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...

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Bibliographic Details
Author:Bernard McGinn
Published: S.n., s.l., 1987
Pages:7-24
Periodical:Church History
Number:56
Format:Article
Topic:- Influence and Survival > The Middle Ages (430-1453) > General studies of the survival of Augustine in the Greek world and in western thought and schools > [Pensée médiévale (par sujet)] > [Mystique]
Status:Needs Review
Description
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.