The Riddle of Christian Mystical Experience
The Riddle of Christian Mystical Experience

Author: Paul Mommaers

Publisher: Peeters Publishers

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 9789042912328

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A distinctive feature of mystical experience is that it is "imageless". Mystics of various traditions witness indeed to their going beyond all intermediaries so as to enjoy immediate union. Understandably, the idea of imageless immediacy is attractive, and it is especially in vogue with those who hope to discover that different (religious) spiritualities converge if only the particularity of, say, the Christian way would be left behind. However, a crucial question arises here. If mystical union consists in simply transcending what is part and parcel of the human condition, where is its relevance? Is the mystic as such in a position to be his or her human self - thinking and loving, enjoying and suffering? Can he or she be active in the world of humankind? Obviously, it is especially in the Christian tradition that this matter comes to the fore as a radical difficulty. For here there is the divine Image and Mediator, so much so that the Humanity of Jesus ought to be integral to a person's union with God. Perhaps the Christian mystic is such an extraordinary figure that the Humanity and all other images and intermediaries are, for him or her, at best a stepping-stone that is bound to disappear? The Riddle of Christian Mystical Experience aims to clarify this issue by analyzing the writings of such visionaries as Julian of Norwich, Teresa of Avila and Maria Petyt; of the ecstasy-minded masters Richard of Saint Victor, Bernard of Clairvaux and Bonaventure (describing Francis of Assisi's experience); of the cream of the Flemish mystics, namely Hadewijch and Jan van Ruusbroec. Nevertheless, the preference for the mystical text does not prevent the Riddle from drawing on the insights of modern philosophers such as Jean-Paul Sartre and Jean-Luc Marion when treating of images and idols, or Michael Polanyi and Ludwig Wittgenstein when reflecting on intermediaries. The main result of this procedure may come as a surprise. Far from turning into a detached creature who forgets about the Humanity and the human, the full-fledged mystic is, as a Flemish mystic puts it, "wholly in God, where he rests in enjoyment, and wholly in himself, where he loves with works". Experiencing union "with intermediary and without intermediary", the true Christian mystic is "unimaged" as well as "imaged upon the humanity of our Lord through heartfelt affection".

The Riddle of Christian Mystical Experience
The Riddle of Christian Mystical Experience

Author: Paul Mommaers

Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company

Published: 2002-12-18

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780802824943

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A fascinating study of Christian mysticism. Anyone engaged in the study of Christian mysticism or of its historical figures encounters a recurring puzzle or riddle: How can mystical experience of imageless realms be reconciled with the real bodily presence of Jesus Christ? How can people raised to heights surpassing the corporeal continue to experience the lowly pleasure of a human body? Paul Mommaers's in-depth study of mysticism seeks to resolve this apparent paradox. Through careful readings of great Christian mystics Julian of Norwich, Teresa of Avila, Bernard of Clairvaux, Francis of Assisi, Richard of Saint Victor, and especially the Flemish mystics Hadewijch and Jan van Ruusbroec -- Mommaers uncovers the unity that exists between life in the present world and life in union with the divine. He also provides an original explanation of the role of Jesus' humanity in mediating the Christian mystical experience. Practical as well as theological, this book is both a fascinating look into the minds of several heroes of the faith and a unique devotional tool for those seeking their experiences for themselves.

Children and Spirituality
Children and Spirituality

Author: Brendan Hyde

Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Publishers

Published: 2008-01-15

Total Pages: 194

ISBN-13: 1846427541

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Brendan Hyde identifies four characteristics of children's spirituality: the felt sense, integrating awareness, weaving the threads of meaning, and spiritual questing. These characteristics can be observed in children if those who work with them know what to look for and are alert to the time, place and space in which children find themselves. This book provides ways in which schoolteachers and parents can nurture and foster these particular characteristics of children's spirituality. It also considers two factors, material pursuit and trivialising, which may inhibit children's expression of their spirituality. Children and Spirituality will be of great interest to educators, policy makers, parents, and others who work with and seek to nurture the spirituality of children.

Meditation in Judaism, Christianity and Islam
Meditation in Judaism, Christianity and Islam

Author: Halvor Eifring

Publisher: A&C Black

Published: 2013-10-24

Total Pages: 562

ISBN-13: 1441162585

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Meditative practices have flourished in widely different parts of Eurasia, yet historical research on such practices is limited. Research to date has focused on contexts rather than actual practices, and within individual traditions. For the first time in one volume, the meditative practices of the three traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam are examined. They are viewed in a global perspective, considering both generic and historical connections to practices in other traditions, particularly in India and East Asia. Their cultural and historical peculiarities are examined, comparing them both to each other and to Asian forms of meditation. The book builds on a notion of meditation as self-administered techniques for inner transformation, a definition which focuses on transformative practice rather than notions of meditative states and mystical experiences. It proposes ways of studying meditative practice historically, and concludes with an essay on the modern scientific interest in meditation.

Holiness: The Soul of Quakerism
Holiness: The Soul of Quakerism

Author: Carole Dale Spencer

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2007-12-01

Total Pages: 347

ISBN-13: 1556358091

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No single word conjures up religion, spirituality, or the sacred more than holiness. Yet its meaning in Christian theology, and application in Christian practice, has been greatly misunderstood. Few Quakers today of any persuasion would recognize the mystical depth of meaning the concept had for Quakers down through the centuries. Holiness: The Soul of Quakerism recovers the essential place of holiness theology in three centuries of Quaker history. It explores how Quaker spirituality was shaped in its inception by the experience of union with God, otherwise known in the Christian tradition as perfection, and examines selected figures from Quaker history who represent different emphases of holiness in the context of their time and culture.

Relationship Is the Transformative Space
Relationship Is the Transformative Space

Author: Darryl Wooldridge

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2016-02-09

Total Pages: 298

ISBN-13: 1498280412

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This book affirms relationship as the shared human elemental pursuit and proposes relationship as the transformative space. Wonderfully, the author asserts, it is God's intention to fulfill this intrinsic human desire in the present in all of us and universally. This desire is an often inarticulate, innate desire and pursuit to enjoy and reflect the divine image in which every human being was created. In this book, this pursuit is referred to as proleptic spiritual transformation (PrōST). That is, this book demonstrates that what is too often relegated to eternity is available now. Relationship is the Transformative Space considers God's heart, in relationship, and its implication toward human spirituality and how this intent has been interrupted and restored. God is actively interested in the recovery of a fully expressed image in humanity.

Hadewijch
Hadewijch

Author: Paul Mommaers (sac.)

Publisher: Peeters Publishers

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 180

ISBN-13: 9789042913929

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Hadewijch, c. 1210-160, commands increasing attention internationally. As an author, she is extremely creative and artistic. As a beguine, she belongs to a revolutionary women's movement formed by religious women who, conscious of their gender, did not wish to enter into either marriage or a convent. Spiritually and materially independent, these first beguines come into conflict with social order, and endure the reaction of clerics, religious and secular authorities, and those in orders. As a mystic, Hadewijch illuminates both the glorious aspects of the love-relationship with God and its painful aspect: with the enjoyment of love (minne) goes an increasingly intense desire; in unity, the alterity of the Beloved becomes all the stronger. Consequently, union with God is not a spiritual elevation by which a person is released from his or her being human: the authentic mystical being-one consists rather of the interplay between resting in God and working in this world, between being God with God and being man with the Man (Christ). You must live as a human being! - this is the kernel of Hadewijch's life and teaching.

Promised Bodies
Promised Bodies

Author: Patricia Dailey

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 278

ISBN-13: 0231161204

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rossing linguistic and historical boundaries, Patricia Dailey connects the embodied poetics of Hadewijch of Brabant's visions, writings, and letters to the work of Julian of Norwich, Hildegard of Bingen, Marguerite of Oingt, and other mystics and visionaries.

Maria Petyt – A Carmelite Mystic in Wartime
Maria Petyt – A Carmelite Mystic in Wartime

Author:

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2015-07-28

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 9004291873

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Based on the discovery of an unknown Latin manuscript, Maria Petyt - A Carmelite Mystic in Wartime provides surprising new information about the seventeenth century Flemish mystic Maria Petyt (1623-1677) who wrote many letters to her spiritual director, Michael of St. Augustine. The book contains a transcription of the (unfortunately partly damaged) manuscript, an English translation of it, and several articles opening up new horizons concerning the life and spirituality of Maria Petyt and her historical and religious backgrounds. The authors characterize Maria Petyt as a self-confident spiritual daughter with a strong political mission, a zealous figure fighting side by side with Louis XIV for the catholic victory during the Dutch War, and as one who lived and profoundly understood the spirituality of Teresa of Avila.

Beyond Measure
Beyond Measure

Author: Isaac Slater

Publisher: Liturgical Press

Published: 2020-02-15

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 0879071796

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Bernard continually returns to the classical idea that the quality of desire shapes theological imagination. By attending to the multiple ways he develops and applies this insight, Beyond Measure uncovers a new depth of organic unity to the literary, philosophical, and theological strands densely interwoven through his writings. Bernard’s apparent iconoclasm with respect to art, affectivity, and the humanity of Jesus is revealed as an alternative mystical aesthetic, congruent with his program for monastic reform. The central movement of Cistercian spirituality from the carnal to the spiritual is shown not to elide but to recapitulate the carnal in higher spiritual expression. Further, this approach provides fresh understanding of the ways in which Bernard is at once "last of the fathers" and "first of the moderns." In particular, a careful reading of works by Julia Kristeva and Jean-Luc Marion on Bernard reveals both the enduring brightness and vitality of his writing and the relevance of his work for people today.