A personal invitation to walk with God through of the great classics of Christian spirituality. This book of daily devotions is based upon The Cloud of Unknowing. In this edition Robinson sought to remain as true as possible to the voice of this medieval classic. Cloud Devotion follows the original Middle English text sentence by sentence, with Robinson’s own translation and paraphrase, divided work into 366 small portions, with a Scripture passage related to the theme from each daily reading. Below, you’ll find an index connecting each chapter of The Cloud of Unknowing with the date and month in Cloud Devotion.

Cloud Devotions provides awakening meditations for the year for those yearning for a new way of life. Each day offers thoughts from scripture and wisdom reflections from The Cloud stirring the person reading it with a desire to live and share God’s love. It inspires one to continue living with purity of heart and with practical ways of persevering in humility. Cloud Devotions offers a person transformation from within.” –Lucy Wynkoop, OSB; co-author of Lectio Divina: Contemplative Awakening and Awareness

“David Robinson has given us a wonderful gift, bringing this classic to us in contemporary language and in small daily amounts with thought-provoking questions that provide us with a year-full of morsels that will nourish our souls. What a great way for those unfamiliar with The Cloud of Unknowing to savor its contents, and what a creative way for those who have read it to be reintroduced to it in a manner that demands deeply focused attention. –Dennis Okholm, Azusa Pacific University; author of Monk Habits for Everyday People

“David Robinson’s highly-readable translation of The Cloud of Unknowing makes this classic text devotionally accessible. Designed for a year of daily use, Robinson’s Cloud Devotion invites the reader into slow meditation on the profound themes of this fourteenth century text. I commend Cloud Devotion with enthusiasm, not least for the pervasive call to a humble and dependent life in Christ.” –Mark Labberton, President, Fuller Theological Seminary

“The text of Cloud Devotion consists of deep and fascinating words and truth. It gets deeper the more one is living with it. It is helpful in the school of life for growing deeper in the glory of God to read and meditate each day of a year on these old words of trusting in God alone.” –Sr. Dorothea Flandera, OSB, Abbess St. Hildegard Abbey, Rüdesheim am Rhein, Germany

“In past decades the church has been rediscovering the treasures of medieval spirituality and translating these teachings into daily life and practice. But The Cloud of Unknowing has largely been left behind. It was just too remote and too difficult. No longer. What a gift Dr. David Robinson has given us in Cloud Devotion, taking this ancient text in all its forbidding strangeness and rendering it into a plain yet vivid and accessible guide that makes good sense to the spiritually curious living in the 21st century. Here is an insightful manual that opens to us the way of love in all its richness and challenge.”  -Richard Peace, Ph.D.,Senior Professor of Evangelism and Spiritual Formation and Robert Boyd Munger Professor Emeritus of Evangelism and Spiritual Formation, Fuller Theological Seminary; Author of Noticing God: in mystical encounters, in the ordinary, in the still small voice, in community, in creation, and more (InterVarsity Press, 2012).

Cloud Devotion is surely a work of devotion and love. No doubt it will bring the wonder of the divine presence into the hands and hearts of many.” Norvene Vest, Oblate, OSB

“My heart has yearned for this book. I wanted a guide to help me savor and reflect on the spiritual classic The Cloud of Unknowing. David has insightfully  discerned how we might do this. The partnership of this unknown, ancient writer and this known, living pastor is masterful. I invite you into the clouds with the slow reading of this book.” -Dr. MaryKate Morse, author of A Guidebook to Prayer: 24 Ways to Walk with God; professor of Leadership and Spiritual Formation, Portland Seminary 

 

CLOUD TO CLOUD INDEX

As you go through the year, day by day in Cloud Devotion, the following index will allow you to connect each daily devotional reading to the corresponding chapter in The Cloud of Unknowing, a book written in Middle English, sometime in the mid-to-late 14th century. Cloud Devotion follows the text of The Cloud chapter by chapter, paragraph by paragraph. Each daily reading in Cloud Devotion translates and paraphrases approximately one paragraph from The Cloud. As you can see, some of the chapters in The Cloud are very short, amounting to a single paragraph (March 12, May 20, and September 29th), or perhaps two to five paragraphs. Other chapters in The Cloud cover several pages, and thus are spread across multiple days in Cloud Devotion. For other modern English translations of The Cloud of Unknowing, see the bibliography in Cloud Devotion.

The Cloud       Cloud Devotion: Through the Year in The Cloud of Unknowing                        

Chapter           Month/Date
Prologue          January 1, 2, 3, 4, 5                

1                      January 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

2                      January 11, 12, 13, 14

3                      January 15, 16, 17, 18

4                      January 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31; February 1, 2, 3, 4

5                      February 5, 6, 7

6                      February 8, 9

7                      February 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16

8                      February 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25

9                      February 26, 27, 28, 29          

10                    March 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

11                    March 12

12                    March 13, 14, 15 16

13                    March 17, 18, 19, 20

14                    March 21, 22, 23, 24

15                    March 25, 26, 27, 28, 29

16                    March 30, 31; April 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

17                    April 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

18                    April 12, 13

19                    April 14, 15, 16,

20                    April 17, 18, 19, 20

21                    April 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26    

22                    April 27, 28, 29,

23                    April 30; May 1, 2, 3

24                    May 4, 5, 6, 7

25                    May 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

26                    May 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19

27                    May 20

28                    May 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27

29                    May 28, 29, 30, 31

30                    June 1, 2

31                    June 3, 4

32                    June 5, 6, 7, 8

33                    June 9, 10, 11, 12

34                    June 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20,  21, 22

35                    June  23, 24, 25, 26, 27

36                    June 28, 29, 30

37                    July 1, 2, 3, 4

38                    July 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

39                    July 10, 11, 12, 13

40                    July 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19

41                    July 20, 21, 22

42                    July 23, 24

43                    July 25, 26, 27, 28, 29

44                    July 30, 31; August 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

45                    August 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

46                    August 12, 13, 14, 15

47                    August 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21

48                    August 22, 23, 24, 25, 26

49                    August 27, 28, 29

50                    August 30, 31; September 1, 2

51                    September 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

52                    September 8, 9, 9, 10, 11

53                    September 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20

54                    September 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28

55                    September 29

56                    September 30; October 1, 2, 3, 4

57                    October 5, 6, 7

58                    October 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17

59                    October 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23

60                    October 24, 25, 26, 27, 28

61                    October 29, 30, 31; November 1, 2, 3, 4

62                    November 5, 6, 7, 8

63                    November 9, 10, 11

64                    November 12, 13, 14, 15, 16

65                    November 17, 18, 19, 20

66                    November 21, 22, 23, 24, 25

67                    November 26, 27, 28, 29, 30; December 1

68                    December 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

69                    December 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

70                    December 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21

71                    December 22, 23, 24, 25, 26

72                    December 27, 28

73                    December 29, 30, 31

74                    Epilogue

75                    Epilogue