Christian mysticism

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Mysticism is the philosophy and practice of a direct experience of God. In the Christian context this is usually practiced through prayer, meditation and contemplation. Christians believe that God dwells in all Christians through the Holy Spirit, and therefore all Christians can experience God directly.

Biblical foundations

The tradition of Christian Mysticism is as old as Christianity itself. Two texts from the New Testament set up themes that recur throughout the recorded thought of the Christian mystics. The first, Galatians 2:20, says that:

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (KJV)

The second important Scriptural text for Christian mysticism is 1 John 3:2:

Beloved, now we are the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

The two large themes of Christian mysticism are a total identification with, or imitation of Christ, to achieve a total unity of will between the spirit of God and the human soul; and of the perfect vision of God, in which the mystic seeks to understand Him "as he is," and no more "through a glass, darkly." (1 Corinthians 13:12)

Christian mystics

Some examples of Christian mystics:

St. John the Apostle (? -101)
Clement of Alexandria (? -216)
St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430)
St. Gregory I (590-604)
Saint Anselm (1033-1109)
Hugh of Saint Victor (10961141)
St. Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179)
Mechtild of Magdeburg (1210-1279)
Meister Eckhart (c. 1260 - 1327/8)
St. Gregory Palamas (1296 - 1359)
St. Bridget of Sweden (1302-1373)
Julian of Norwich (1342-c.1416)
Margery Kempe (c.1373-1438)
Paracelsus (1493-1541)
St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)
St. John of the Cross (1542-1591)
Jakob Boehme (1575-1624)
Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682)
Sarah Wight (1632-?)
Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772)
William Blake (1757-1827)
Anna Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824)
Jakob Lorber (1800 - 1864)
Max Heindel (1865 - 1919)
Thomas Merton (1915-1968)
Thomas Keating (1923-?)

Bibliography

Bernard McGinn: The Growth of Mysticism

Evelyn Underhill: Mysticism

Classics

St. John of the Cross: The Ascent on Mount Carmel

St. Teresa: The interior Castle

Meister Eckhart: German and Latin sermons

Jan van Ruysbroeck: The adornment of spiritual marriage

Anon.: The Cloud of Unknowing

Anon.: Theologia Germanica

St.Ignatius Loyola: Spiritual exercises

William Law: Works

Heinrich Suso: The Book of eternal wisdom

Thomas à Kempis: On the Imitation of Christ

Jackob Lorber: The Great Gospel of John

See Also


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