Mysticism: Process and Event? From Causality to Motivation in the Phenomenology of Mystical Experience According to Edith Stein
Religions September 10, 2026 DOI: 10.3390/rel17091055 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Mystical experience Mysticism Philosophy of mind |
| Key points | Argues that Edith Stein's phenomenological approach treats mystical experience as more than the linear culmination of spiritual development, instead involving an anthropological structure in which the subject actively configures itself in response to divine initiative. Contends that Stein's contribution is distinctively philosophical, making mysticism a privileged locus for understanding the relational constitution of human existence. |
Abstract
(1)
Background: This article situates Edith Stein within the 20th-century debate on the nature of mystical experience, framing it as a philosophical problem concerning the relationship between divine initiative and human freedom, and aims to reassess dominant developmental interpretations of mysticism. It argues that, alongside theological models such as that of Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange, which understand mysticism as the normal and progressive culmination of the life of grace, Stein’s phenomenological approach brings into focus the experiential and anthropological dimensions of mystical life, particularly the relationship between divine initiative, human freedom, and personal response. (2)
Results: The results indicate that mystical experience cannot be exhausted by a strictly linear account of spiritual development and must also be understood in relation to a deeper anthropological structure in which the subject actively configures itself in response to divine initiative. (3)
Methods: The study adopts a hermeneutic-theological method complemented by phenomenological analysis, to examine the processual and event dimensions of mystical experience through Stein’s notions of motivation, freedom, and personal response. (4)
Conclusions: The article concludes that Stein’s contribution to the debate is distinctively philosophical, as it allows mysticism to be considered as a privileged locus for understanding the relational constitution of human existence, where freedom, meaning, and transcendence converge.