Christian Mysticism

Catalog description

The course centers on the mystical theology of Christian religion. The main texts will be the Bible and primary texts from the tradition of Christian mystical writings. With an eye on discerning the internal logic of Christianity as a whole (not just its doctrines but it rituals and spiritual disciplines too), the course begins with a reflection on a paradigm of Christian theology that emphasizes the ?iconic? nature of God-talk; this paradigm views theological words and ideas as the ?letters? that seek to express the spiritual reality of God?s ineffable mystery without reducing it to a verbal or conceptual idol. This is the essence of written testimonies to mystical experience in the Christian tradition. The mystical and the esoteric are necessary for understanding the doctrinal and exoteric truth claims in the entirety of the Christian tradition. As one illustration, the course applies this paradigm of ?iconic? writing as a lens for interpreting the development of classical Christological and Trinitarian doctrine, as well as the development of the theology of grace. Finally it examines several primary texts by spiritual-mystical theologians from the tradition. Overall the focus of the course is on the symbiosis of Christian mysticism and a Christological-Trinitarian doctrine of God. The course will include writings by authors such as Origen, Athanasius, Gregory of Nyssa, Augustine, John Cassian, Maximus the Confessor, Richard of St. Victor, Anselm, Bernard of Clairvaux, Bonaventure, Meister Eckhart, John Ruusbroec, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, and Francis de Sales.