Mysticism

“Pluralism and the Upaniṣads.”

by Kenneth Rose

Journal of Vaishnava Studies 19:1 (Fall 2010): 23-48.

“Toward an Apophatic Pluralism: Beyond Confessionalism, Epicyclism, and Inclusivism in Theology of Religions.”

by Kenneth Rose

Journal of Ecumenical Studies, Winter 2011 issue (46:1): 67-75.

Epístola filosófica de Charles de Bovelles a Guillaume Budé (08/10/1511)

by Daniel González-García

Apud Carolus Bovillus. In hoc opere contenta. Commentarius in primordiales evangelium divi Ioannis. Vita Remundi eremitae. Philosophicae & historicae aliquot Epistolae. Hec de novo castigatius impressa cum nonnullis additionibus & epistolis pluribus. París: Josse Bade van Assche impr., 1º de septiembre de 1514. ff. 47 rº-51 rº.

Genderless Humanity: Christ as Mother in Julian of Norwich

by Laura Moncion

published in Canons, Undergraduate Journal of Religious Studies (2012)

El rostro de Teresa de Jesús como escritora en el Libro de la Vida

by María José Pérez González

El discurso irónico en Camino de Perfección de Teresa de Jesús (CE)

by María José Pérez González

publicado en las Actas del III Congreso Internacional Teresiano- Avila 2011

Review: Tales of Lights and Shadows: The Mythology of the Afterlife (New York: Continuum Publishing Group, 2010), by Robert S. Ellwood.

by Richard Greydanus

Book review. ARC 39 (2011): 22-4.

Der involvierte Leser. Immersive Lektürepraktiken in der spätmittelalterlichen Mystik-Rezeption, in: Immersion im Mittelalter, hg. von Hartmut Bleumer (Zeitschrift für Literaturwissenschaft und Linguistik 167, 2012) (in Druckvorbereitung)

by Balázs J. Nemes

The article approaches the immersive potential of Mechthild von Magdeburg's “Fließendes Licht“, dispensing the reader... more The article approaches the immersive potential of Mechthild von Magdeburg's “Fließendes Licht“, dispensing the reader from his role as a spectator and turning him into a participant, something which has frequently been claimed by the new German medieval studies. This particular kind of recipient is, certainly, an ideal-typical reader, a literary construct with the function to display the strategies of persuasion in “Fließendes Licht“ and the special literacy or the functional inclusion of the text. It should be all the more interesting to have a look at a specific historical recipient as this allows making the text's calculated aesthetic impacts plausible or outlining them with regard to the history of receptions. The instructions by Heinrich von Nördlingen from the first half of the 14th century, addressed to Margareta Ebner and the Dominican nuns of Maria Medingen near Dillingen, which told them how to incorporate and read „Fließendes Licht“ will be the centre of my analysis. This particular example and the recourse to circulating thoughts about the phenomenology of immersion shall show which requirements have to be fulfilled in a special religious context of reception to obtain the effect of immersion. Heinrich's directives are perfectly suitable for this line of questioning as they create the model of an involved reader, amounting to the requirement to get into the diegesis of the text and to identify with the literary figure.

Im Beitrag geht es um das in der neueren germanistisch-mediävistischen Forschung vielfach behauptete immersive Potential des „Fließenden Lichts“ Mechthilds von Magdeburg, den Leser seiner Rolle als Beobachter (spectator) zu entbinden und ihn zu einem Teilnehmer (participant) der textuell entworfenen virtuellen Realität zu machen. Freilich handelt es sich bei diesem Typ vom Rezipienten um einen idealtypischen Leser, ein literaturwissenschaftliches Figurenkonstrukt also, dessen Funktion darin besteht, die im „Fließenden Licht“ verfolgten Persuasionsstrategien und damit die besondere Literarizität bzw. funktionale Einbindung des Textes sichtbar zu machen. Umso interessanter dürfte es sein, den Blick auf einen konkreten historischen Rezipienten zu lenken, ermöglicht er doch, die von der Forschung beobachteten kalkuliert wirkungsästhetischen Effekte des Textes zu plausibilisieren bzw. rezeptionsgeschichtlich zu perspektivieren. Im Mittelpunkt meiner Untersuchung stehen die an Margareta Ebner und die Dominikanerinnen von Maria Medingen bei Dillingen gerichteten Anweisungen von Heinrich von Nördlingen aus der Mitte des 14. Jahrhunderts, wie sie das „Fließende Licht“ aufnehmen und lesen sollen. An diesem Fallbeispiel und im Rückgriff auf die kursierenden Überlegungen zur Phänomenologie der Immersion gilt es zu zeigen, welche Voraussetzungen speziell in einem religiösen Rezeptionskontext erfüllt werden müssen, damit es überhaupt zum Effekt der Immersion kommt. Heinrichs Direktiven eignen sich für diese Fragestellung insofern bestens, als sie das Modell des involvierten Lesers entwerfen, laufen sie doch auf die Forderung hinaus, sich in die Diegese des Textes zu begeben und sich mit der Textfigur zu identifizieren

Un mistico tibetano del XVI secolo: Brug-Pa Kun Legs.

by marco pucciarini

In this paper we examine the figure and work of an ascetic Tibetan .

The Metaphysics of the Common Word: A Dialogue of Eckhartian and Isma'ili Gnosis (Part 2)

by Khalil Andani

This article, the conclusion of a two-part series (the first part was published in Volume 26 of this journal) presents... more This article, the conclusion of a two-part series (the first part was published in Volume 26 of this journal) presents a comparative dialogue between the Trinitarian metaphysics of Christianity as taught by Meister Eckhart and the metaphysics of Islam as elucidated in Shi'a Isma'ili theosophy, in which the three Persons of the Christian Trinity are compared with the three highest hypostases of Isma'ili gnosis. In this second instalment, the author continues the metaphysical dialogue by comparing Eckhart's concept of the Son and the Isma'ili notion of the Universal Intellect (al-'Aql al-Kull) in light of concept of the Divine Intellect. The author then explores the relationship between the Father and the Son as understood by Meister Eckhart and compares this to the relationship between the Divine Command and Universal Intellect as conceived in Isma'ili gnosis. This is followed by a comparison of Eckhart's concept of the Holy Spirit and the Isma'ili concept of the Universal Soul (al-Nafs al-Kull) in relation to the notion of Divine Love. The author also highlights the correspondence between the figures of Christ and his Virgin Mother in Christianity and the figures of the Imam and his Hujjah in Isma'ili Islam. The article concludes by exploring how metaphysical commonalities can inform and enlighten the Christian and Muslim dialogues in the modern world.

The Metaphysics of the Common Word: A Dialogue of Eckhartian and Isma'ili Gnosis (Part 1)

by Khalil Andani

This essay—the first of two parts—presents a comparative dialogue between the Trinitarian metaphysics of Christianity... more This essay—the first of two parts—presents a comparative dialogue between the Trinitarian metaphysics of Christianity as taught by Meister Eckhart and the metaphysics of Islam as elucidated in Shi'a Isma'ili theosophy. This important study, which we believe to be the first of its kind, compares the three Persons of the Christian Trinity with the three highest hypostases of Isma'ili gnosis. In this first installment, the author puts forth the premises for a metaphysical dialogue and outlines the correspondence between the degrees of Beyond-Being and Being as described by Meister Eckhart and the Isma'ili theosophers. This is followed by a detailed comparison of the Eckhartian notion of the Godhead (Gottheit) and the Isma'ili concept of the Divine Essence or the Originator (al-Mubdi) as well as their respective apophatic discourses on the nature of the Ultimate Reality. The first part concludes with a comparison of Eckhart's concept of the Father and the Isma'ili concept of the Divine Command (Amr) in light of the concept of Pure Being. The second installment, which will continue the metaphysical and hypostatic comparisons, is to be published in volume 27 of Sacred Web.

La mystique, entre régression et passion sublimatoire

by Jean-Baptiste Lecuit

Perception, The Buddha-Nature, and the Brain: A Challenge to Neurotheology on the Dynamics of Spiritual Meaning.

by Jonathan Weidenbaum

This is my talk for the conference: Towards A Science of Consciousness 2012; Tucson, Arizona.

It incorporates insights from my earlier publications and conference talks (including "Between Mysticism and Medical Materialism"), but it is expanded, more general, more up to date, and offers different conclusions.

Neurotheology, the discipline which explores correlations between religious experience and the nervous system, comes... more Neurotheology, the discipline which explores correlations between religious experience and the nervous system, comes in more than one form. While some neurotheologians aim to isolate a specific part of the brain as the foundation for spirituality (i.e. the temporal lobe), others argue for the importance of recognizing myriad components of the nervous system as working in tandem. While a few are anti-religion, others seek, on the contrary, to vouch for both the validity of mystical experience and the value of religious commitment. However, what many neurotheologians seem to have in common is a general interpretation of the nature of experience: namely one in which the brain, as the primary seat of significance, fashions sensory data into structures of meaning. According to many neurotheologians, mystics can therefore alter their reality by provoking the right transformations within the nervous system. The purpose of this essay is to argue that this interpretation of our perceptual and intuitive life fails to account for the felt-character of some of the most venerable types of experience labeled as religious. I do not deny that the nervous system is a necessary condition for all experience, religious or otherwise. I maintain that it is not a sufficient condition, and that the ecstatic feel of religious experiences involves configurations of meaning that are not reducible to a model in which the brain receives and shapes value-neutral bits of stimulation. I argue that this model can also be self-refuting. For instance, in describing how the brain creates reality, the authors of Why God Won't Go Away state that even science is a kind of mythology, a useful fiction (leaving us to wonder why we should accept their conclusions). Drawing upon key American and European thinkers, I suggest that the rich qualities of religious experience are better accounted for through a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between the nervous system, an active and mobile body, and the environment--and not through a concentration upon a priori mechanisms or "God-parts" of the brain. I conclude with a discussion of the implications of my position for the veridicality of different kinds of religious and mystical experience. I hope only to advance the conversation over neurotheology, and not to dismiss it.

“Encouraged by a Word of Exhortation: An Appraisal of Hebrews’ Hortatory Materials in James W. Thompson’s Hebrews Commentary”: A Paper Presented at the Christian Scholars’ Conference, June 2011, Pepperdine University, Malibu, CA

by Scott D. Mackie

Questioning Dao: Skepticism, Mysticism, and Ethics in the Zhuangzi

by Eric S. Nelson

“Questioning Dao: Skepticism, Mysticism, and Ethics in the Zhuangzi.” International Journal of the Asian Philosophical Association, Vol. 1, Issue 1, 2008: 5-19.

Few things seem less appropriate to the multiple transitional perspectives of the Zhuangzi than their reduction to one... more Few things seem less appropriate to the multiple transitional perspectives of the Zhuangzi than their reduction to one philosophical or religious standpoint. Nonetheless, two prevailing readings do this: One suspends the proto-Daoist religious context of the Zhuangzi and discovers a linguistically oriented skepticism; the other interprets the Zhuangzi’s critical strategies as a means subordinated to the ultimate soteriological purpose of becoming a Daoist sage through mystical union with an absolute called “the Dao.” Although both interpretations have plausibility, they are inadequate to the Zhuangzi’s ethical and existential character. Since this text cannot be appropriately interpreted according to any one discourse, including skepticism and mysticism, the Zhuangzi’s destructuring and poetic strategies are not simply techniques serving an ulterior philosophical or religious purpose. Oriented by the immanent cultivation of the self (zhenren), linguistic and biospiritual practices performatively enact a critical, fluid, and responsive comportment or disposition in relation to the myriad things.

Book Chapter, “Representations of Jesus in Islamic Mysticism: Defining the ‘Sufi Jesus’”, Literature & Aesthetics 21 (2), 2012, pp. 45-64.

by Milad Milani

Eckhart, Derrida, and the Gift of Love

by David Newheiser

Eckhart, Derrida, and the Gift of Love

by David Newheiser

MEDICAL BODIES, MYSTICAL BODIES: MEDIEVAL PHYSIOLOGICAL THEORY IN THE RECOLLECTION MYSTICISM OF BERNARDINO DE LAREDO

by Jessica A. Boon

Viator 39.2 (2008): 245-68.

The Icon of the Divine Heart of God the Father: Apologia & Canon - Part 3 (Presentation)

by Marcelle Bartolo-Abela

Part 3 continues addressing the revelation of the Divine Paternal Heart of God the Father, in the Roman Catholic Church. Part 3 continues addressing the revelation of the Divine Paternal Heart of God the Father, in the Roman Catholic Church.