{"title":"The Abyss, Detachment and Dreams: Thomas Müntzer’s Reception of Medieval German Mysticism","authors":"Michael G. Baylor","doi":"10.1080/20465726.2020.1840107","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/20465726.2020.1840107","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Thomas Müntzer was one of the most important inaugurators of the Radical Reformation. The paper opens with a brief biography comparing his career to that of Meister Eckhart. The paper then examines sources in the German mystical tradition with which Müntzer was familiar. These sources included the sermons of Eckhart’s followers Johannes Tauler and Heinrich Seuso, and even several sermons by Eckhart himself. The heart of the paper examines several key components of Müntzer’s thought for evidence of the ways in which this mystical tradition influenced him. It takes up Müntzer’s notion of the birth of the inner or living Word in the soul, the deepest part of the soul as an ‘abyss’ in which it is necessary to confront one’s fear of God, the importance of detachment from selfish and material desires in order to attain contact and union with God, and, in the final part of the paper, Müntzer’s theory that certain dreams are sources of divine revelation and mystical experience.","PeriodicalId":40432,"journal":{"name":"Medieval Mystical Theology","volume":"29 1","pages":"93 - 108"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2020-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/20465726.2020.1840107","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48092898","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Reformation of the Heart: The Making of ‘Mysticism’ in Seventeenth-Century England","authors":"S. Apetrei","doi":"10.1080/20465726.2020.1840103","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/20465726.2020.1840103","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This essay considers the significance of various efforts – both Protestant and Catholic - to revitalise or revolutionise British religion in the seventeenth century, often seen as compromised by secular entanglement, using the resources of medieval and contemporary mysticism. The engagement with the Rhineland mystics and their Reformation disciples was central to this project, which helped to create the category of ‘mysticism’ in the English language, as a subversive but vital element in religious life. It is a central argument of this paper that modern ‘mysticism’ did not emerge simply as a polemical construct. Neither can it be attributed to a reaction against ‘the Enlightenment’. Instead, mysticism – understood as a quest to recover a distinct spiritual way in religion, part of a continuous tradition through Christian history – had an agency and provenance of its own. This quest often and increasingly took the form of dissent from the established churches.","PeriodicalId":40432,"journal":{"name":"Medieval Mystical Theology","volume":"29 1","pages":"79 - 92"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2020-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/20465726.2020.1840103","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48508066","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"An Introduction from the Editor of Medieval Mystical Theology","authors":"Duane D. Williams","doi":"10.1080/20465726.2020.1840095","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/20465726.2020.1840095","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":40432,"journal":{"name":"Medieval Mystical Theology","volume":"29 1","pages":"59 - 59"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2020-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/20465726.2020.1840095","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48983638","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"‘Hearing the Inner Word’: The Eckhartian Roots of Radical Dissent and ‘Enthusiasm’","authors":"M. L. Anderson","doi":"10.1080/20465726.2020.1840097","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/20465726.2020.1840097","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This paper will focus on the progenitorial influence of Meister Eckhart’s mystical thought and its theological and historiographical legacy vis-à-vis his own writings and those of his disciples, Johannes Tauler and Henry Suso, including the mystical treatises influenced by them, the Theologia Deutsch among them. It will contextualize the intrigue with late-medieval German mysticism among sixteenth-century ‘radical’ reformers, who ironically have been called the ‘unruly offspring of Luther.’ In particular, it will provide a succinct overview of how the constellation of mystical teachings integral to Eckhart’s theology of the Word were selectively appropriated by radicals and ‘Spiritualists’ like Thomas Müntzer, Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt, Sebastian Franck, Valentin Weigel and others who reconceptualized and prioritized the authority of the Inner Word over the Outer Word. Because they confused the proper ordering of external and internal divine revelation, many of them were condemned and vilified by Luther as Schwärmer (‘enthusiasts’) ─as if ‘swarmed’ by bees.","PeriodicalId":40432,"journal":{"name":"Medieval Mystical Theology","volume":"29 1","pages":"63 - 78"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2020-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/20465726.2020.1840097","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42568512","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Appeal of German Mysticism to Religious Dissenters in Sixteenth-Century Germany: Mystical Books and the Life Stories of Their Readers","authors":"U. Bubenheimer","doi":"10.1080/20465726.2020.1840109","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/20465726.2020.1840109","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This essay discusses the relationship between the reception of mystical texts and the life stories of their readers: What circumstances motivated individuals or groups to seek out mystical literature? How did these texts impact their readers’ future life trajectories? Well-researched examples are found in the early years of the Wittenberg Reformation. Luther discovered the texts of German mysticism, Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt reflected the need for detachment from religious, social and family ties using the category of Gelassenheit. Social homelessness was not only a problem of Protestant dissenters, but also for Catholic minorities. For example, Wilhelm Listemann, Benedictine prior in Thuringia, had to go into exile when his monastery was secularized in 1525. In this situation he acquired the sermons of Johannes Tauler. A long term effect of the religious schism was the formation of new alliances between Protestant and Catholic dissenters discovering mystical literature as a common ecumenical resource.","PeriodicalId":40432,"journal":{"name":"Medieval Mystical Theology","volume":"29 1","pages":"109 - 122"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2020-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/20465726.2020.1840109","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44022536","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Thomas Aquinas: His Theology and Spirituality of Prayer as Reflected in His Commentaries on the Lord’s Prayer","authors":"B. G. Najapfour","doi":"10.1080/20465726.2020.1774169","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/20465726.2020.1774169","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Thomas Aquinas is known for his theology and philosophy, but not often recognized for his spirituality. This can be seen by considering his commentary on the Lord’s Prayer, which Thomas exposited in a series of homilies. In his commentary, Thomas shows how this is the ‘most perfect prayer’ for all Christians to follow, because it covers all five conditions of true Christian prayer: confidence, rectitude, order, devotion, and humility. This essay examines these conditions and Thomas’s exposition of the Lord’s Prayer generally, walking through all seven petitions. This series of theological sermons serves as a model for Christian preachers today in how to conjoin careful theology with deep spirituality.","PeriodicalId":40432,"journal":{"name":"Medieval Mystical Theology","volume":"29 1","pages":"15 - 29"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2020-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/20465726.2020.1774169","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48722313","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Disowning the Mystery: Stump's Non-Apophatic Aquinas","authors":"S. Hewitt","doi":"10.1080/20465726.2020.1774167","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/20465726.2020.1774167","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT On the face of it Aquinas stands in the mainstream of Western mystical theology, and in particular is a noteworthy proponent of negative theology. This view, however, is challenged within anglophone philosophical theology. The clearest attack on the view that Aquinas is an apophatic theologian is to be found in Eleonore Stump's Aquinas. This paper lays out Stump's reasons for reading Aquinas as non-apophatic, and shows that they are not convincing. Aquinas, it concludes, meant what he said when he claimed that we do not know what God is.","PeriodicalId":40432,"journal":{"name":"Medieval Mystical Theology","volume":"29 1","pages":"14 - 3"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2020-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/20465726.2020.1774167","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44609566","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Bernard of Clairvaux: The Church and the Individual","authors":"Joshua Roberts","doi":"10.1080/20465726.2020.1774170","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/20465726.2020.1774170","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT How does the individual relate to the health of the Church? Bernard provides a complex and satisfying answer, which is primarily based on his interpretation of St Augustine, the Scriptures and the Apostolic Tradition. In particular Bernard identifies the role of personal holiness and purity within individuals as the crucial means through which the Church undertakes reform. Bernard is clear that it is not systems or temporal power arrangements that make the Church more harmonious or more effective at holiness. Individual change drives the earthly Church to become more like the heavenly Church, the City of God. Such an overview also helps to make clear that Bernard’s mysticism is world embracing, and is about immanence, as well as the transcendent.","PeriodicalId":40432,"journal":{"name":"Medieval Mystical Theology","volume":"29 1","pages":"30 - 40"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2020-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/20465726.2020.1774170","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48836214","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Mystical Theology and Translation: Re-veiling the Latin Corpus Dionysiacum","authors":"C. Tichelkamp","doi":"10.1080/20465726.2020.1774171","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/20465726.2020.1774171","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Modern evaluations of the translation of the corpus of Pseudo-Dionysius have followed trends in translation theory, emphasizing how it was altered in its transition from Greek into Latin. This article reconsiders John Sarrazin’s Latin translation (c. 1167) by situating it within the school of St. Victor, where a translation culture was informed by mystical theology. The article proposes that the Dionysian image of placing veils over the divine mystery aptly depicts John’s mode of translation, as he weaves a Latin veil where once a Greek veil had hung. The article builds on Lawrence Venuti’s genealogy of translation, qualifying and nuancing his treatment of Christian translation cultures by showing that mystical theology transforms the practice of translation.","PeriodicalId":40432,"journal":{"name":"Medieval Mystical Theology","volume":"29 1","pages":"41 - 53"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2020-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/20465726.2020.1774171","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43837839","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}