Detachment, Vulnerability, Temptation, and Learning from Failure: Major Themes in Meister Eckhart’s the Talks of Instruction

Abstract

ABSTRACT This essay surveys some major themes encapsulated within Meister Eckhart’s early instructional talks. Specifically, the essay will assess the roles Eckhart saw detachment, vulnerability, temptation, and learning from failure play in the novice’s ongoing development. Such insight not only helped the formation of his late medieval audience but also offers a foundation for fruitful discernment to modern readers as they explore the ways in which Eckhart sought to live in God.