The Letters of an Unexpected Mystic: Encountering the Mystical Theology in First and Second Peter, the latest of the Rev. Dr. Robert D. Flanagan’s books to be recognized, is a finalist in the Selah 2023 Christian book award Bible study category. Published by Wipf and Stock, Flanagan’s work uncovers a robust, empowered, and beautiful mystical theology, which makes Peter an unexpected but vital Christian mystic. This book provides readers with a means to become the Christian Karl Rahner wrote about in 1971: “The devout Christian of the future will either be a ‘mystic,’ one who has ‘experienced’ something or will cease to be anything at all.”

The Selah Awards, founded in 2012, are industry-wide awards created to recognize the best in Christian publishing, from articles to books, from devotions to devotionals, and from children’s literature to adults. Because hundreds of entries come in each year, being named a Selah Award finalist or winner is highly respectable.

Flanagan received his M.Div. (2003) and D.Min. (2018) from Virginia Theological Seminary and a Diocese of New York interim priest and General Theological Seminary chaplain. He is a frequent speaker and teacher on positive mental health, mysticism, and the Apostle Peter. Bob is also Dean’s Advisor and Dean’s Teaching Fellow at VTS. He and his wife Lanie live in Litchfield County, Connecticut.