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The Tradition of Mystical Theology and Its Challenges to Contemporaneous...
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The Tradition of Mystical Theology and Its Challenges to Contemporaneous Theology

A special issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444). This special issue belongs to the section "Religions and Theologies".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2022) | Viewed by 16209

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Rob Faesen

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
2. Tilburg School of Catholic Theology, Tilburg University, 5037 AB Tilburg, Netherlands
3. Ruusbroec Institute, University of Antwerp, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium
Interests: history of Christian mysticism; medieval mysticism; Jesuit history and spirituality

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The focus of this Special Issue of Religions is the tradition of mystical theology, and its relevance for today’s theology. The Christian literary tradition of mystical authors is exceptionally rich. It can be fascinating, for example, from a literary perspective we can think of the poems of Hadewijch or of John of the Cross. However, it also contains specific approaches to theology. Various aspects have recently been presented in the excellent Oxford Handbook of Mystical Theology (ed. Edward Howells and Mark A. McIntosh). One of the purposes of that handbook was to show that mystical theology is an essential and integral part of theology as a discipline.

Now a next step can be made—namely, to explore which specific challenges this older tradition of mystical theology contains for the theology of today.

Since it has centuries-old tradition, mystical theology is obviously not a monolithic block. In the course of time, various interests, controversies, and discussions have been developed, and all these issues need to be studied and understood in their own historical context. Nevertheless, they may also have a specific relevance for the theology of today, possibly by opening perspectives that have been neglected for some time, possibly by showing dimensions that are not explored today.

While on the one hand mystical theology enjoys attention from historical or literary scholars who may overlook the theological dimensions, and on the other hand theologians may refer to mystical topics without taking into consideration the specific historical contexts and sources, the real dialogue of these disciplines is still at its very beginning. In this Special Issue, we want to engage in that specific dialogue.

We seek contributions that either develop a case study of a specific mystical topic (in its historical context) which has special relevance for today’s theological reflection, or that investigate the methodological aspects of such a dialogue. We hope that this Special Issue can contribute to this new and promising field of research.

Prof. Rob Faesen
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • history of Christian mysticism
  • contemporaneous theology

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 282 KiB  
Article
Negative Theology and Desire in Spiritual Transformation According to John of the Cross
by Edward William Howells
Religions 2023, 14(1), 6; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14010006 - 21 Dec 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2316
Abstract
Desire is central to John of the Cross’ treatment of the mystical ascent to God. He holds that God is desire and that there is a meeting between human and divine desire in the state of union with God, which is the goal. [...] Read more.
Desire is central to John of the Cross’ treatment of the mystical ascent to God. He holds that God is desire and that there is a meeting between human and divine desire in the state of union with God, which is the goal. But it is less clear how this desire is to be understood against John’s programmatic negation of desire on the spiritual journey in both its sensory and spiritual forms, according to his negative theology. He regards the lack of satisfaction of desire, which he expresses in terms of darkness and emptiness, as the main manifestation of desire in the process of spiritual transformation. The question arises as to where he locates the meeting between human desire and divine desire, when they seem to be only opposed to one another. The answer lies in the gradual uncovering, through this process, of what is happening beneath the presenting experience of desire, in the human soul’s constitution as the subject. Desire is transformed, but in a way that can be affirmed only at the level of this transformation of the subject. This article examines how John of the Cross understands the relationship between desire and negative theology. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Tradition of Mystical Theology and Its Challenges to Contemporaneous Theology)
22 pages, 313 KiB  
Article
Late Medieval Mysticism and the Analogy of Grace and Nature
by Christopher M. Wojtulewicz
Religions 2022, 13(12), 1204; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13121204 - 12 Dec 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2279
Abstract
Erich Przywara’s insightful and Christological interpretation of Aquinas’ maxim regarding grace and nature suggests that nature and reason ought to pass through a redemptive ‘death’ with respect to grace and faith. This highlights the inadmissibility of proportioning finality to nature and reason. But [...] Read more.
Erich Przywara’s insightful and Christological interpretation of Aquinas’ maxim regarding grace and nature suggests that nature and reason ought to pass through a redemptive ‘death’ with respect to grace and faith. This highlights the inadmissibility of proportioning finality to nature and reason. But more can be said regarding this particular reclamation of a high scholastic view. The late medieval mystical tradition shows a relationship between grace and nature, faith and reason, which sheds further light on this project, and in particular offers a way of valorising a Christological understanding of the relationship within each pair. I propose that this occurs specifically within the mystical context when any and all finality ascribed to apophasis ‘dies’, resulting in an oscillation between both ontic and noetic expressions of transcendence and immanence. This includes the question of mystical claims to spiritually outgrow ecclesial contexts and specificities. I highlight this with particular reference to Meister Eckhart and Jan van Ruusbroec. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Tradition of Mystical Theology and Its Challenges to Contemporaneous Theology)
13 pages, 276 KiB  
Article
Raising the Soul in Love: St Ignatius of Loyola and the Tradition of Mystical Theology
by Peter Mark Tyler
Religions 2022, 13(11), 1015; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13111015 - 26 Oct 2022
Viewed by 2371
Abstract
This paper explores St Ignatius Loyola’s relationship to the medieval tradition of theologia mystica, especially in the Spiritual Exercises. Although the evidence is scanty, it is clear that the young Iñigo was acquainted with the methods and structures of Abbot García de [...] Read more.
This paper explores St Ignatius Loyola’s relationship to the medieval tradition of theologia mystica, especially in the Spiritual Exercises. Although the evidence is scanty, it is clear that the young Iñigo was acquainted with the methods and structures of Abbot García de Cisneros’ Exercitatorio de La Vida Espiritual during his extended stay at Montserrat and Manresa after his conversion of life. Commentators have disagreed over the extent of the influence of these writings on Ignatius’ later spirituality; however, this paper will explore the ‘family resemblances’ between the type of spirituality developed by Ignatius after his stay in Catalonia and the later medieval spirituality expressed in the Abbot’s work. In particular, the paper concentrates on one aspect of that work that has not received much attention: namely, the strand in Cisneros’ work that explores the late medieval tradition of theologia mystica, particularly as reworked from the writings of Jean Gerson (1363–1429), sometime Chancellor of the University of Paris. The paper argues that Gerson’s form of ‘affective Dionysianism’ shares much in common with the spirituality later developed by Ignatius, and will conclude with some final remarks as to how this helps us to understand the ‘mystical desire’ that lies at the heart of Ignatius’ project. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Tradition of Mystical Theology and Its Challenges to Contemporaneous Theology)
17 pages, 281 KiB  
Article
Doxological (Im)Purity? Nicholas of Cusa’s ‘Art of Praising’ and Liturgical Thinking in 21st Century
by Inigo Bocken
Religions 2022, 13(8), 677; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13080677 - 26 Jul 2022
Viewed by 2012
Abstract
It is noteworthy that the thinking of Nicholas of Cusa (1401–1464) has recurred again and again among prominent recent theologians who, critical of Modern rationality, have brought back to the fore the importance of liturgical praxis. Often, however, the mystical theology of Nicholas [...] Read more.
It is noteworthy that the thinking of Nicholas of Cusa (1401–1464) has recurred again and again among prominent recent theologians who, critical of Modern rationality, have brought back to the fore the importance of liturgical praxis. Often, however, the mystical theology of Nicholas of Cusa had been presented during the Twentieth Century primarily as an unfinished precursor to Modern subject-philosophy in the line of Kant. In this contribution, I will consider this striking change of perspective against the background of recent debates concerning the role of liturgy not only for theology, but also for philosophy. Does Cusa’s ‘art of praising’ offer a way out of the dilemmas facing liturgical thought? Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Tradition of Mystical Theology and Its Challenges to Contemporaneous Theology)
14 pages, 399 KiB  
Article
Mystical Theology and Its Relevance for Today’s Theology: Some Historical Observations
by Rob Faesen
Religions 2022, 13(6), 513; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13060513 - 6 Jun 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2498
Abstract
Although a convergence between theology and mystical literature can be observed in recent years, it is not always very clear what the relationship between the two is. That there has been a gap between the two, for several centuries, is obvious. A passage [...] Read more.
Although a convergence between theology and mystical literature can be observed in recent years, it is not always very clear what the relationship between the two is. That there has been a gap between the two, for several centuries, is obvious. A passage in Teresa of Avila’s work is a sign of this, as are the difficulties the Jesuit Balthasar Alvarez encountered during his lifetime. However, there are older models—such as those by the twelfth-century Carthusian Guigo—in which there is an organic connection between the two. The cause of the problem may lie in a misunderstanding of the status of both, namely that the rational, investigative activity of theology on the one hand and the receptive surrender to God of mystical contemplation on the other are regarded as mutually exclusive. However, if one assumes, as John of Ruusbroec does, that the contemplative can be situated on the level of being, namely of the direct contact between God as Creator and the human person as creature, and not on the same “level” as the faculty of reason or intellect, then this misunderstanding disappears, and activity (including intellectual activity of theology) and contemplation can go together well. In particular, the model of the personal encounter between God and the human person can be helpful in this regard. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Tradition of Mystical Theology and Its Challenges to Contemporaneous Theology)
15 pages, 313 KiB  
Article
Metaphysics and Mysticism: Mystical Aspects and Elements in the Work of Czech Thinker Karel Říha
by Martin Vašek, Andrea Blaščíková and Rastislav Nemec
Religions 2022, 13(1), 84; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13010084 - 17 Jan 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2944
Abstract
Czech theologian and philosopher Karel Říha (1923–2016) followed the thinking of Maurice Blondel. He wanted to expand and deepen the basis of transcendental philosophy. He perceived the possibilities of a new metaphysics, which would be established only in a triadic way of thinking—knowledge, [...] Read more.
Czech theologian and philosopher Karel Říha (1923–2016) followed the thinking of Maurice Blondel. He wanted to expand and deepen the basis of transcendental philosophy. He perceived the possibilities of a new metaphysics, which would be established only in a triadic way of thinking—knowledge, wanting, Being. He originally believed that the basic philosophical theory was the theory of moral conversion. Říha comprehended the event of moral conversion as a mystic turn, a transformation in which we find ourselves by realising ourselves in devotion to others. In this transformation, the striving for metaphysics, which is based on interpersonal relationships, achieves its goal. Metaphysics eliminates itself and is integrated into theology. Theology finally comes to the conclusion that the truth is not in our power but pursues us. The theologian and philosopher Říha, as he writes, has united himself with a Will, which we do not know where it leads us or what it will ask from us. There was nothing left on his own. Metaphysics and mysticism are united in his thinking and work. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Tradition of Mystical Theology and Its Challenges to Contemporaneous Theology)
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