Christian mysticism - Definition and Overview

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)

St. 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)

St. Julian of Norwich (1342-c.1416)

St. Margery Kempe (c.1373-1438)

St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)

St. John of the Cross (1542-1591)

St. Jakob Boehme (1575-1624)

Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682)

George Fox (1624-1691)

Sarah Wight (1632-?)

Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772)

John Woolman (1720-1772)

William Blake (1757-1827)

Anna Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824)

St. Jakob Lorber (1800 - 1864)

Max Heindel (1865 - 1919)

St. Thomas Merton (1915-1968)

St. 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
• George Fox: The Journal
• Heinrich Suso: The Book of eternal wisdom
• Thomas à Kempis: On the Imitation of Christ
• Jackob Lorber: The Great Gospel of John

See also

• Mysticism
• Quietism

External links

• Mysticism (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10663b.htm) in Catholic Encyclopedia (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/)
• Who's Who in the History of Mysticism (http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/gthursby/mys/whoswho.htm) by Professor Bruce B. Janz
• ChristianMystics.com (http://www.christianmystics.com/) includes many short essays covering various aspects of Christian mysticism
• Alphabetical List of Mystics (http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/gthursby/mys/alpha.htm)
• Christian Mysticism (http://www.digiserve.com/mystic/Christian/)
• Evelyn Underhill's classic work (http://www.ccel.org/u/underhill/mysticism/mysticism1.0-MYSTICIS.html) A Study in the Nature and Development of Spiritual Consciousness
• Mysticism in World Religions (http://www.digiserve.com/mystic/index.html)

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