The Genealogy of Mystical Traditions
The Oxford Handbook of Mystical Theology February 25, 2020 DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198722380.013.4 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Historical analysis Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Mysticism |
| Key points | Proposes that Christian mystical theology developed through several historically coherent genealogies from the patristic era to the early modern period, culminating in the Quietist Controversy and a generally negative Enlightenment attitude toward mysticism. |
Abstract
This chapter is designed as a broad road map of the development of Christian mystical theology down to the Quietist Controversy at the end of the seventeenth century and the triumph of the Enlightenment, which took a generally negative attitude toward the mystical element in Christianity. It follows the main genealogies, or historically coherent traditions of mystical theology, from the patristic genealogies of east and west, through the medieval genealogies (monastic, Franciscan, German, Flemish, French and Italian, English), concluding with the early modern genealogies (Protestant and Reformed Catholic, especially of Spain and France).
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on mysticism, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The mystical mind: probing the biology of religious experience | 2000 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Religious and Mystical Experiences as Artifacts of Temporal Lobe Function: A General Hypothesis | 1983 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The Problem of Pure Consciousness: Mysticism and Philosophy | 1993 | Edited collection of essays | |
| Irreducible Mind: Toward a Psychology for the 21st Century | 2020 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mysticism and schizophrenia: A phenomenological exploration of the structure of consciousness in the schizophrenia spectrum disorders. | 2016 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |