Philosophy of Mysticism

Author: Richard H. Jones
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 1438461194
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 440

Book Description
A comprehensive exploration of the philosophical issues raised by mysticism. This work is a comprehensive study of the philosophical issues raised by mysticism. Mystics claim to experience reality in a way not available in normal life, a claim which makes this phenomenon interesting from a philosophical perspective. Richard H. Joness inquiry focuses on the skeleton of beliefs and values of mysticism: knowledge claims made about the nature of reality and of human beings; value claims about what is significant and what is ethical; and mystical goals and ways of life. Jones engages language, epistemology, metaphysics, science, and the philosophy of mind. Methodological issues in the study of mysticism are also addressed. Examples of mystical experience are drawn chiefly from Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta, but also from Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Daoism. This is a significant extension of the seminal work by Walter Stace, Mysticism and Philosophy. That work has stimulated much literature, all of which Jones manages to review here. He critically extends Staces universal core and embeds it in a sophisticated discussion of the extent, range, and metaphysical implications of mysticism. Ralph W. Hood, Jr., coauthor of The Psychology of Religion: An Empirical Approach

Mysticism Examined

Author: Richard H. Jones
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 9780791414354
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 316

Book Description
Mysticism presents a challenge to anyone who is interested in fundamental questions about the nature of reality, knowledge, and how we should live. In this book the author examines questions posed by mysticism. He clarifies the nature of the claims advanced by Western and Asian mystics, and explores the beliefs and values of classical mystical ways of life for their interconnections and reasonableness. Jones discusses whether all mystical experiences and all mystical claims of knowledge are similar, and examines the relation of concepts and experiences in mystics' claims. Also presented are standards for evaluating competing mystical claims, and mystics' problems with language. Whether mystics' arguments are rational is investigated along with the relation of moral and non-moral values and the role of beliefs and values in enlightened mystics' ways of life. Mysticism's relation to the enterprises of science, theology, psychology and ethics is also examined.

Introduction to the Medieval Mystics of Europe

Author: Paul E. Szarmach
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 9780873958349
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 394

Book Description
The European Middle Ages bequeathed to the world a legacy of spiritual and intellectual brilliance that has shaped many of the ideals, preconceptions, and institutions we now take for granted. An Introduction to the Medieval Mystics of Europe examines this phenomenon in vivid and scholarly accounts of the lives and achievements of those men and women whose genius most inspired their own and subsequent ages. These great mystics explored and consciously realized the relationship between human life and unconditioned transcendence. Representing both the contemplative and scholastic traditions, the mystics in these studies often found their solutions to ultimate questions in radically different ways. Some of them, such as Eckhart, Aquinas, and Cusa, may already be familiar, and here the reader will benefit from a new approach and summary of extensive research. Others, such as Smaragdus and several of the women mystics, are little known even to specialists. Finally, and unusually for a study of European mysticism, the influence of Spanish Kabbalists is discussed in relation to the Zohar and two figures from the mystical school of Safed, Cordovero and Luria. Though the essays focus on individuals, the cultural and social implications of their lives and work are never ignored, for the mystic way did not exist separately from the rest of medieval life; it functioned as an integral part of the whole, influencing the development of Christian and Jewish religions in both their internal and external forms.

Jewish & Christian Mysticism

Author: Dan Cohn-Sherbok
Publisher: Gracewing Publishing
ISBN: 9780852442593
Category : Mysticism
Languages : en
Pages : 214

Book Description

Mystics and Scholars

Author: Harold Coward
Publisher: Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press
ISBN: 091981204X
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 132

Book Description
In September of 1976 a group of some fifty scholars and practising mystics gathered at the University of Calgary. The chief objective of the Conference was to ponder and assess the nature of mysticism in its Eastern, Western and North American Indian forms. The method the Conference followed was somewhat unusual in that it aimed at a dialogue between the practising mystics and the scholars. What this book presents to the reader is not the outcome of the dialogue, but the personal statements and papers from which the dialogue began. Of course there is a degree to which the dialogue is already present, in that the papers of the scholars were written with the statements of the mystics in hand. Among some of the philosophers present, a set of more formal comments on each others presentations was recorded and these have been included.

The Theory and Practice of Mysticism

Author: Charles Morris Addison
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Mysticism
Languages : en
Pages : 240

Book Description

Christian Mysticism

Author: Louise Nelstrop
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
ISBN: 9780754657323
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 292

Book Description
This book introduces students to Christian mysticism and modern critical responses to it. Christianity has a rich tradition of mystical theology that first emerged in the writings of the early church fathers, and flourished during the Middle Ages. Today Christian mysticism is increasingly recognised as an important Christian heritage relevant to today's spiritual seekers.

Mysticism in English Literature

Author: Caroline Frances Eleanor Spurgeon
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : English literature
Languages : en
Pages : 186

Book Description

Quakers Reading Mystics

Author: Michael Birkel
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004373748
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 124

Book Description
Over the centuries, Quakers have read non-Quakers regarded as mystics. This study explores the reception of mystical texts among the Religious Society of Friends, focusing in particular on Robert Barclay and John Cassian, Sarah Lynes Grubb and Jeanne Guyon, Caroline Stephen and Johannes Tauler, Rufus Jones and Jacob Boehme, and Teresina Havens and Buddhist texts selected by her. Points of connection include the nature of apophatic prayer, suffering and annihilation of self, mysticisms of knowing and of loving, liberal Protestant attitudes toward theosophical systems, and interfaith encounter.

The Origins of the Christian Mystical Tradition

Author: Andrew Louth
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199291403
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 245

Book Description
Andrew Louth traces the Christian mystic tradition from Plato, through figures such as Origen, Gregory of Nyssa and Augustine and explores the diverse and conflicting influences to be found in Christian spirituality.