Apophatic Theology and Eschatology
Cyril O’Regan
July 14, 2026 DOI: 10.1093/9780191887017.003.0043 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Topics | Mysticism |
| Keywords | Eschatology Messianism Messiah Judaism Meaning existential Protestantism Power physics State computer science Interpretation philosophy Theology Event particle physics Predestination Epistemology Exegesis Anticipation artificial intelligence Kabbalah Free will |
| Key points | Argues that apophatic theology traditionally anticipates the eschaton, but figures like Eckhart subvert this by identifying mystical experience with it, while other apocalyptic discourses treat the apophatic as functional rather than constitutive. |
Abstract
Abstract Apophatic theology in the Christian tradition connotes far more than a peak experience of union with the transcendent God who exceeds name and concept. For Christian thinkers East and West such experiences were considered an adumbration in time of the eschatological state as one of permanent beatitude, whether this state was considered more nearly in static terms (as in the West) or dynamic terms (in the East). Historically, however, this grammatical rule of anticipation has not always been maintained. Eckhart, for one, subverts it, since for him mystical experience does not anticipate the eschaton but is already identified with it. This chapter critically engages Eckhart by considering other forms of apocalyptic discourse in which kataphaticism is subverted—whether by a surplus of meaning (as in the symbols of the book of Revelation) or by the incredible discretion of the “little apocalypses” of the Synoptic Gospels or by Paul’s deliberations on the event that is Christ. In all these cases the apophatic is real, but functional rather than constitutive. This is also the case with a number of modern “apocalyptic” theologies—whether those of von Balthasar and Bulgakov who are aficionados of the book of Revelation, or any number of Protestant theologians (as well as the Catholic theologian J. B. Metz), who self-consciously take their cue from the Jewish thinker Walter Benjamin (who articulates a form of messianism that refuses to supply content to the alternative to the regimes of power and suffering that mark this world.
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 |