ABSTRACT

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.

chapter |10 pages

Introduction

Mystical theology and continental philosophy: Interchange in the wake of God

part I|57 pages

Receiving mystical tradition in post/modernity

chapter 1|20 pages

Learning presence

13The mystical text as intimate hyper-communication across time

chapter 2|19 pages

The God of Luria, Hegel and Schelling

The divine contraction and the modern metaphysics of finitude

chapter 3|17 pages

From text to presence

Ricoeur and medieval monastic biblical contemplation

part II|61 pages

Apophasis and continental philosophy

chapter 4|22 pages

Different deserts

70Deconstructionism and Dionysian apophaticism

part III|65 pages

Revisiting Eckhart through Heidegger

chapter 8|17 pages

Eckhart’s why and Heidegger’s what

Beyond subjectivistic thought to groundless ground

chapter 9|15 pages

Meister Eckhart’s speculative grammar

A foreshadowing of Heidegger’s Der Satz vom Grund?

chapter 10|15 pages

Pay attention!

Exploring contemplative pedagogies between Eckhart and Heidegger 1

part IV|64 pages

Re-readings and new boundaries

chapter 11|22 pages

Mysterium secretum et silentiosum

196Praying the apophatic self

chapter 12|14 pages

Becoming mystic, becoming monster

The logic of the infinite in Kierkegaard, Cusa and Deleuze

chapter 14|13 pages

‘Not peace but a sword’

Žižek, Dionysius and the question of ancestry in theology and philosophy