The Mystical Element of Religion as Studied in Saint Catherine of Genoa and her Friends (Two volumes, complete)

London: J M Dent, 1927. Hardcover. Good. Reprint. Two volumes (complete). Hardbacks, bound in brown cloth. Each 22.5 × 14.5cm, 466pp + 422pp. Philosopher of religion, lay theologian, and biblical exegete, Baron Friedrich von Huegel was a remarkable man who set out to write a biography of Saint Catherine of Genoa and ended up writing an extensive and brilliant treatise on the philosophy of mysticism. Using St. Catherine and her friends as illustrative examples, in this book he develops his well-known analysis of the three basics elements of religion: 1) the institutional, 2) the intellectual and 3) the mystical. While he saw the mystical element as the summit of religion, von Huegel insisted that all three are necessarily present at the same time, and that the key to the highest spiritual life is the attainment of the proper balance among the three. Condition: Good reading copies. The brown cloth is a bit rubbed, and there is spotted foxing throughout. Volume one suffers some dampstaining to the pages' bottom edge for the first few pages and there is a little movement in the binding. However, they both remain in strong readable condition.