What Is Mysticism?
July 2, 2026 DOI: 10.4324/9781003711544-2 (opens in new tab) via OpenAlex
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractThis chapter examines whether mysticism is fundamentally the same across religious and cultural traditions or whether distinct kinds of mystical experience exist. It discusses views on both sides but favors Western, Muslim, and Eastern Christian scholars who distinguish between different types of mysticism. These are identified as nature, pantheistic, monistic, and theistic mysticism.
Study at a glance
| Topics | Mysticism |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Theism Monism Preference Natural archaeology |
| Key finding | Argues that there are different kinds of mystical experience, specifically nature, pantheistic, monistic, and theistic mysticism, rather than a single universal type. |
Abstract
This opening chapter considers the nature of mysticism and asks whether it is, at base, the same, whatever its religious and cultural varieties, or whether there are different kinds of mystical experience which are distinct and different from one another. In this respect views on both sides are discussed, but there is a preference for Western, Muslim and Eastern Christian scholars who distinguish between different kinds of mysticism. These can variously be identified as nature, pantheistic, monistic and theistic mysticism.