Beverly Lanzetta, Ph.D., is a theologian, contemplative scholar, and teacher of new traditions of contemplative wisdom.
Beverly Lanzetta is a theologian, contemplative scholar and teacher, and the author of many groundbreaking books on universal spirituality, the via feminina, social mysticism, and new monasticism.
Dedicated to a vision of theological openness and spiritual nonviolence, her work has won praise for its wisdom, eloquence, and mystical insight and is considered to be a major contribution to what theologian Ursula King called “a feminine mystical way for the 21st century.”
Dr. Lanzetta is also a vowed monk of peace living in the world and an interfaith chaplain. She has formed a community of new monks—single, married, partnered, celibate, etc.—dedicated to the universal mystical heart and to the spirituality of nonviolence.
She has devoted much of her life to mentoring people who seek a deeper contemplative commitment and who wish to take personal monastic vows.
Dr. Lanzetta received her Ph.D. from Fordham University in Historical Theology and Interreligious Dialogue, with emphasis in Christian mysticism, and has taught at Villanova University, Prescott College, and Grinnell College.
Being a monk is not attachment to an identity - even to being a monk - but following the call within to honor the sanctity of creation and the miracle of spirit, holding the divine presence in one’s heart. It is a commitment to be for the other and not for the self, which yearns to give away all that is petty, constricted, or selfish in one’s heart. It is the soul’s witness to the tragedies that wound our world, which offers a home for the homeless, a balm of forgiveness for human cruelty and pain.