Patheos Book Club - Mutants and Mystics

The Experiential Aspect

By James McGrath

Kripal explores the ways in which many science fiction stories and themes give expression to a view of the world which their authors experience as real, sometimes even including specific details from their own individual experiences – whether mystical, psychological, or psychedelic in nature.

Is the Paranormal, Real?

By Brad Hirschfield

Kripal takes personal experience seriously, and in doing so, invites us to see our lives as more exciting and more meaningful than we may often give ourselves credit for.  Even if I didn’t agree with all of his premises, that powerful conclusion rang out, and it’s one worth paying attention to.

A Stunning and Important Book

By Carl Gregg

I read and review many books, but Kripal’s Mutants and Mystics is one of the rare books that forces me to slow down and reconsider not only the text in front of me, but also my conception of reality. If there is any part of your experience that intersects with the world of comic books or the paranormal, I highly recommend Jeffrey Kirpal’s latest book.

Yep, We're All Superman: A Personal Response

By Jeffrey Kripal

Mutants & Mystics author Jeff Kripal joins his Book Club Roundtable with a personal response to his fellow bloggers.

Origin Stories of Mutants, Mystics, and Messiahs

By Jonathan Fitzgerald

If we can see the paranormal nature of our own origin story, the incarnation of God into man, apart from the lens of reason and rational explanation, we too will be able to rewrite the grand story in which we live -- we will be better prepared for the work of building a kingdom of heaven here on earth.

Mutants & Mystics: A Mind-Growing Trip

By Craig Detweiler

Kripal builds a convincing case for reading comics as a mystical, right-brained primer for human potential. Mutants & Mystics is a wild, dizzying ride.

Mutants, Mystics, and Mind-Blowing

By Tony Jones

While I'm no geek, I do like me some Twilight Zone, and I'm a huge fan of science fiction. If you are, too, and you're looking to understand where all this came from in the last century-and-a-half, take some time and invest in Kripal's book.

Mysticism, Paranormal, and the Super-Story

By John W. Morehead

In our Western post-Christendom, pluralistic context the time has come to move beyond denunciation to understanding and more complex forms of engagement. In these ways the mutants and mystics can find room for dialogue on the fantastic with the followers of the first century Superhero from Nazareth as they discuss their competing Super-Stories.

Laying the Mask Aside

By Victoria Nelson

Along with his brilliant and trailblazing work in paranormal studies—an area of research that is daring in itself for a mainstream academic to take on—I think what I most admire and take to heart in Jeff's richly productive writing life has been the fact that he has not been afraid to show how his scholarly interests have arisen directly out of the circumstances of his own life.

We're All Superman

By Eric Wilson

Mutants & Mystics is more than scholarship—though it is that, in the best sense. But it is also a handbook for living, a soul guide, a powerful call to what is super in all of us.

A Paranormal Reading Experience

By Ryan Parker

It's been a long time since I've read something as informative and challenging as this. Through Mutants & Mystics, Kripal has succeeded in getting me to view the paranormal, or the potential for it, in a whole new light.

Join the Roundtable Discussion!

Email us at books@patheos.com with your 300-500 word reflection on this book.
Selected entries may receive a free copy of one of our future book club books!