This thesis seeks to establish the place of Baron von aigel and George Tyrrell in the revival of interest in mysticism at the beginning of the present century. Though leading figures in the modernist movement in the Roman Catholic Church, their collaboration on the subject of mysticism was central to their friendship and work. They helped to retrieve the central concerns of mystical theology after a retreat from mysticism which had affected the Church since the condemnation of Quietism in 1699. Their account of Christian mysticism, which involved a critique of Buddhism, neo-Platonism and pantheism, rested on a worldaffirming attitude to creation, a balance between divine transcendence and immanence and the articulation of a legitimate panentleism. It also involved a positive acceptance of the bodily-spiritual unity of human nature and ordinary experience as the locus of mystical encounter with God. Their account also emphasised the reality of direct contact between God and the individual, and the affective and cognitive dimensions of mystical experience. They asserted the centrality of mystical union as a dynamic communion of life, love and action which is the primary goal of the Christian life. They emphasised the necessity of contemplation, understood not as passive inaction, but as a profound energising of the soul. Asceticism, the embracing of suffering, self-discipline and a right ordering of human affection, was also judged indispensable. Moreover, they believed that only in the context of the intellectual and institutional elements of religion, does mysticism find its true theological locus in Christian life and reflection. Their comprehensive definition of mysticism opened up the possibility of understanding both the uniqueness of Christian mysticism, and the reality and value of non-Christian forms of mystical experience as genuine encounters with the divine. Accepting a universal call to mysticism, they held the mystical way to be the way to full humanity which is also the individual's realisation of divinity.

This study seeks to define “mysticism” historically by looking back to the concept mystical theology (μυστική θεολογία / mystica theologia) and the association of books under this category. The first Latin canon of mystical theology developed from the ninth to the middle of the thirteenth century around translation and commentary on the writings of Dionysius by John Eriugena, Thomas Gallus, Robert Grosseteste, and Albert the Great. The second Latin canon of mystical theology developed from the thirteenth to the end of the fifteenth century and centered upon the more practical task of teaching an advanced form of unitive and apophatic prayer (largely by Bonaventure, Hugh of Balma, and Jean Gerson). Nonetheless, the writings of Dionysius and the method of apophaticism—whether understood as negative predication (apophatic theology) or imageless (apophatic) prayer—remained fundamental. The criterion of immediacy also played a central role in the development of the concept, especially after the thirteenth century. Martin Luther inherited this concept of mystical theology. Reading Dionysius through the comments of Gerson and Johann Eck, Luther understood mystical theology as an advanced form of imageless prayer that sought an unmediated, experiential knowledge of God in majesty (“the naked God”) through union. Luther’s mature writings rejected any attempt to know God in this direct way. However, drawing on Augustine and Johann Tauler, Luther redirected the elements of experiential knowledge and the method of negation that he learned in mystical literature. Rather than addressing the disproportion between the finite and the infinite, Luther’s version of negative theology addressed the disproportion between the word of the Law and the word of the Gospel. In turn, Luther redirected Dionysius’s original emphasis on the mediated nature of all theology towards the pastoral task of assurance. For Dionysius direct knowledge of God was metaphysically impossible. For Luther direct knowledge of God was not impossible, but disastrous. Only in the negation of the Law and “darkness of faith” in the spoken, external words of the Gospel could assurance be found.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:48:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Acacio Nascimento Jr.pdf: 549825 bytes, checksum: 3f7cd9fcde1c76cf22b29f16becefb44 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-02-16 / The objective of the present work is to present the importance of the medieval Dominican monk Eckhart in the context of Christian mystic, mater that is as old as is it complex. It defends that in no other Christian mystic it reached such a visible position in part, because his Metaphysical position was based, differentially, in the neoplatonic dialect thought, and in part because, in his own time and also later, some of his asseverations about God are still to be understood. For this a historical-theological recapitulation was made on fundamental eckhartians emphases, the extension of the interdependence seen between theology and experience and how the mystic delineated and established by him marked his time and perpetuated, molding times and world-wide movements. This thought was mediated under the perspective of Christian phenomenology, and came to the conclusion that there is a verifiable platform, by which Meister Eckhart would have a guaranteed contribution to today s spirituality. / O objetivo do presente trabalho é apresentar a importância do monge dominicano medieval Eckhart no contexto da mística cristã, matéria tão antiga quanto complexa. Defende-se que em nenhum outro a mística cristã alcançou tanto destaque - em parte, porque sua posição metafísica baseou-se, diferenciadamente, no pensamento dialético neoplatônico, e em parte porque, no seu próprio tempo e também depois, algumas de suas asseverações sobre Deus ainda estão para ser entendidas. Para isso foi feita uma recapitulação histórico-teológica sobre as ênfases eckhartianas basilares, a extensão da interdependência vista entre teologia e experiência, e sobre como foi que a mística delineada e estabelecida por ele marcou seu tempo e perpetuou-se, moldando épocas e movimentos mundiais. Esse raciocínio foi mediado pela perspectiva da fenomenologia cristã, e chegou-se à conclusão que existe plataforma verificável, pela qual Mestre Eckhart teria contribuição garantida para a espiritualidade nos dias de hoje.

The aim of this thesis is to define, develop, and defend an interpretation and application of the mystical ontology of Meister Eckhart. Briefly, mystical ontology should be understood as a distinctive theology insofar as it presents God's being, the being of the world, and the individual's being as an essentially unified whole. My research focus for this thesis will then be to situate Eckhart's theology within current debates on mysticism and amidst the post-Kantian philosophical turn toward ontology. The cumulative effort of this thesis will reach its height when I apply my conclusions on the mystical nature of being that can be found in Eckhart's medieval writings and transcriptions in order to address the modern, theological problem of secularity. This effort will be implemented with the objective of creating a space for dialogue between Christian theology and the generally secularized culture that, in part, defines the present age. In so doing, this thesis will demonstrate the philosophical and cultural relevance of this particular understanding of the nature of being when treating modern problems in theology. The guiding question for this thesis will be the following: what insights can Meister Eckhart's thought offer to theologians today in addressing the problem of secularity? My overall thesis will then be: the mystical ontology of Meister Eckhart can be interpreted and applied in a manner that successfully opens a space for constructive dialogue between secular culture and the presence of God in the world. Overall, this thesis should be read as a scholarly project on Eckhartian theology and its applicability toward productively treating the problem of secularity. All of my conclusions will be derived as a result of having been situated and argued for amidst current debates on relevant topics, as well as in relation to other major works that are indispensable for such a project. To be clear, my aim will not be to appropriate Eckhart's work and to assimilate it to a post-Kantian perspective. Rather, I will look to Eckhart for his clear and definitive theological statements. I will then interpret those statements and apply them in a manner that efficaciously engages specific principles of secularity in demarcating a common ground for dialogue.

This study aims to articulate on the basis of Jean-Luc Marion's philosophy a mystical interpretation of subjectivity. The first chapter follows Marion's reading of the history of metaphysics, in order to set-up the transcendental conditions of the mutual exclusion of God and the self. The second chapter takes up Marion's alternative to expand the field of philosophical rationality which metaphysics had limited. Marion proposes a phenomenology of givenness to overcome the limits of metaphysical thought. The final chapter attempts to establish a link between mysticism, understood in the specific sense of the primacy of the Good over Being, and the gifted, or the new figure of subjectivity. keywords : Jean-Luc Marion, history of metaphysics, phenomenology of givenness, saturated phenomenon, mystical theology

In this doctoral thesis, The Spirituality and Mysticism of Nature in the Early Franciscan Tradition, I have begun with an attempt to clarify the notions of spirituality and mysticism. The former, was seen as an approach to God embodied in outlook, practice and lifestyle, and the latter, mysticism, was defined as a felt awareness and knowledge of the presence of God. My hypothesis is that nature played a very important part in both the spirituality and mysticism of Saint Francis of Assisi, and in the spirituality of the movement he founded. In a systematic attempt to investigate my theme, I began with a study of the chief places associated with Francis. They present a kind of mirror of his soul and reveal, I believe, a good deal about his outlook and way of living. They tend to be remote and solitary places, often high in the mountains or near water, often desolate and harsh and usually beautiful, and what was later to become known as `romantic'. I turned then to the world of nature, beginning with the celestial bodies, sun, moon and the stars, and the elements of the sub-lunar world. The world of living things, fruits and flowers, animals, wild beasts and tame, fish and birds was examined. Nearly all the evidence here came from that collection of Franciscan stories and anecdotes which forms one of the great treasuries of stories in world literature. The fourth chapter was devoted to the poetry of Francis, above all to the Praises of God and The Canticle of the Creatures. After examining the circumstances of its composition, I took the stanzas one by one and examined them in the light of what they reveal of Francis spirituality and mysticism. The purpose of chapter five was to gather the fruits of my research and evaluate the hypothesis I proposed. I concluded that Francis, incorporated nature into his spirituality and mysticism in a very original way. I hold that Francis was a great nature mystic, and that his nature spirituality is still full of vigor and potential for the future. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / (D.Th. (Christian Spirituality))

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T19:20:24Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Roberto de Almeida Gallego.pdf: 1156322 bytes, checksum: aa2b5d51ff13d31ece07c61971797ce5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-11-07 / The object of the present doctoral thesis is to study the co-relation between theology and mystical theology in the works of the Russian philosopher and Orthodox theologian Paul Evdokimov (1901-1970). As a result of the Bolchevik Revolution, Paul Evdokimov, like many intellectuals of his generation, had to leave Russia and settled in France, where he lived and wrote, thus contributing significantly to the dissemination of the Orthodox Christianity in the West. By expounding with creative depth and unique sensitivity the treasures of his own religious tradition, Paul Evdokimov bequeathed to Orthodox Christians and Western men and women alike a legacy of profound insights into the human condition, which still preserves their vitality and freshness at the dawn of this new century. Initially, this study seeks to draw a biographical portrait of Paul Evdokimov and identify the main theoretical and existential references that helped shape his vision of the world. These references have a philosophical, theological and literary character. Furthermore, this study focuses on the critical fortune of Paul Evdokimov s works through the compilation and summarization of opinions from commentators of Evdokimov s oeuvre. The reader is presented sequentially with some characteristic traits of Orthodox Christianity. Finally, this study looks into the issues related to the evidence and validation of the knowledge of God from Paul Evdokimov s perspective, comparing such ideas to contributions arising from the epistemology of religion with regard to the so-called proof or arguments of God s existence. From all these elements, this study aims to demonstrate that to Paul Evdokimov, there is a fundamental indistinction between theology and mystical theology, namely, at the ultimate foundation that supports them, in that such indistinction can be traced in some of the dominant ideas prevalent in his oeuvre / A presente tese doutoral tem, por objetivo, estudar a correlação entre teologia e mística na obra de Paul Evdokimov (1901-1970), filósofo e teólogo ortodoxo russo, o qual, em virtude do advento da Revolução Bolchevique em sua terra natal, viu-se, juntamente com outros tantos intelectuais de sua geração, obrigado a deixá-la, fixando-se, então, na França, onde viveu e escreveu, contribuindo, significativamente, para a divulgação, no Ocidente, do cristianismo ortodoxo. Ao interpretar, com criatividade e sensibilidade invulgares, os tesouros de sua própria tradição religiosa, Paul Evdokimov legou, não só aos ortodoxos, mas também aos homens e mulheres de cultura ocidental, um acervo de profundas intuições a respeito da condição humana, que preserva a sua atualidade e o seu frescor, neste alvorecer de novo século. Com vistas ao cumprimento do escopo deste trabalho, buscou-se, inicialmente, esboçar o retrato biográfico do referido autor, assim como indicar os principais referenciais teóricos e existenciais que contribuíram para a formação de sua visão de mundo, referenciais, estes, de ordem filosófica, teológica e literária. Em seguida, cuidou-se de elaborar a fortuna crítica da obra de Paul Evdokimov, através da compilação e da sumarização das impressões que os principais comentadores da obra de Evdokimov têm desta. Sequencialmente, tentouse apresentar, ao leitor, alguns dos traços característicos do cristianismo ortodoxo. Por fim, a pesquisa se debruçou sobre a problemática relativa à evidência e à validação do conhecimento de Deus, a partir do pensamento de Paul Evdokimov, cotejando tais ideias com alguns aportes advindos da epistemologia da religião, bem como analisando a posição do mencionado autor com respeito às denominadas provas ou argumentos da existência de Deus. A partir de todos estes elementos, tentou-se demonstrar que, para Paul Evdokimov, vigora uma indistinção fundamental isto é, no nível do fundamento último que as sustenta entre teologia e mística, sendo que tal indistinção pode ser rastreada em algumas das ideias-força recorrentes em sua obra

In this doctoral thesis, The Spirituality and Mysticism of Nature in the Early Franciscan Tradition, I have begun with an attempt to clarify the notions of spirituality and mysticism. The former, was seen as an approach to God embodied in outlook, practice and lifestyle, and the latter, mysticism, was defined as a felt awareness and knowledge of the presence of God. My hypothesis is that nature played a very important part in both the spirituality and mysticism of Saint Francis of Assisi, and in the spirituality of the movement he founded. In a systematic attempt to investigate my theme, I began with a study of the chief places associated with Francis. They present a kind of mirror of his soul and reveal, I believe, a good deal about his outlook and way of living. They tend to be remote and solitary places, often high in the mountains or near water, often desolate and harsh and usually beautiful, and what was later to become known as `romantic'. I turned then to the world of nature, beginning with the celestial bodies, sun, moon and the stars, and the elements of the sub-lunar world. The world of living things, fruits and flowers, animals, wild beasts and tame, fish and birds was examined. Nearly all the evidence here came from that collection of Franciscan stories and anecdotes which forms one of the great treasuries of stories in world literature. The fourth chapter was devoted to the poetry of Francis, above all to the Praises of God and The Canticle of the Creatures. After examining the circumstances of its composition, I took the stanzas one by one and examined them in the light of what they reveal of Francis spirituality and mysticism. The purpose of chapter five was to gather the fruits of my research and evaluate the hypothesis I proposed. I concluded that Francis, incorporated nature into his spirituality and mysticism in a very original way. I hold that Francis was a great nature mystic, and that his nature spirituality is still full of vigor and potential for the future. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / (D.Th. (Christian Spirituality))

Cotutelle de thèse: PhD en philosophie par la Faculté de Philosophie de l’Université de Strasbourg et PhD en sciences des religions par l'Institut d’études religieuses de l'Université de Montréal. / Le réel, compris comme un impossible à signifier, apparait comme le point sur lequel philosophes, théologiens et psychanalystes achoppent quand ils lisent le récit d'une expérience mystique. En fait, la mystique se présente pour eux comme un réel, soit un impossible à maitriser par le langage. Pourtant les écrits de Thérèse d’Avila montrent que l’expérience mystique, au contraire, a un lien étroit avec le réel. Pour cerner ce qui, du réel, est en jeu dans ce qui, pour un mystique, constitue une expérience spirituelle singulière, nous nous appuierons d'une part sur le travail de Freud autour de la notion de trace et sur la façon dont Lacan a développé le concept de réel. D'autre part, il s'agira de mettre en perspective une théologie mystique chez Thérèse. Cette double approche marquée par l’attention à ce qui fait frontière entre le sens et le hors sens permettra d'aborder l’écriture comme un support matériel nécessaire pour reconnaitre les traces de l’émergence du réel. Cela nous permettra de postuler que le réel peut être lu comme une condition de possibilité d’existence de l’expérience mystique. À cet effet, Thérèse de Jésus sera convoquée à la fois comme mystique, soit comme celle qui a vécu une expérience avec Dieu, et à la fois comme théologienne, soit comme celle qui a réfléchi à cette expérience. Pour être en mesure de lire cette expérience vécue comme un impossible à représenter, nous nous servirons de la manière dont Freud et Lacan ont développé un savoir autour de ce réel, lu comme Dieu dans la mystique. Mais, là où Freud considérait le spirituel comme relevant du pulsionnel, Lacan définit l’expérience mystique à partir du champ de la jouissance, en l’inscrivant dans le champ de la logique signifiante dont le réel est un produit. Cela nous amènera à réinterpréter la trace inscrite dans le corps comme une dimension du réel qui résiste à la symbolisation du corps parlant. Ce rapport entre le signifiant et le réel permet de reconnaitre les savoirs psychanalytiques et mystiques comme un savoir-faire avec ce qui relève de l’impossible. Dans le cas de Thérèse, ce réel prend la forme du Dieu-Trinitaire comme vérité. Cependant, indiquer cette vérité ne lui suffit pas, car ce qui est en jeu dans cette expérience est vivre l’union avec ce Dieu qui ex-siste au langage. Le savoir-faire avec le réel en devient une conséquence possible, voire une grâce. / The real, understood as something impossible to signify, appears to be the point at which philosophers, theologians, and psychoanalysts stumble when they read an account of mystical experience. In fact, mysticism is presented as an impossible real to master through language. Yet, the writing of Teresa of Avila shows that mystical experience, on the contrary, has a close link with the real. To illuminate what of the real is at stake in what, for a mystic, constitutes a singular spiritual experience, we can look to Freud's work on the notion of trace and to the way in which Lacan developed the concept of the real to gain perspective of the mystical theology of Teresa. This dual approach, marked by attention to the boundary between the tangible and the intangible, makes it possible to consider these works as necessary material support for discerning emergent traces of the real. This allows us to postulate that real can be read as a condition of the possibility for the existence of the mystical experience. Thus, Teresa de Avila will be invoked as both a mystic, one who has lived an experience with God, and as a theologian, one who has also pondered this experience. To be able to understand this lived experience as impossible to represent, we can use the way Freud and Lacan discussions concerning the real, read here as God in mysticism. Yet, Freud considered the spiritual to be part of impulse, whereas Lacan defines the mystical experience in the field of jouissance, inscribing it in the field of signifying logic, of which the real is a product. This leads us to reinterpret the trace inscribed in the body as a dimension of real that resists the symbolic representation of the subject. This relationship between the signifier and the real makes it possible to recognize psychoanalytical and mystical knowledge as a kind of “know-how” of what is impossible. In the case of Teresa of Avila, the real takes the form of the Trinity as truth. To indicate this truth, however, is not enough for her, for what is at stake in this experience is living in union with God who ex-sist in language. In this case, the “know-how” with the real become possibly consequential, even a blessing.

Evangelicalism in western Canada was fuelled by fundamentalist theology and devotion which evolved in this region during the early twentieth century. Generally, Canadian evangelical theologians have focused on the historical and theological implications of evangelicalism within this area. Due to the nature of evangelical theology, which is governed by reason and the defense of truth and dogma, this Christian movement in the west ignored by default concepts connected to mystical theology. This thesis researches a question which has not had an adequate response within evangelical theological tradition, primarily as a result of its disregard for mystical theology. The issue of concern in this thesis is the nature of the process of sanctification of the soul, and particularly, the purpose of the silence of God during this time. Questions to be addressed are: `what is the nature of spiritual transformation?', `what transpires in the soul of the person?' and `what is the role of the `dark night' and the `silence of God' during this experience?' This research responds with an explanation to the underlying cause for the inability of evangelical spirituality in the Canadian west to respond to this issue. It also provides a plausible resolution to the problem which is embedded in the literature of John of the Cross, a sixteenth century Spanish mystic. / CHR SPIRIT, CHURCHIST, MISS / DTH (CHR SPIRIT)