Love, Knowledge and Mystical Union in Western Christianity
Twelfth to Sixteenth Centuries
The author studies this inexhaustible subject through Saint Augustine, Gregory the Great, Bernard of Clairvaux, William of St. Thierry, Bonaventure, Eckhart, Thomas Gallus, The Cloud of Unknowing, Suso Ruusbroec, and finaly Saint John of the Cross. The notion of unio mystica has had a key role in th...
Author: | Bernard McGinn |
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Published: |
S.n.,
s.l.,
1987
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Pages: | 7-24 |
Periodical: | Church History |
Number: | 56 |
Format: | Article |
Topic: | -
Influence and Survival
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The Middle Ages (430-1453)
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General studies of the survival of Augustine in the Greek world and in western thought and schools
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[Pensée médiévale (par sujet)]
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[Mystique]
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Status: | Needs Review |
Summary: | The author studies this inexhaustible subject through Saint Augustine, Gregory the Great, Bernard of Clairvaux, William of St. Thierry, Bonaventure, Eckhart, Thomas Gallus, The Cloud of Unknowing, Suso Ruusbroec, and finaly Saint John of the Cross. The notion of unio mystica has had a key role in the history of Christian mysticis and in theological reflection on its meaning. Bernard of Clairvaux is taken as a starting point, amor ipse notitia est being a foundation of his teaching. The other Cistercians followed, stressing love as higher than knowledge, but the height of love attained in the unio mystica includes a transformed knowledge. This mystical theory has influenced theologians through the centuries and the author ends with a quotation from St. John of the Cross, beautifully expressing amor ipse notitia est. |
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