Tuesday, December 6, 2011

"The Complete Madame Guyon"

I wrote my dissertation on Madame Guyon and realized while I was reading her works how
dated some of the English translations were.  So I decided to translate her major works in modern English.

I really enjoyed spending time with her works and her ideas.  The end result of this is my
new book The Complete Madame Guyon, published by Paraclete Press.

The book is just out and you can read about it at Amazon.

I translated some of her poetry that has never been put into English.  I also included
a short excerpt from her autobiography about her time in the Bastille.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Your Madame Guyon favorite quote?


I was curious whether you have a favorite quote from Madame Guyon.  My favorite quote is this one.  In her Autobiography, Jeanne Guyon wrote, “I loved Him and I burnt with love, because I loved Him.  I loved Him in such a way that I could only love Him; but in loving Him I had no motive but himself.”
She had such an unusual way of writing--it captures both the love and the power of the Spirit.
Do you have a favorite one?  please post it and let us know!


1. Guyon, Jeanne. Autobiography, Vol. 2. Translated Thomas Taylor WAllen. London: Kegan, Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., 1897, pg. 96.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

A Visiting Post from Andrew Stevens

I realised when reading Jeanne Guyon that she claimed to have entered a state of perfection, even though I do not recall her using that term. She spoke of having no inclination or the least motion to sin within, and that after forty years of struggle she finally rested in that state for the last decades of her life. That is she never sinned from then on.
Of course many of the Catholic mystics, if not all, believed in the possibility of perfection even if no one believes in it today and we have bibles rewritten to carefully erase the word 'perfection' from many verses and replace it with 'completeness' or similar - under the fiction that this is justified in the Greek - which it isn't.

In fact I'd say modern Christianity is a new invention as I'm sure nobody from a few hundred years ago would recognise it as their religion, there have been so many changes. I thought that Jeanne Guyon was sent by God at a critical period to give to the Catholics an example of the spirituality He wanted after the Reformation, and that this deep and pure love to God was more or less rejected in the Counter - Reformation in favour of religious formalism.

As you are in the USA where some Evangelicals and others have pre packaged Christianity like Coca Cola and sell it over TV; representing I think the combination of Protestantism and Capitalism; I was wondering what resistance do you get to a spirituality that takes decades to grow and is not instant like instant coffee? 

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Madame Guyon's childhood

In 1649 in rural France, Jeanne Guyon was born into a large, blended family.  Her parents along with their many children and step-children argued frequently.  Jeanne realized while very young that her mother preferred her older brother and because of this, the mother spent little time with her.  Jeanne spent time alone in her room reading books of all kinds, including ones about history, literature and the entire Bible. 
In her family life amidst constant arguments, God began a powerful work in the soul of Jeanne.  Reading the Bible at such a young age changed Jeanne.  Jeanne sensed the wonders of God within and found the power of salvation helped her through every day.  She knew that God watches over everyone and not even a sparrow falls to the ground without the knowledge of the divine, compassionate Jesus.  She realized that the Bible communicates the authoritative Word of God to each person individually.
Jeanne spent hours reading and praying over the words and history of the Bible.  As Jeanne read the story of the Israelites, she realized that frequently the experience of the Jewish people’s forty years in the desert is like ours in life.  We travel through unhappy and desolate times that feel like a dry desert.  We cannot understand any meaning for this long, unhappy experience.  Yet in our times of faith, we receive the great promise of God: Jesus says to us, “Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.” (Matthew 28:20)  

Monday, November 7, 2011

Madame Guyon's Spirituality

Madame Guyon's idea of abandonment of life speaks to our new post-modern age.  Guyon
never minced words about what God gently asks of us:  God asks for everything.  And in return
we are invited to move into the Kingdom of God in this life time.

Guyon lived her spiritual views and shows us how to do the same.

For Guyon, God, like a creative author, brings a new sense of satisfaction and glory out of our human lives.