ABSTRACT
In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries secular French scholars started re-engaging with religious ideas, particularly mystical ones. Mysticism in the French Tradition introduces key philosophical undercurrents and trajectories in French thought that underpin and arise from this engagement, as well as considering earlier French contributions to the development of mysticism. Filling a gap in the literature, the book offers critical reflections on French scholarship in terms of its engagement with its mystical and apophatic dimensions. A multiplicity of factors converge to shape these encounters with mystical theology: feminist, devotional and philosophical treatments as well as literary, historical, and artistic approaches. The essays draw these into conversation. Bringing together an international and interdisciplinary range of contributions from both new and established scholars, this book provides access to the melting pot out of which the mystical tradition in France erupted in the twenty-first century, and from which it continues to challenge theology today.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part 1|104 pages
Forgotten and Remembered
chapter 2|22 pages
An Eruption of Mystical Life in Feminist Action
chapter 4|20 pages
The Overflowing Self
part 2|86 pages
Distinction, Union and Devotion
chapter 6|28 pages
The Pious Jackal and the Pseudo-Woman
chapter 7|20 pages
A French Mystic's Perspective on the Crisis of Mysticism
chapter 8|16 pages
From Late Medieval to Early Modern
part 3|82 pages
Words and Images in Action