German mysticism

Part of a series on
Christian mysticism
Mysticism Catholic spirituality
Theologies · Philosophies Apophatic Ascetical Cataphatic Hellenistic Mystical Neoplatonic
Practices Asceticism Contemplation Hesychasm Lectio Divina Meditation Monasticism Theosis
People by era or century
Early Christianity Origen Gregory of Nyssa Pseudo-Dionysius Desert Fathers Paul of Thebes Anthony the Great Arsenius the Great Poemen Macarius of Egypt Moses the Black Syncletica Athanasius John Chrysostom Hilarion John Cassian 11th · 12th Bernard of Clairvaux Guigo II Hildegard of Bingen Hadewijch 13th · 14th Dominican Dominic de Guzmán Franciscan Francis of Assisi Anthony of Padua Bonaventure Jacopone da Todi Angela of Foligno English Richard Rolle Walter Hilton Julian of Norwich Flemish Beatrice of Nazareth John of Ruysbroeck German Meister Eckhart Johannes Tauler Henry Suso Female Beatrice of Nazareth Bridget of Sweden Catherine of Siena 15th · 16th Spanish Ignatius of Loyola Francisco de Osuna John of Ávila Teresa of Ávila John of the Cross Others Catherine of Genoa 17th · 18th French Pierre de Bérulle Jean-Jacques Olier Louis de Montfort Others María de Ágreda Anne Catherine Emmerich Veronica Giuliani Francis de Sales 19th Catherine Labouré Mélanie Calvat Maximin Giraud Bernadette Soubirous Conchita de Armida Luisa Piccarreta Mary of the Divine Heart Thérèse of Lisieux Gemma Galgani 20th Pio of Pietrelcina Maria Valtorta Therese Neumann Marthe Robin Adrienne von Speyr Alexandrina of Balazar Faustina Kowalska Sister Lúcia of Fátima Thomas Merton
Contemporary Papal views Aspects of meditation (Orationis Formas, 1989) Reflection on the New Age (2003)

German mysticism, sometimes called Dominican mysticism or Rhineland mysticism, was a late medieval Christian mystical movement that was especially prominent within the Dominican order and in Germany. Although its origins can be traced back to Hildegard of Bingen, it is mostly represented by Meister Eckhart, Johannes Tauler, and Henry Suso. Other notable figures include Rulman Merswin and Margaretha Ebner, and the Friends of God.

This movement often seems to stand in stark contrast with scholasticism and German Theology, but the relationship between scholasticism and German mysticism is debated. Viewed as a predecessor of the reformation, the contrast becomes very apparent. For example, the use of an approachable vernacular stands in stark contrast to the constrained Latin of the Scholastics, the increased focus on the laity stands in contrast to the more deeply sacramental understanding of the Church, and these elements are both taken up and transformed in the writings of Martin Luther. German mysticism can also be viewed as a practical application of Scholasticism. Though Meister Eckhart is most well known for his popular German sermons, he also wrote a lengthy philosophical exposition of the same teachings in Latin. Some scholars have read him as a rather orthodox Thomist, seeing his mysticism as flowing naturally from established teachings through Eckhart's own idiosyncrasies and exaggerations.

Some of the movement's characteristics:

• A focus on laymen as well as clerics
• An emphasis on instruction and preaching
• Downplaying ascetism
• A focus on the New Testament rather than the Old Testament
• A focus on the Christ rather than the Church
• A use of the vernacular (German and Dutch) rather than Latin or Hebrew

Some in the movement came under criticism by the Church for heterodox or heretical opinions.

It influenced the following Protestant Reformation, as well as philosophers such as Schopenhauer and Wittgenstein.

See also

• Ariosophy, a völkisch movement originating in the late 19th century, inspired in part by the Rhineland mystics but also by Germanic paganism and Theosophy
• Jakob Böhme, a later Lutheran mystic
• Catharism
• Christian mystics
• Henry Denifle, a 19th-century Austrian scholar who devoted much work to the German mystics
• Doctrines of Meister Eckhart
• Nicholas of Cusa
• Paracelsus
• Theologia Germanica, an anonymous text associated with the Friends of God
• Waldensians

External links

• The New Mysticism
• Relationship with protestantism
• Meister Eckhart & the German Dominican Mystics of the 14th Century
• Jacob Boehme Online