Who is Evelyn Underhill?

Born in 1875, on the 6th of December in Wolverhampton, Evelyn was a pacifist and mystic novelist/poet, who wrote a range of exemplary poems, prayers and spiritual reflections. Perhaps best known for her Mysticism (1911), Rysbroeck (1914) and Worship (1936), she was a cousin of a Bishop of Bath and Wells, educated in history and botany at Kings College, London, and was the first woman to both lecture to the clergy of the Church of England, in addition to conducting spiritual retreats. As well as some well-recieved but unconventional novels, she was editor of The Spectator, before passing away in London at the age of just 65, on the 15th of June 1941.

Evelyn Underhill compiled two personal prayer books for use when conducting spiritual retreats at Pleshey (the retreat house for the diocese of Chelmsford). The prayers were carefully selected and include quotes from a variety of theologians and writers in Christian spirituality, as well as her own very rich, metaphorical and theologically deep prayers. The publication of these prayers - thought lost for a number of years - has been celebrated by Rowan Williams, the Bishop of Chelmsford Stephen Cottrell, and Eugene Peterson; who has written a foreword for this edition. Stephen Cottrell wrote:

"In the diocese of Chelmsford we have always treasured our association with Evelyn Underhill and her love for what is now our Retreat House at Pleshey. It was therefore tremendously exciting to discover her handwritten collection of prayers. This book now makes those prayers available to everyone. To read them and to pray them through is to enter into the heart and experience the spirituality of one of the most significant Christian writers of the 20th century"

The prayerbook has been compiled by Dr Robyn Wrigley-Carr, senior lecturer in Theology and Spirituality at Alphacrusis College, Sydney, Australia. She has a Masters degree in Spiritual Theology from Regent College, Vancouver, and was awarded a PhD by the University of St Andrews in 2013 for her doctorate on Baron Friedrich von Hugel, Evelyn Underhill's spiritual director.