Pythagoras (c.580/570-c.500 B.C.E.): A Presocratic philosopher.
Founder of
a major school of philosophy/religion
that emphasized the mystical
interconnections in numbers, nature, and the human
soul. The natural and the
ethical world were inseparable.
Parmenides (c.515-c.450 B.C.E.): On Nature, extant in fragments.
Another of
the Presocratics. Extends Pythagoras by insisting that all
that exists is unchanging
and unified. Therefore, if something is changing, it is illusory.
This paves the way
for the two-world view important for much mysticism.
Influences: Pythagoras.
Plato (428-348 B.C.E.): Sophist, Republic, Parmenides,
many others. Most
important of ancient philosophers. His philosophical system
provides the basis of
most later mystical forms.
Influences: Pythagoras, Parmenides.
Aristotle (384-322 B.C.E.): Metaphysics, De Anima, Nicomachean
Ethics.
While Aristotle himself is not really considered to be a
mystic, he is an important
influence on later mystics, especially when combined with
Plato by Plotinus, and
also when Christianized in the high Middle Ages.
Philo (c.20 B.C.E.-c.41 C.E.): The Contemplative Life.
An Alexandrian Jew
who drew from Platonist tradition, Stoicism, and neo-Pythagoreanism
to create
a fusion of the active
or virtuous life and the contemplative life.
Plotinus (c.205-270 C.E.): Enneads. The non-Christian, neo-Platonic
basis for
much Christian, Jewish, and Islamic mysticism.
Influences: Plato, Aristotle.
Porphyry (c.232-304 C.E.): Isagoge. Compiled Plotinus' Enneads,
and wrote a
life of Plotinus. He was strongly anti-Christian, yet
he became important in the
history of Christian mysticism.
Proclus or Proclusthe Lycian (412-485 C.E.): The Elements
of Theology.
Athenian Neo-platonist, who influenced Pseudo-Dionysius,
and beyond him
most of the mystical tradition. While respecting Plotinus,
Proclus also amended
his philosophical structure.
CHRISTIAN MYSTICS AND MOVEMENTS
(1) Early Church
Ignatius of Antioch (c. 35-c.107): Christocentric
mystic. For him Christ's
death and resurrection take on mystical significance.
St. Polycarp (c.69-c.155): Had a mystical vision which foretold
his martyrdom
by fire.
Justin Martyr (c.105-c.165): First Apology. Used Greek
philosophy as the
stepping-stone to Christian theology. The mystical conclusions
that some Greeks
arrived at, pointed to Christ. Influences: Pythagoras,
Plato, Plotinus, Aristotle,
Stoicism.
Irenaeus (c.125-c.202): Revolution and Overthrow of
False Knowledge (or
Against Heresies). Irenaeus' work was directed
against Gnosticism. He
emphasized John's gospel, particularly the Logos, which
became the voice of
God that revealed itself to all people.
Tertullian (c.155-c.222): To Martyrs, Apology,
Against the Valentinians,
Against Marcion, On the Soul. Emphasized a faith that
was a contradiction to
reason. "I believe because it is absurd." First to
use trinitarian (three-in-one)
formulation for God.
Origen (c.185-254): On Principles, Against Celsus. Studied
under Clement of
Alexandria, and probably also Ammonius
Saccus (Plotinus' teacher). He
Christianized and theologized neo-Platonism. Each soul
has individually fallen
(emanation), and must find its way back to God (return) through
the help of the
Logos, Christ. Origen looks quite Gnostic at times.
St. Antony (c.251-356): The Letters of St. Antony the Great.
Early hermit or
solitary monk, and a model for later monasticism, particularly
of his eremetical
type.
St. Athanasius (c.296-373): Against the Gentiles, Apology
Against the Arians.
Bishop of Alexandria (328-73), wrote a Life of Antony,
and was an influence
on later Eastern Orthodox mysticism.
Gregory of Nazianzus (329-389): Forty-five
Sermons. One of the
Cappadocians, early church fathers.
Basil the Great (c.330-379): Longer Rules, Liturgy of
St. Basil. One of the
Cappadocians, early church fathers. He gave a
mystical orientation to the
monastic movement.
Gregory of Nyssa (c.335-c.398): Dialogue with his Sister Macrina
concerning
the Resurrection. Believed that the universe
existed as a harmonious order
emanating from God. One of the Cappadocians.
Augustine (354-430): De Trinitate, Confessions. Important
source for much
mediaeval mysticism. Brings Platonism and Christianity together.
He emphasizes
the soul's search for God, made possible by the illumination
of the mind of God.
Influences: Plato, Plotinus.
(2) Mediaeval (Catholic and Orthodox) Church
Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (writing c.500): The Celestial
Hierarchy,
the Mystical Theology, and The Divine Names.
Originates the distinction
between kataphatic (God immanent, in all things; affirmation,
complexity) and
apophatic (God transcendant, the "One;"
negation, simplicity) theology.
Influences: Plotinus.
John Scotus Eriugena (c.810-c.877): Periphyseon.
Eriugena translated
Pseudo-Dionysius from Greek into
Latin. He holds that humans are a
microcosm of the universe. That which is shared, the
essence of all things, is
God.
Influences: Plotinus, Augustine, Pseudo-Dionysius.
Bernard of Clairvaux (1091-1153): Sermons, De
diligendo Deo, On the
Love of God. Cistercian mystic. Promoted a mystical vision
of rhapsodic love,
in which the Church is described in erotic terms
as the bride of Christ. His
love-mysticism had the tendency to be anti-intellectual,
as in his disputes with
Abelard.
William of St.-Thierry (c.1085-1148): Golden Letter, On the
Contemplation
of God, On the Nature and Dignity of Love. A
Cistercian contemporary of
Bernard's, William also emphasized love-mysticism, but with
subtle differences
from Bernard in his use of Augustine.
Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179): Scivias, The
Book of Divine Works,
Letters. Early German speculative mystic, reminiscent
of Isaiah or Ezekiel at
times. She was greatly respected in her time, both for her
writings as well as for
her music and art. Influences:
Augustine, Bernard of Clairvaux.
Victorines: Hugh of St. Victor (c.1096-c.1142), Richard
of St. Victor (d.
1173): On Sacraments. Hugh is the more important of the two.
He argues for a
close tie between reason and mysticism.
Francis of Assisi (John Bernardone) (1182-1226):
Canticle of the Sun.
Founder of the Franciscan order, which emphasized
self-renunciation and
poverty. Francis approaches nature mysticism at times,
particularly when he
sees God in all living things.
Albertus Magnus (1206-1280): The teacher of Thomas
Aquinas. In the
tradition of Pythagoras, emphasized the essential unity of
science and mysticism.
Influences: Augustine, Pseudo-Dionysius.
Beatrice of Nazareth (1200-1268): The Seven modes
of Sacred Love.
Belgian Cistercian mystic. Associated with the Beguines.
Influences: Augustine.
Mechthild of Magdeburg (1207-1282): The Flowing Light of the
Godhead.
Strongly feminine images in mysticism. Devotional mystic.
Associated with the
Beguines. Influences: Bernard of Clairvaux, Hildegard,
Gregory the Great.
Bonaventure (John Fidanza) (1217-1274): The Mind's Road
to God, The
Tree of Life, The Life of St. Francis. Franciscan monk, and
the architect of the
philosophical, theological, and mystical side of Francis'
thought. Mysticism in the
Augustinian tradition. Influences: Augustine, St. Francis
of Assisi, Victorines.
St. Thomas Aquinas (1224-1275): Summa Theologica,
De Anima, many
others. Dominican monk and the greatest Catholic theologian
and philosopher.
Late in life, he had a mystical experience which
caused him to question his
scholastic past. Influences: Aristotle, Augustine,
Pseudo-Dionysius, Eriugena.
Ramon Llull (c.1235-1315): Great Art, The Book
of the Lover and the
Beloved. Franciscan. Legend has it that
Llull wrote 200 works, was an
alchemist and a magician. He also worked on the logic
of science. The "Great
Art" is the scientific and mystical calculation of
the interrelations of all things.
Influences: Bonaventure.
Angela of Foligno (c.1248-1309): The Book of Divine
Consolations of the
Blessed Angela of Foligno. Mysticism is based on the
facts of Christ's life and
death. Influences: Francis of Assisi, Bonaventure.
Marguerite Porete (d. 1310): The Mirror of Simple Souls.
Meister Eckhart (1260-1327/8): Sermons, Parisian Questions
and Prologues.
[Some English-language selections from his writings
are available.] Dominican
monk. One of the most important early German speculative
mystics. Eckhart is
the first of the so-called "Rhineland" mystics. The Sermons
were in German, the
academic
works in Latin. Influences: Pseudo-Dionysius.
Hadewijch (Adelwip) of Brabant/Antwerp (13th century): Letters,
Poems in
Stanzas, Visions, Poems in Couplets. Belgian
Beguine. One of the greatest
exponents of love mysticism. Influences: Plato,
Plotinus, Pseudo-Dionysius,
Gregory of Nyssa, Richard of St. Victor.
Jan van Ruysbroeck (1293-1381): The Adornment of the Spiritual
Marriage
(Spiritual Espousals), The Sparkling Stone, The
Book of Supreme Truth.
Flemish mystic, sometimes considered one of the Rhineland
mystics. Outlines
the stages of the
mystical life. Influences: Eckhart, Hadewijch.
Henry Suso (1295-1366): The Little Book of Truth,
The Little Book of
Wisdom (Horologium Sapientiae). A Rhineland mystic.
Influences: Eckhart.
May have written the anonymnously
penned Cloud of Unknowing.
Gregory Palamas (1296-1359): Eastern Orthodox
mystic. Influences:
Pseudo-Dionysius, Athanasius.
Johannes Tauler (1300-1361): Sermons. Rhineland mystic
and Dominican.
Tauler emphasized the inner person rather than outer works,
and because of this
became popular in Protestant circles in the Reformation,
and later Pietism and
Romanticism. He was part of the same community that produced
the Theologia
Germanica.
Influences: Eckhart, Mechthild of Magdeburg.
Anonymous (c.1350-1400): Theologia Germanica or Theologia
Deutsch.
Important influence in the German mystical tradition.
Luther rediscovered and
popularized it. Influences: Augustine, Eckhart, Tauler.
Richard Rolle (1300-1349): The Fire of Love. Part of the "English
school" of
late mediaeval mysticism. Emphasizes the "physicality" of
the mystical experience
(feeling heat, seeing colours, etc.).
Birgitta (Brigida) Suecica of Sweden (1302-1373): Ascetic
mystic. Heavily
involved in political
activity. Influences: St. Francis of Assisi.
Anonymous (c.1349-c.1395): The Cloud of Unknowing, [as
modernized,
see also early text] The Book of Privy Council. Part
of the "English school" of
late mediaeval mysticism. The emphasis
on "unknowing" God is part of
Pseudo-Dionysius' apophatic theology. Influences:
Pseudo-Dionysius. [See
Henry Suso (1295-1366) above.]
Walter Hilton (d. 1395): The Scale (Ladder) of Perfection,
Epistle to a Devout
Man. An Augustinian
monk, Hilton was an English mystic.
Julian of Norwich (1342-1413?): Showings or Revelations
of Divine Love.
Julian was part of the "English school" of late mediaeval
mysticism. Mystical
experience that came at the point of death. The experience
came with healing,
and she devoted her life
to understanding her vision. Influences:
Pseudo-Dionysius, Aquinas (?).
Margery Kempe (c.1413): Mainly known as the biographer
of Julian of
Norwich.
Catherine of Siena (1347-1380): Il Dialogo. Italian. Mystic;
advisor to Pope
Gregory XI. Influences: Augustine.
Thomas à Kempis (c.1380-1471): The Imitation of Christ.
Augustinian monk.
Finest expression of devotio moderna, modern spirituality,
which downplays the
Rhineland mystics' concern with contemplation and speculative
theology, and
stresses the practice of simple piety and
asceticism. Influences: Eckhart.
Nicolaus of Cusa (Cusanus, Nikolaus Krebs) (1401-1464):
The Vision of
God (1453), De Docta Ignorantia. German
mystic. Part of the revival of
Platonism in the Renaissance. Cusanus
was a speculative mystic who
emphasized the incomprehensibility and paradoxicality
of God. Influences:
Plotinus, Pseudo-Dionysius, Eckhart.
St. Catherine of Genoa (1447-1510): Life
and Doctrines, Treatise on
Purgatory. Mysticism spurred in part by the abuse and neglect
by her husband.
Her trauma becomes mystical as she argues that
purgatory is a stage on the
mystical path,
the final purification of the effects of self-love.
Teresa of Avila (1515-1582): Life, by Herself; The Way
of Perfection; The
Interior Castle. Spanish Carmelite nun. Formed
the Discalced (Barefoot)
Carmelites, with St. John of the Cross. Is very
important for describing the
stages of the mystical journey. Influences: Augustine.
St. John of the Cross (Juan de Yepes) (1542-1591): Dark Night
of the Soul
and Ascent of Mt. Carmel. Spanish mystic. (Discalced
Carmelite) Both John
and Teresa emphasize mysticism as union with God, attainable
only in the denial
of the self. Influences: Teresa of Avila.
Giordano Bruno (1548-1600): Hermetic philosopher,
one of the most
important philosophers of the Renaissance. Bruno advocated
a kind of nature
mysticism
which had a strong scientific component to it.
St. Francois de Sales (1567-1622): The Introduction
to the Devout Life
(Philothea), Treatise on the Love of God. French mystic.
Devout Life is a classic
of French spirituality.
Louis Claude de Saint Martin (1743-1803): Theosophic Correspondence.
While technically Catholic, St. Martin's mysticism
follows much closer in the
tradition of Boehme and other
nature mystics. Influences: Boehme,
Swedenborg, Weigel, Law.
(3) Non-Catholic Christian Mystics (16th-18th century)
Martin Luther (1483-1546): While Luther had a well-known
antipathy to
mystics, it is also true that there is the foundation of
mystical life in his theology
of the heart, particularly in his early thought. Influences:
Augustine, Theologica
Germanica.
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim (1486-1535):
De Occulta
Philosophia (1533). It is not clear whether to call
Agrippa Catholic or not. He
did not embrace the Reformation, yet many of his themes
are much closer to
Weigel and Boehme than to any Catholic
mystic. His was a speculative
mysticism, as much interested in
magic and alchemy as in spiritual life.
Paracelsus (Phillipus Aureolus
Theophrastus Bombastus von
Hohenheim) (1493-1541): Another speculative mystic
more interested in
medical alchemy, astronomy, and natural philosophy.
Valentin Weigel (1533-1588): Know Thyself (1572). Weigel
begins in the
tradition of Rhineland mysticism, and moves to the speculative
nature mysticism
of Paracelsus. Influences: Eckhart, Tauler, Theologica Germanica,
Paracelsus.
Jacob Boehme (1575-1624): Aurora (1612)
[in German], Mysterium
Pansophicum (1620), Signature Rerum (1622), Mysterium
Magnum (1623).
Lusatian Lutheran. A major figure in German mysticism. Influences:
Eckhart, the
Jewish Kabbalah, Valentin Weigel,
Renaissance alchemy, Paracelsus.
Christian Knorr von Rosenroth (1636-1689): Kabbala
Denudata: The
Kabbalah Uncovered. A Christian Kabbalist. Influenced
by the Kabbalah,
Jacob Boehme.
Angelus Silesius (Johannes Scheffler) (1624-1677):
The Cherubic
Wanderer [Hungarian version] (1657-on). Mysticism in epigrammatic
couplets.
George Fox (1624-1691): Founder of the Quakers. Influences: Boehme.
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz (1646-1716): Monadology. Usually
thought of as
a rationalist philosopher rather than a mystic.
However, while it may be too
much to call him a mystic, it is certainly possible to see
the affinities between his
thought and that of Cusanus, Weigel, Boehme, and other
nature mystics. His
most important contribution is to blend inner life
with rationality; most Pietists
(and most scientists)
assumed them to be mutually exclusive.
William Law (1686-1761): The Spirit of Love (1752-1754).
English mystic.
Law is most famous for his devotional works (like A
Serious Call to a Devout
and Holy Life), but later in his life he became interested
in Jacob Boehme, and
wrote several mystical treatises.
Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772): Many works,
including Arcana
Coelestia, Heaven and Hell, The Heavenly City, Divine Love
and Wisdom, etc.
Swedenborg worked out a detailed understanding of nature
mysticism, applying
it to everything from the animal world to the spiritual world.
He is one of the few
mystics to have an active following to the present.
Friedrich Christoph Oetinger (1702-1782): Nature mystic, Pietist.
Influences:
Boehme, Weigel, Swedenborg.
Johann Gottfried Herder (1744-1803): Another person
who is often not
counted as a mystic, but who followed Leibnitz in attempting
to blend science
and mysticism into a kind of vitalism. Influences:
Cusanus, Boehme, Leibnitz.
NOTE: After the 18th century, the influence of
mysticism explodes in the
Romanticism of Germany, England, and America.
True mystics, however,
remain few.
ADDENDUM: TERMS, TRENDS, AND MOVEMENTS WORTH
KNOWING ABOUT
Alchemy: Alchemy, as often as not, assumes a Hermetic
world view. Most
people know alchemy as the search for the principle
of transmutation of baser
metals into higher (e.g., lead into gold). It is really
broader, and represents the
attempt to understand the connections in the
world. Paracelsus practiced a
medical alchemy, in which the body was a collection of balancing
principles, and
illness meant that the balance was off. If you take away
the spiritual assumptions
behind the alchemical forces, you
have something remarkably close to
Newtonian physics.
Beghards: male counterparts to the Beguines. Fewer, and less
of an issue for
the church at the time.
Beguines: group of female contemplatives, some of whom were
mystics. They
were condemned as heretics because they represented
a challenge to the
church's authority. Many important female mystics were
associated with the
Beguines, although the group was not necessarily mystical
(some thought that
mystical visions got in the way of practical life).
Gnosticism: Derived from Greek gnosis, knowledge. The Gnostic
is one who
claims esoteric knowledge about God and the metaphysical
structure of the
universe. There is a strong distinction between spirit
and matter, God and the
world. This position sometimes resulted
in asceticism (the spirit must be
liberated from the bonds of the flesh),
and sometimes antinomianism (the
material world is inconsequential, so there
is no point in resisting carnal
impulses). Some later mysticism (e.g. quietism) has the world-denying
aspects of
gnosticism.
Hermeticism: Followers of the legendary
figure Hermes Mecurius
Trismegistus, or thrice-great Hermes, reputed to be an Egyptian
writer. Much
nature mysticism of the Renaissance found hermetic thought
useful, because both
understood the world to be intrinsically interconnected,
and only understandable
once those connections
were understood. Hermes mixed with
Pseudo-Dionysius was common fare in Renaissance Italy, until
Isaac Casaubon
showed that Hermes was not who he said he was.
Kabbalah: Jewish mysticism that has its roots
earlier than Christianity, but
which flourishes in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. The
Kabbalah struggles
with the problem of how the human person can relate
to a God who is totally
other, and how that God relates to creation.
Monasticism: Although the tendency to live apart for
spiritual devotion has a
long history, it is closely tied to mysticism in the
Middle Ages. The disciplines
associated with mysticism have their most rigorous application
there. The most
famous orders are the Franciscans (St. Francis
of Assisi, Bonaventure), the
Dominicans (Thomas Aquinas, Meister Eckhart),
the Carmelites (Teresa of
Avila, St. John of the Cross), the Benedictines (St.
Benedict), and the Jesuits
(St. Ignatius of Loyola). The orders exist to this day, and
continue to be places
that encourage mysticism and contemplation (Thomas
Merton was a Trappist
monk, for instance).
Rhineland Mysticism: The Rhineland mystics were
German mystics that
follow the influence of Meister Eckhart. They tend to emphasize
the search for
the inner ground of the soul.
Sufism: The mystical bent in Islam is supported by passages
from the Koran
(or Qur'an) and is represented by the Sufis.
Because there is a dominant
emphasis on prophetic activism and legalism in Islam, Muslim
tradition may be
misunderstood as entirely inhospitable to mysticism.
But the Sufi way, mainly
transmitted through "lay orders" that trace their origin
to some influential spiritual
teacher, preserve a distinctively
Islamic mysticism. Among these Sufi
subtraditions are the Naqshbandi and the Nimatullahi,
but there are several
others. A few modern organizations (such as the International
Sufi Movement
led by Hidayat Inayat Khan) claim descent from
traditional Sufis but do not
require their followers to be Muslims. And recently the great
Sufi poet Jalaluddin
Rumi has been rediscovered as a source of inspiration by
poets Robert Bly and
Coleman Barks. However, most practicing Sufis affirm
that they are Muslims.
IMPORTANT SECONDARY SOURCES
(1) Bibliographies
Bowman, Mary Ann. Western mysticism: A guide to
the basic works.
Chicago: American Library Association, 1978. ~~ A very good
work, to 1978.
It is well organized, and has a good index. It is better
than Sharma & Arndt,
although both are quite old.
CD-ROM Indices -- Modern Languages Association
(MLA) Index,
Philosopher's Index, PsychLit Index, Religion
Index. ~~ All of these will
produce more references than you can use, if you look either
under "mysticism"
or under a particular mystic's name, or under
the name of a movement (e.g.
"Beguine"). These indices have the virtue of
also giving you abstracts. . . .
Jones, C., Wainwright, G., Yarnold, E., eds. The study
of spirituality.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986. ~~ Each
entry comes with a short
bibliography. This is a good place to start if you want information
on a particular
individual.
McGinn, Bernard. The foundations of mysticism. New York:
Crossroad
Press, 1991. ~~ McGinn has a great bibliography
in the back of this book.
More on McGinn later.
Sharma, Umesh and Arndt, John. Mysticism: A select
bibliography.
Waterloo, Ont.: Waterloo Lutheran University, 1973. ~~ This
bibliography goes
well beyond Western mysticism. At over 1500 entries, it is
quite good (although
of course, still selective, given the immense amount of material
they could have
included). There are only two real drawbacks: it is
hard to find . . . , and it is
over 20 years old (a lot has happened in theory of mysticism
since 1973). While
the entries are not organized under headings, there
is an index at the back. A
good resource.
Underhill, Evelyn. Mysticism, 12th edition. New York:
Meridian Books,
1955. ~~ Underhill lists texts, translations,
and studies for many different
mystics, quite a number not included in this
list. More on this classic below,
under (3) General Secondary Sources.
(2) Biographies
Encyclopedia of philosophy, Macmillan and Free Press,
1967. ~~ It will
not have all the mystics listed
above, but only those that are clearly
philosophically significant. However,
what it does have is well done.
Ferguson, John. An illustrated encyclopedia
of mysticism and the
mystery religions. New York: Seabury Press, 1977. ~~ Although
sometimes
a bit sloppy about its characterizations (I think it
buys into the hype a bit too
much), this is a good quick reference for
people, movements, and ideas.
Jones, C., Wainwright, G., Yarnold, E., eds. The study
of spirituality.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986. ~~ A good resource
on the history of
spirituality, with dozens of entries by
major writers on important people,
movements, and concepts.
Reese, W. L., Dictionary of philosophy and religion.
Humanities Press,
1980. ~~ Very brief entries on virtually
all the people mentioned here.
(3) General Secondary Sources
Almond, Philip. Mystical experience
and religious doctrine: An
investigation of the study of mysticism in world religions.
Berlin and New
York: Mouton, 1982. ~~ Almond focusses on the interpretation
of mystical
experience,
and does a good critique of different thinkers.
Bynum, Caroline Walker. Jesus as mother.
Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1982. ~~ A classic on mysticism
and women in the High
Middle Ages.
Carmody, Denise L. & John T. Carmody. Mysticism: Holiness
east and
west. Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1996. ~~ A breezy overview of
mysticism around the world. As with most works of this
sort, the further the
term mysticism is extended, the harder it is to maintain
the commonalities. Still,
not a bad introduction.
Certeau, Michel de. The mystic fable. Volume 1:
The 16th and 17th
Centuries. Chicago: University of Chicago, 1992. ~~
de Certeau is chiefly
known for his work in post-modern and post-colonial
circles, mainly on
embodiment. This is one of his final works, and is an excellent
rethinking of early
modern mysticism as the "attempt
to represent the unrepresentable."
Ellwood, Robert. Mysticism and religion. Englewood Cliffs,
N.J.: Prentice
Hall, 1980. ~~ Long used as a basic introduction
to mysticism in religion
departments. Also available in a slightly revised second
edition ~ New York:
Seven Bridges Press, 1998.
Evans, Donald. Spirituality and human nature. Albany, New
York: SUNY
Press, 1992. ~~ A philosopher/mystic teaching at the
University of Toronto
gives a defense of the rationality and respectability
of mystical experience.
Forman, Robert K. C., ed. The problem
of pure consciousness:
Mysticism and philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1990. ~~ A
good compilation of essays on the
debate between perennialists and
constructivists, as Forman calls them, or those who regard
mystical experience
as pure, and those that argue that it is mediated
through language, tradition,
culture, religion, and other factors.
Happold, F. C. Mysticism: A study and an anthology.
London, England:
Penguin, 1963. ~~ One of the first attempts to place
mysticism in the modern
world.
Horne, James. Beyond mysticism (1978). The moral
mystic (1983).
Waterloo, Ontario: Wilfrid Laurier University
Press. ~~ Both these books
deserve more attention than they receive. Horne identifies
and tackles several
issues in philosophy and mysticism.
Huegel, F. von. The mystical element of religion. 2
vols., London: Dent,
1908; New York: Dutton, 1923. ~~ The grand-daddy of
modern scholarship
on mysticism. Working from the writings
of Catherine of Genoa, Huegel
concludes that the mystical or experiential element is an
essential component of
true religion.
Idel, Moshe. Kabbalah: New perspectives. New Haven,
Conn.: Yale
University Press, 1988. ~~ The best recent
discussion of the Kabbalah.
Idel, Moshe & Bernard McGinn, eds. Mystical union and
monotheistic
faith: An ecumenical dialogue. New York:
MacMillan, 1989. ~~ An
investigation of the unio mystica in Judaism, Christianity,
and Islam. ~ Reprinted
as Mystical Union in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam : An
Ecumenical Dialogue.
New York: Continuum, 1996.
James, William. The varieties of religious experience. New
York: Mentor
Books, 1958. ~~ One of the first Gifford Lectures ever
given (1901-1902),
James' book has a long section in which
he gives examples of mystical
experience and outlines a rudimentary phenomenology of mysticism.
This is the
starting point for many later writers. His (1897) essay "The
will to believe" raises
questions that complement rather than contribute
directly to the study of
mysticism.
Jones, Richard. Mysticism examined. Albany, N.Y.: SUNY Press,
1993.
~~ A collection of Jones' essays from the previous
15 years, he takes an
analytic philosophical
approach to the questions of mysticism.
Katz, Steven, ed. Mysticism and philosophical analysis
(1978). London
and New York: Oxford University Press.
___________, ed. Mysticism and religious traditions (1983).
London and
New York: Oxford University Press.
___________, ed. Mysticism and language (1992). London and
New York:
Oxford University Press.
All these volumes have important essays in them, not the least
of which is Katz'
own "Language, Epistemology, and Mysticism" in the
first book. That
essay set the stage for a debate over the nature
of mystical experience that
continues today.
Louth, Andrew. The origins of the Christian mystical
tradition. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1981. ~~ Just about anything
Louth writes is worth
reading (he also did a very good introduction to Pseudo-Dionysius,
called Denis
the Areopagite, and several essays on patristic-age
mystics); this was the best
on this topic before McGinn's work.
McGinn, Bernard. The foundations of mysticism. New York:
Crossroad
Press, 1991. ~~ The first of a promised 4-volume
series on the history and
theory of mysticism, this is a spectacular
beginning. It is wide-ranging,
sympathetic to mysticism without being
blind to its problems, very well
researched, and easy to read. Besides that, it gives intelligent
critiques of many
other recent writers on mysticism. It is already orders of
magnitude better than
anything else out there. (Do I sound enthusiastic?).
Volume II, The growth of
mysticism, continues the strong tradition of scholarship.
It covers the period
from Gregory the Great to the 12th century.
Otto, Rudolf. The idea of the holy. London: Oxford University
Press, 1958.
~~ As the subtitle says, "an inquiry into the non-rational
factor in the idea of the
divine and its relation to the rational." Technically
not mysticism, but Otto
(1869-1937) has major implications for mysticism. His
later book, Mysticism
east and west, which may from the title seem more relevant
to a discussion of
mysticism, is a seriously flawed attempt to compare
Meister Eckhart and
Acharya Sankara.
Scholem, Gershom. Major trends in Jewish
mysticism. New York:
Schocken Books, 1961. (First published in 1941.)
~~ Scholem is the most
famous modern interpreter of Jewish mysticism.
This provides a good, if
somewhat breezy overview.
Scholem, Gershom. Kabbalah. New York: Dorset Books, 1974.
~~ Much
more indepth on this important type of Jewish mysticism,
although Idel's book is
more scholarly.
Staal, Frits. Exploring mysticism. London, England: Penguin,
1975. ~~ Staal
argues that mystical experience can be studied in the
same way that we would
study any other object of scientific investigation, as long
as there is some way of
inducing actual mystical states in the researcher.
Stace, W. T. Mysticism and philosophy. Philadelphia:
J. B. Lippencott,
1960. ~~ Stace makes some classic distinctions here that
have become part of
the language of theory of mysticism.
Underhill, Evelyn. Mysticism, 12th edition. New York:
Meridian Books,
1955. ~~ First published in 1910, Underhill tries to
consider mysticism from
both the outside and the inside. This is an old classic,
and worth consulting, even
though later works fulfill this project better.
______________. Practical mysticism. New York: E. P. Dutton,
1915. ~~
Despite the odd title, this is a good introduction
to the life and practice of
mysticism. Underhill intends this as a
kind of primer to the mystical life.
Weeks, Andrew. German mysticism. Albany, New York: SUNY
Press,
1993. ~~ After a very good work on Jacob Boehme, Weeks comes
up with a
solid treatment of mysticism through about 800 years of German
history. Weeks
is an historian, and as such contextualizes mysticism
in the political, social, and
intellectual worlds very well.
Woods, Richard, ed. Understanding mysticism. New York: Image
Books,
1980. ~~ A very good collection of essays on
mysticism, from a variety of
points of view and disciplinary commitments.
Zaehner, R. C. Mysticism: Sacred and profane. London: Oxford,
1961. ~~
Zaehner argues for a difference between
theistic and monistic (nature)
mysticism, the latter of which is induced
by (among other things) drugs.
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