Mysticism+Article+3

//Focus: //This paper interprets Meister Eckhart’s mysticism as an integral part of a carefully worked out metaphysical scheme and as a theological response to the popular religious piety and the socio-economic expansion that transformed Medieval European society. Evidence || Main Idea ||
 * Article Analysis: Mysticism, Poverty and Reason in the Thought of Meister Eckhart, Linge, David E, Journal of the American Academy of Religion Vol. 46 No. 4 (Dec 1978) pp. 465-488, Oxford Press University **

Eckhart’s Influence || Eckhart’s concept of poverty understood as a dissenting religious response to the effects of material prosperity on society. (465)

Theology of Eckhart breaks with that of Auguatinian and Thomistic traditions. (465) || Meister Eckhart was the first major Christian thinker whose writings reflect the impact of monastic ideals. (465) ||

Culture of Medieval Christianity || Liturgy, patterns of Christian life, experience, and religious expectations of Christians were all derived from monastic context. (466)

Elements of monastic spirituality, such as the desire for direct personal experience of God, were carried over into lay movements forming the basis for mysticism(467)

Benedict’s insistence that monks own nothing was an affirmation of the Christian conviction that renunciation of worldly goods is the gateway to love of God and purification of self.(468) || One of the fundamental and most pervasive features of medieval Christian culture, popularized by monastic ideals, was the distinction between religious and secular life. (466) ||

Eckhart’s Teaching || Desert, wilderness, darkness, and nothing are all terms he uses to point to God. Eckhart declares that in its fullness, the Godhead “overflows” and becomes manifest. (474)

Eckhart has no real interest in developing a cosmological scheme. Rather, his efforts remained confined to the more Augustinian problematic of knowing God and the soul. (474)

The theology of Eckhart draws generously on those of Pseudo-Dionysus. (475) || The center of Eckhart’s teaching is the possibility of the individual Christian experiencing union with God, and the importance of poverty as the means for mystical experience. (470) ||

Eckhart’s Legacy || His daring sermons were the ideal means of disseminating his doctrine of poverty. (482)

Eckhart’s influence on the development of Devotio Moderna as well as the Friends of God is well documented.(482) || In Strassburg and Cologne, Eckhart was the most powerful and popular preacher of his time. (482) ||

//Implications: // The ideas of Meister Eckhart were revolutionary and had a great impact on the practice and understanding of Mysticism. Many of his concepts were originated by other theologians and based on the monastic ideology.