The Journal of Theological Studies
June 15, 2026
Connor M Ritchie
Abstract This essay compares how John Scottus Eriugena and thinkers associated with what has been called the ‘Medieval Dionysian Affective Tradition’ interpret the role of love in mystical union according to the works of Dionysius the Areopagite. At stake are two issues that challenge commonly held assumptions about Eriugena’s work. First, Eriugena is generally regarded as an intellectualist...
The Journal of Theological Studies
August 3, 2023
Mary Morrissey
In Experiencing God in Late Medieval and Early Modern England, David Davis considers discourses of divine revelation, and he includes in that term a variety of phenomena that late medieval and early modern English men and women reported as giving them a sense of direct connection with God. He considers accounts of mystics’ experiences from before and after the Reformation, devotional literature...
The Journal of Theological Studies
February 10, 2023
Ruth M Gornandt
The dialectic of the cataphatic and the apophatic is vital for honouring the transcendent within the rational endeavour of theology. The medieval Armenian theologian Gregory of Tatev presents a theological approach that is strongly logical and analytical, discussing the mystical only in a few places. For this reason, he has been accused of abandoning the apophatic altogether. However, it can be...
The Journal of Theological Studies
May 17, 2017
Christopher J Thomson
The hypothesis explored in this book, expanding on Tiemeyer’s article in VT 58 (2008), pp. 573–94, is that the vision cycle in Zech. 1:8 – 6:8 is not a purely literary invention but is based on an actual visionary experience. Tiemeyer sees the eight vision accounts as relatively unprocessed and under-interpreted reports of what Zechariah actually saw, whereas the interspersed oracular material...
The Journal of Theological Studies
September 9, 2010
Michael Lane
In this excellent and very readable introduction to the mystics, the author has adopted a case-study approach to the subject instead of the usual historical or systematic approaches (though he does draw on these to some extent). His approach is reminiscent of the one adopted by William James in his famous Varieties of Religious Experience, though it is crucially and deliberately different. For...
The Journal of Theological Studies
December 21, 2009
Charlotte Methuen
In this book, Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, Professor of Western Esotericism at the University of Exeter, offers a historical introduction to Western esoteric traditions which ranges from the ancient Hellenistic sources through the Renaissance to the present day. Following an introduction which discusses the historiography of esotericism, the work is made up of 12 chapters which cover a wide range...