Acknowledged as one of the greatest of the western mystics, Jacob Boehme was born in 1575 at Old Seidenberg, a small village in Silesia. A shoemaker by trade, Boehme's whole life was spent in contemplation and prayer, seeking spiritual enlightenment. He was rewarded with piercing visions of God and the nature of reality, revelations which he set down in a series of books. The Clavis is perhaps the most accessible of all these tomes, a detailed, yet succinct, account of the nature of God and Creation, and of humanity's role within the unfolding evolution of the Universe.
In 1895 the Reverend Dr. Alexander Whyte bemoaned the lack of a Boehme biography, suggesting that a compilation of the many biographic details scattered throughout his works would give the student a better insight into his thoughts and ideas. W. Scott Palmer took up the challenge and the result, The Confessions of Jacob Boehme, serves to shine a light on the doubts and temptations that lay on the path to Boehme's eventual enlightenment.