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As Brunner’s choice to introduce his argument with Luther’s words suggests, the Wittenberg Reformer’s opinion on mysticism (as with so many of Luther’s opinions) cast a long shadow. 28 Luther, it is true, read many of the texts now considered “classics” of the mystical canon—texts by Dionysius the Areopagite, Bernard of Clairvaux, Bonaventure, Jean Gerson, the (anonymous) Theologia deutsch, and Johannes Tauler 29 — but his relationship to these medieval authors is perhaps best characterized as ambivalent. Common features between these mystical texts and his own writings are counterbalanced by the elements that Luther either rejects or transforms so greatly as to make a break with the medieval sources. 30 For instance, Luther reports reading Tauler’s sermons with avid Wahrheit und darum als unser innerstes Wesen glauben, das ist das Teilhaben an Gott, von dem allein evangelische Gotteserkenntnis etwas weiß und wissen will.” Brunner, 6. 28 The literature on the mutual exclusivity of mysticism and Protestantism is voluminous. See for instance Oberman; Alois M. Haas, “Luther und die Mystik,” Deutsche Vierteljahrsschrift für Literaturwissenschaft und Geistesgeschichte, (60:2): Bernard McGinn, "‘Vere tu es deus absconditus’: The Hidden God in Luther and Some Mystics," in Silence and the Word: Negative Theology and Incarnation (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), 94-114; Steven E. Ozment, “Eckhart and Luther: German Mysticism and Protestantism,” The Thomist 42 (1978): 259-280; Ozment, Homo Spiritualis: A Comparative Study of the Anthropology of Johannes Tauler, Jean Gerson and Martin Luther (1509-1516) in the Context of their Theological Thought, (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1969); Paul Rorem, “Martin Luther's Christocentric Critique of Pseudo-Dionysian Spirituality,” Lutheran Quarterly (11): 291-307; Denys Turner, The Darkness of God: Negativity in Christian Mysticism, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995). 29 Heiko Oberman, The Dawn of the Reformation: Essays in Late Medieval and Early Reformation Thought (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1986), 140. Oberman points out that it is not clear that Luther even thought of them collectively as “mystical” authors belonging to a coherent body of thought, the category of mysticism being a much later invention. Consequently, Luther could be said to have had no opinion on mysticism per se, but rather only on the individual writers. Luther describes, for instance, a “mystical sermon” by Tauler, presumably to distinguish it from Tauler’s non-mystical sermons (Ibid., 140-141). 30 A number of scholars have argued that, on the contrary, there are many mystical elements in Luther. Berndt Hamm, for instance, argues that “Luthers ausgereifte Theologie, die man im Vollsinn des Wortes als ‘reformtorische’ bezeichnen kann, hat nicht nur eine mystische Seite oder Dimension und rezipiert nicht nur traditionelle mystische Motive, Bilder und Begriffe, sondern zeigt in ihrer Gesamtkomposition mystischen Charackter.” (Hamm, “Wie mystisch,” 242.) However, Hamm then states that his argument depends on his redefinition of mysticism, a specifically Reformation faith-mysticism: “Man wird sich umgekehrt darauf einlassen müssen, bei Luther einem neuen Typ von Mystik, einer reformatorischen Glaubensmystik, zu begegnen, so wie es im Mittelalter wiederholt frappierende Neuaufbrüche der Mystik gab.” (Ibid, 243.) In particular, Hamm suggests that an inability to see that Luther’s theology is fundamentally mystical is due to a view of mysticism that relies too strongly on Dionysius and Meister Eckhart. That Hamm argues for a constantly evolving mysticism, rather than a universal or transhistorical one, is interesting; however, Hamm is asking a different question (whether Luther pioneered a new kind of mysticism) than mine (how Luther related to medieval negative theology). Berndt Hamm, “Wie mystisch war der Glaube Luthers?,” Gottes Nähe unmittelbar erfahren: Mystik im Mittelalter und bei Martin Luther, edited by Berndt Hamm and Volker Leppin (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2007), 242-243. See also Carl E. 10
interest, 31 and praised the Theologia Deutsch for being more sound than scholastic theology, 32 while at the same time rejecting the idea of the Seelenfunke (synteresis)—so crucial to Tauler’s theology and anthropology—that leads the soul to union with God. 33 Likewise, Luther praised Dionysius for articulating a negative theology that seemed to coincide with his view of God’s hiddenness, but then sharply criticized the same writer for his presumptuous speculations that seem to bypass (or to simply ignore) the crucified Christ. 34 As important as Luther was for Protestantism, the fate of medieval mystical writers in the early modern era does not begin and end with him. Widening the scope of research on the sixteenth century in Germany, in particular to take in the comparatively neglected second half of that century, shows that mystical texts did indeed find many passionate readers, both in orthodox and heterodox contexts, as we will see in Chapters 1 (in the case of Eckhart) and 3 (in that of Dionysius). Furthermore, much of the previous scholarship on Protestant mysticism has proceeded by designating a certain set of ideas or motifs as mystical (elevated as paradigmatic), and then trying to detect the presence or absence of these ideas in texts written by Protestants. This approach does not do justice to the complexity of the source text, whose ideas appear as a simplistic caricature or Braaten and Robert W. Jenson, Union with Christ: The New Finnish Interpretation of Luther, (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1998); Bengt R. Hoffman, Luther and the Mystics: A Re-examination of Luther’s Spiritual Experience and His Relationship to the Mystics, (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1976). 31 Steven Ozment, The Age of Reform: 1250-1550, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1980), 239; Bernd Moeller, “Tauler und Luther”, La mystique rhénane, (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1963), 159. 32 Martin Luther, The Theolgia Germanica of Martin Luther, ed. and transl. Bengt Hoffman, (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1980), 53-54. 33 Steven E. Ozment, Homo Spiritualis: A Comparative Study of the Anthropology of Johannes Tauler, Jean Gerson and Martin Luther (1509-16) in the Context of their Theological Thought (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1969), 214-215. See also Chapter 3 of this dissertation. 34 Paul Rorem, "Luther's Christocentric Critique," 291-292. 11
Page 1 and 2: MYSTICISM & CONFESSIONAL CONFLICT I
Page 3 and 4: ABSTRACT This dissertation investig
Page 5 and 6: INTRODUCTION • ES IST DIR NICHT B
Page 7 and 8: mostly undisturbed by his Lutheran
Page 9 and 10: yet have signalled his assent with
Page 11 and 12: in a context where action is expect
Page 13: Protestant Mysticism: Not a Contrad
Page 17 and 18: one can observe the texture of the
Page 19 and 20: discourse and reasoned debate, or t
Page 21 and 22: with fragments of Eckhart and Taule
Page 23 and 24: Dionysius and Eckhart (for differen
Page 25 and 26: movement, but also profound shifts
Page 27 and 28: schools, as well as universities wh
Page 29 and 30: allowed them to cooperate effective
Page 31 and 32: made clear, would result in dismiss
Page 33 and 34: and in these external dealings, the
Page 35 and 36: same laws of physics, but while the
Page 37 and 38: Tertullian’s De Fuga in Persecuti
Page 39 and 40: as a martyr. Moreover, Holy Scriptu
Page 41 and 42: Alternatively, the so-called four-f
Page 43 and 44: tzeyger und unterrichter ist ynn di
Page 45 and 46: fellow Lutherans in studying books
Page 47 and 48: provoked into action unnecessarily,
Page 49 and 50: masses for the dead (for instance)
Page 51 and 52: traditional proof texts about the o
Page 53 and 54: positive understandings of indiffer
Page 55 and 56: insofar as their imperfection is ra
Page 57 and 58: Of these forms of indifference, I f
Page 59 and 60: to Dionysius’ authority. Two grou
Page 61 and 62: PART I • VALENTIN WEIGEL AND MEIS
Page 63 and 64: investigating his early modern read
Page 65 and 66:
was a devilish heretic to others (
Page 67 and 68:
his neglect of Eckhart. 158 For ins
Page 69 and 70:
“unheilvolle Kompliziertheit”).
Page 71 and 72:
and Jerome (wearing what looks like
Page 73 and 74:
title page, as mentioned above, des
Page 75 and 76:
of a respectable though not fanatic
Page 77 and 78:
himself, but rather cultivated part
Page 79 and 80:
church that Luther, Melanchthon and
Page 81 and 82:
kan”), and specifically the role
Page 83 and 84:
soul become convinced that nothing
Page 85 and 86:
that salvation can be attained thro
Page 87 and 88:
more importantly, a theology that a
Page 89 and 90:
Mit Recht der Meister genannt: Mode
Page 91 and 92:
These role-reversal dialogues were
Page 93 and 94:
As this chapter has shown, Eckhart
Page 95 and 96:
philosophers from Hegel and Schopen
Page 97 and 98:
CHAPTER 2 • GELASSENE GELASSENHEI
Page 99 and 100:
the relationship between Tauler and
Page 101 and 102:
e “as it was when it was not.”
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Eckhart agree that spiritual povert
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one-of-a-kind thing, or the best ki
Page 107 and 108:
einvaltig stille), an uncreated lig
Page 109 and 110:
e as free of willing and desiring a
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nestling inside the soul, but rathe
Page 113 and 114:
Gelassenheit, das ist, das er nicht
Page 115 and 116:
(necessarily inferior) knowledge pr
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context is that he picks up on Eckh
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he begins to steer the discussion a
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further proof for Weigel’s theory
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understood that the mind cannot pos
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wait in stiller Gelassenheit, recei
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truth as an educated theologian or
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ungewisser”) and finds that his f
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die Blinden an ein ander gehetzett,
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gesagett das ist er selber und ist
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Gelassenheit for the Bible, which i
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that the kind of Gelassenheit Weige
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indifference that allows Weigel to
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teacher. 366 However, the turning p
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Weigel gives the passage an unexpec
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Murren”)—and they do this “in
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and all the more so since he saw li
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the strength of the intellectual re
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CHAPTER 3 • DIONYSIUS, WHOEVER HE
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demonstrated for Eckhart, I will de
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destroyer that Dionysius is most of
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ears good news to the church.” 39
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points out, with a purification, a
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served as cornerstones in defences
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(Acts 17: 15-34), one of the skepti
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to make the interpretation of these
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Outside the universities, Dionysius
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defiled the “sacred things” by
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other leaders of the Protestant Ref
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valorization of hierarchy per se in
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as well as the with the arguments u
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freedom, but rather obedience. 468
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The primary piece in the compilatio
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It is hardly surprising that Cochla
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it does during the Council of Trent
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for a hierarchical church, seizing
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the ancient teaching”) that “be
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Dionysiacum. For Lefèvre d’Étap
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Aristotle would have been glad to h
Page 193 and 194:
enlightens all great thinkers in ev
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offered Dionysius to the Gelehrtenr
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nine distinct editions of Dionysius
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editions of Greek and Latin classic
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(Turin), and is a reprint of Lefèv
Page 203 and 204:
presses in Spain (his first publica
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growing body of evidence suggesting
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Weigel concludes that, precisely be
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apart, he suggested that true Chris
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and so did not dwell on the fact th
Page 213 and 214:
Names, as the title suggests, is ba
Page 215 and 216:
animals, through plants and non-liv
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of being.” 580 As we will see lat
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(“God is a rock”) or even a neg
Page 221 and 222:
This is admittedly a nonsensical as
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compositions, most likely dating to
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Dionysius to show that, just as God
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efer to Greek and Hebrew, the bibli
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argues that there cannot be more th
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dicitur una.” 616 The stress that
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Weigel suggests will allow the soul
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saving sacraments by means of which
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Melanchthon’s Defence of the Augs
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alternative—namely prayer. 643 We
Page 241 and 242:
Dionysius writes that the summit of
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leibet er illimitatus.” 658 Weige
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work, Weigel had written explicitly
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Luther did not ever use the exact p
Page 249 and 250:
as opposed to an office-holder, an
Page 251 and 252:
writing. By calling his Layman der
Page 253 and 254:
Others are loyal to mere men (the P
Page 255 and 256:
zuerzeigen einen rechtschaffen vnd
Page 257 and 258:
and ceremonial ones at that. 694 Th
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himself returning gloriously from H
Page 261 and 262:
all being. In relinquishing any cre
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improve appearances but, because it
Page 265 and 266:
than resolve it, because the proble
Page 267 and 268:
parcels God, who by rights is supre
Page 269 and 270:
Appendix • The Works of Valentin
Page 271 and 272:
BIBLIOGRAPHY Abad, J. M. (1999). Th
Page 273 and 274:
Chenu O.P., M.-D. (1968). In M.-D.
Page 275 and 276:
Eckhart, M. (1993). Werke I (Vol. 1
Page 277 and 278:
Israel, A. (1888). M. Valentin Weig
Page 279 and 280:
MacCulloch, D. (2010). Christianity
Page 281 and 282:
Payne, R. J. (Ed.). (1981). Meister
Page 283 and 284:
Schindling, A., & Ziegler, W. (1990
Page 285 and 286:
Verkamp, B. J. (1975). The Limits u
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