Pneumatology
Brandon Gallaher
The Oxford Handbook of Mystical Theology February 25, 2020 DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198722380.013.26 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that Christian mysticism is the Holy Spirit's common call for all Christians to be transformed into 'second Christs,' exemplified in saints and mystics from both Eastern and Western traditions. |
Abstract
This chapter seeks to show that mysticism is not about the rarefied experience of certain spiritual athletes but the Holy Spirit’s ordinary or common call to transformation of every Christian into a potentially extraordinary ‘second Christ’. The author contends that in Christian teaching the Spirit hides himself but in this age is made known in the faces of transformed Christians—saints and mystics—as little ‘christs’. The Spirit is said to be the author of the Body of Christ in which Christians are called to put on Christ, living lives headed by the Spirit, as ‘partakers of the divine nature’ (2 Pet. 1: 4). Examples are drawn from the mystical and liturgical tradition in Christian East and West: Symeon the New Theologian, Seraphim of Sarov, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, as well as in baptismal and eucharistic theology and especially in the work of Augustine.