (Zondervan 2022), and Behold the King of Glory, recipient of the 2016 Christian Book Award for New Author. Russ was also a founding contributor and member of The Rabbit Room and is a featured speaker each year at The Rabbit Room’s annual conference, Hutchmoot.

In today’s episode Russ discusses his new book, Van Gogh has a Broken Heart. The conversation explores how Van Gogh’s life and art reveal universal themes of struggle and wonder and what Van Gogh reveals about the human condition.

Patrons of the podcast can enjoy an additional interview segment on why the arts are important to communities of faith. Visit Patreon.com/makersandmystics to learn more.

Name Drops: Van Gogh, Norman Rockwell, Paul Simon, Rembrandt,

Books: The Sunflowers Are Mine, Van Gogh Has A Broken Heart

Topics: Suffering, Van Gogh, Wonder, Faith, Honesty in art, mental health, emotional well-being

Van Gogh Letters

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Artist Profile Series 38: Hugo Ball featuring Jonathan Anderson

Hugo Ball was a German sound poet, theatrical performer and mystic. He and his partner Emmy Hennings were the original catalysts of the infamous Dadaist art movement which they started in Zurich, Switzerland around 1916.

What may be surprising to learn is that Hugo Ball was a Catholic and his bizarre forms of art were deeply informed by his theology.

Joining me for this episode is visual artist, writer and art critic Jonathan Anderson. Jonathan writes about Hugo in his book, Modern Art & the Life of A Culture.

S11 E13: Building Bridges with Katherine Paterson

There is a relationship between grief and transcendence that may not be immediately recognizable. But it’s one often expressed within art and in particular, children’s literature.

Whether it’s Lewis’s wardrobe to Narnia, Dorothy’s house transported by cyclone to Oz or a bridge to Terabithia built across a chasm of loss.

Grief has a way of transporting us to a fantastical world of imagination where we can more easily grapple with the difficulties of loss and even find closure to the trauma that sent us looking for relief.

In this episode, Makers & Mystics host Stephen Roach talks with children's book author Katherine Paterson about the motivations behind her writing and why she feels it is important to create a safe space through art and literature for young adults to work through difficult emotions and experiences.

Katherine Paterson is the author of more than 40 books, including 18 novels for children and young people. She has twice won the Newbery Medal, for Bridge to Terabithia in 1978 and Jacob Have I Loved in 1981.

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Artist Profile Series 36: Ernest Shackleton

Ernest Shackleton was an Anglo-Irish, polar explorer born February 15th 1874 and died on January 5th, 1922. Although Shackleton is arguably neither artist nor mystic, the key events of his life carry both a beautiful tale of artistic level devotion and deep mystical encounter.

In this artist profile, host Stephen Roach details a mystical encounter that transpired in Shackleton's life during his most horrific struggle to survive in the famous arctic shipwreck of the Endurance.

Patrons of the podcast can download a written transcript of this episode along with a Patron-Only segment called, "The Shadow Side of Our Heroes."

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