Mysticism and/as Love Theory
Edited by M. De Kesel Edited by A. Poirters
Mysticism is all about love. The mystical canon testifies in various ways to its authors’ extensive and diversified thinking on their intense spiritual love lives. And these reflections all have their elaborate, subtle theories of love. It is from this perspective that the contributions to this volume approach several important works in the Christian mystical tradition, from the Seven Ways of Minne by Beatrice of Nazareth, via Novalis’s Hymns to the Night, to the Prologue by Simone Weil. These writings are examined for their specific theoretical schemes and backgrounds.
Mysticism is all about love. Mystics love God and want to get in touch with Him. To this end, they follow a tortuous path through the intimacy of their own souls, driven by desire. The Lord may not be the easiest of lovers, but this does not prevent them from longing for Him. In fact, his perceived absence, physical and even mental, makes their love burn all the fiercer. And this burning love is far from thoughtless. The difficulty of loving God is precisely one of the main reasons why mystics have always felt the need to reflect profoundly upon their relationship with Him. The mystical canon testifies in various ways to its authors’ extensive and diversified thinking on their intense spiritual love lives. And these reflections all have their elaborate, subtle theories of love. It is from this perspective that the contributions to this volume approach several important works in the Christian mystical tradition, from the Seven Ways of Minne by Beatrice of Nazareth, via Novalis’s Hymns to the Night, to the Prologue by Simone Weil. These writings are examined for their specific theoretical schemes and backgrounds. At the same time, the question is also dealt with how the theory and the experience of love relate to one another in these texts. Investigations of the reflections on this topic by modern thinkers like Jean-Paul Sartre and Michel Foucault round off this exploration of mysticism and its love theories.
- Edited by M. De Kesel
- Edited by A. Poirters
Other Titles in this Series
Spiritual Awakening
The Hidden Key to Peace and Security, Just and Sustainable Economics, A Responsible European Union
Volume 16
Seeing the Seeker. Explorations in the Discipline of Spirituality
A Festschrift for Kees Waaijman on the Occasion of his 65th Birthday
Volume 19
Modernity, Melancholy and Predestination
Cultural Historical, Philosophical and Psychoanalytical Perspectives on the Modern Religious Subject
Volume 33
Dialogical Transformation
Exploring Avenues of Interreligious Dialogue as a Practice Promoting Spiritual Growth
Volume 25
The Spiritual Tradition in Eastern Christianity
Ascetic Psychology, Mystical Experience, and Physical Practices
Volume 26
Seeing Marguerite in the Mirror
A Linguistic Analysis of Porete's «Mirror of Simple Souls»
Volume 21
Being Seen in God
(Human Hiddenness and) Kierkegaard’s Call to Gaze in the Mirror of the Word
Volume 29
Jacob Frank’s ‘Book of the Words of the Lord’
Mystical Automythography, Religious Nihilism and the Messianic Vision of Freedom as a Realizationof Myth and Metaphor
Volume 31
Similar Books
A Companion to Christianity and Sport in Europe and North America (19th-21st centuries)
Volume 1: Western and Eastern Europe
A Connecting Polemic in the Medieval Mediterranean
The Correspondence of Leo III and ʿUmar II
Volume 6
Ars Prophetica
Theology in the Poetry of Twentieth-Century Hebrew Poets Avraham Halfi, Shin Shalom, Amir Gilboa, and T. Carmi
As Messianism Turns to Heresy
The Regenstein Chair Lectures On Lurianic Kabbalah and Shabbatai Tzevi at Hebrew Union College - Cincinnati
Creating the Woman in Antiquity
Proceedings of the 16th Melammu Workshop, Innsbruck, 2–3 June 2022
Volume 13
Cultic Kisses
Fruitful Encounters Between Deities and Humans. Festschrift for Angelika Berlejung on the Occasion of Her 65th Birthday
De/colonizing Theologies
Glocal Histories, Contemporary Challenges, Theoretical Reflections
Volume 4
Drunk the Potion, No Whit Charmed
The Doctrine of Pure and Perfect Souls from Iamblichus to Damascius
Extracanonical Traditions and the Holy Land
Texts, Rituals, and Material Culture in Late Antique Palestine
Fear, Fear of God, God-Fearers
Philological and Historical Perspectives on the World of Ancient Judaism and Christianity
Gender and Iconography in Antiquity
Femininities, Masculinities, Ambiguities, and Beyond in the Ancient Levant, Near East, and Mediterranean
