Mystical Theology and Continental Philosophy by Lewin, David; Podmore, Simon D.; Williams, Duane;

Short description:

Exploration of the interface between mystical theology and continental philosophy is a defining feature of the current intellectual and even devotional climate. But to what extent and in what depth are these disciplines actually speaking to one another; or even speaking about the same phenomena? This book draws together original contributions by leading and emerging international scholars, delineating emerging debates in this growing and dynamic field of research, and spanning mystical and philosophical traditions from the ancient, to the medieval, modern, and contemporary. At the heart of which lies Meister Eckhart, perhaps the single most influential Christian mystic for modern times. The book is organised around significant historical and contemporary figures who speak across the intersections of philosophy and theology, offering new insights into key interlocutors such as Pseudo-Dionysius, Augustine, Isaac Luria, Eckhart, Hegel, Heidegger, Marion, Kierkegaard, Deleuze, Laruelle, and Zizek. Designed both to contribute to current trends in mystical theology and philosophy, and elicit dialogue and debate from further afield, this book speaks within an emerging space exploring the retrieval of the mystical within a post-secular context.

Long description:

Exploration of the interface between mystical theology and continental philosophy is a defining feature of the current intellectual and even devotional climate. But to what extent and in what depth are these disciplines actually speaking to one another; or even speaking about the same phenomena? This book draws together original contributions by leading and emerging international scholars, delineating emerging debates in this growing and dynamic field of research, and spanning mystical and philosophical traditions from the ancient, to the medieval, modern, and contemporary. At the heart of which lies Meister Eckhart, perhaps the single most influential Christian mystic for modern times. The book is organised around significant historical and contemporary figures who speak across the intersections of philosophy and theology, offering new insights into key interlocutors such as Pseudo-Dionysius, Augustine, Isaac Luria, Eckhart, Hegel, Heidegger, Marion, Kierkegaard, Deleuze, Laruelle, and Žižek. Designed both to contribute to current trends in mystical theology and philosophy, and elicit dialogue and debate from further afield, this book speaks within an emerging space exploring the retrieval of the mystical within a post-secular context.

"It is a collection worth the time of any scholar who finds themselves at the intersection of mystical theology and continental philosophy whether in search of a new ground or not."

- Jason Blakeburn, McGill University, Quebec

Table of Contents:

Introduction: Mystical Theology and Continental Philosophy: Interchange in the Wake of God

1 Learning Presence: The Mystical Text as Intimate Hyper-communication across time

2 God of Luria, Hegel, Schelling: The Divine Contraction and the Modern Metaphysics of Finitude

3 From Text to Presence: Ricoeur and Medieval Monastic Biblical Contemplation

4 Different Deserts: Deconstructionism and Dionysian Apophaticism

5 The Apophatic Dimension of Revelation

6 Augustine, Dionysius and Jean-Luc Marion

7 The Role of Mysticism in the Formation of Heidegger’s Phenomenology

8 Eckhart’s Why and Heidegger’s What: Beyond Subjectivistic Thought to Groundless Ground

9 Meister Eckhart's Speculative Grammar: a Foreshadowing of Heidegger’s Der Satz vom Grund?

10 Pay Attention! Exploring Contemplative Pedagogies between Eckhart and Heidegger

11 Mysterium Secretum et Silentoisum: Praying the Apophatic Self

12 Becoming Mystic, Becoming Monster: The Logic of the Infinite in Kierkegaard, Cusa, and Deleuze

13 Non-philosophical Immanence, or Immanence without Secularization

14 "Not peace but a sword": Žižek, Dionysius, and the Question of Ancestry in Theology and Philosophy