Friday, September 21, 2007

The Dominican mystic, Meister Eckhart, was active in the Rhineland in the early part of the 14th century. Your reading for today is relatively short, so I'm going to ask you to look at this entry about him in the Catholic Encyclopedia, and an analysis of mysticism from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. This latter reading prints out to 33 pages long on my browser, so I'm going to ask you to focus on sections 1 through 4, and not try to read beyond that point unless you have a special desire to do so. In reading the selections from Eckhart's sermons, be sure to note the passages of scripture that are reproduced at the top of each one in small print. It's easy not to see these texts, yet they are the basis for the sermons. Come to class prepared to discuss the following:

• What is mysticism? In what ways is Eckhart a mystic?
• Why were some of Eckhart's teachings problematic for the church during and even after his lifetime? There are two terms in particular that you should know: antinomianism and autotheism. The first signifies the belief that once one has achieved union with God, one no longer needs to be concerned with ordinary morality. The second refers to the idea that a person can become so identified with God that that person becomes God, thus undermining the distinction between God and creation. Do you see evidence of either of these positions in Eckhart's sermons for today?
• Is Margery Kempe a mystic? Compare her spirituality with what Eckhart is admonishing in his sermons.
• Comment on Eckhart's statement on p. 8 of your excerpts: "If the soul is to know God it must forget itself and lose itself, for as long as it contemplates self, it cannot contemplate God."
• We have heard a lot about devotion to Mary in this class. What concept of Mary emerges from Eckhart's third sermon? Compare his discourse on Mary with Margery's.
• What is sanctification?
• What does Eckhart mean at the bottom of p. 17 when he writes, "God from all eternity saw everything that would happen, and also when, and how He would make all creatures"?
• Ponder Eckhart's discussion of Grace in sermon VII, which is the last of your readings. What role does it play?

That's it! Soon we will get into the Protestant reform itself, and be reading Luther. Some say that Luther was influenced by Eckhart's mysticism, yet one might also contest that in no way was Luther a mystic. We will see.

Laurel Carrington carringt@stolaf.edu
Most recent update: September 19, 2007

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