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The curious case of the marginalized mystics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 March 2023

Thomas Williams*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA

Abstract

Given that the more apophatic strand of mysticism resonates more with the way contemporary philosophers are apt to think about mystical experience, the fact that apophatic mysticism was a bit of a fringe enterprise in the Middle Ages calls for explanation. The explanations that are suggested within the pages of Christina Van Dyke's A Hidden Wisdom are not typically historical-contextual explanations, but theological ones. This article examines apophatic mysticism in terms of three of the standard theological loci: creation, Incarnation, and Trinity. In each case we will find that some of the characteristic claims of the apophatic mystics are so much at odds with the mainstream of Christian theology that the mystery is not so much their being marginalized but rather their being largely tolerated.

Type
Book Symposium
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

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References

Berkeley, G (1982) Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge. Winkler K (ed.). Indianapolis: Hackett.Google Scholar
Van Dyke, C (2022) A Hidden Wisdom: Medieval Contemplatives on Self-Knowledge, Reason, Love, Persons, and Immortality. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/oso/9780198861683.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar