ENGLISH

The Darkness of God: Negativity in Christian Mysticism

By Denys Turner

Book information

Year
1998
ISBN
0521645611, 0521453178, 0511583133, 0511001959, 9780511001956, 9780511583131, 9780521453172, 9780521645614
LCC
BV5083 .T87 1995
Open Library ID
OL1122658M
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
6 MB (5941110 bytes)
Pages
292\288
Topic
Religion
Time added
2011-06-04 13:46:07

Description

For the medieval mystical tradition, the Christian soul meets God in a "cloud of unknowing," a divine darkness of ignorance. This meeting with God is beyond all knowing and beyond all experiencing. Mysticisms of the modern period, on the contrary, place "mystical experience" at the center, and contemporary readers are inclined to misunderstand the medieval tradition in "experientialist" terms. Denys Turner argues that the distinctiveness and contemporary relevance of medieval mysticism lies precisely in its rejection of "mystical experience," and locates the mystical firmly within the grasp of the ordinary and the everyday. The argument covers some central authorities in the period from Augustine to John of the Cross.

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