Meister Eckhart
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Eckhart von Hochheim ( – ), commonly known as Meister Eckhart, Master Eckhart claimed original name Johannes Eckhart, was a German Catholic
theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
,
philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...
and mystic, born near
Gotha Gotha () is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, west of Erfurt and east of Eisenach with a population of 44,000. The city is the capital of the district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine Wettins from 1640 until the ...
in the
Landgraviate of Thuringia The Duchy of Thuringia was an eastern frontier march of the Merovingian kingdom of Austrasia, established about 631 by King Dagobert I after his troops had been defeated by the forces of the Slavic confederation of Samo at the Battle of Wogastis ...
(now central Germany) in the
Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...
. Eckhart came into prominence during the
Avignon Papacy The Avignon Papacy was the period from 1309 to 1376 during which seven successive popes resided in Avignon – at the time within the Kingdom of Burgundy-Arles, Kingdom of Arles, part of the Holy Roman Empire; now part of France – rather than i ...
at a time of increased tensions between monastic orders, diocesan clergy, the
Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related Mendicant orders, mendicant Christianity, Christian Catholic religious order, religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi, these orders include t ...
Order, and Eckhart's
Dominican Order The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of Cal ...
of Preachers. In later life, he was accused of heresy and brought up before the local Franciscan-led
Inquisition The Inquisition was a group of institutions within the Catholic Church whose aim was to combat heresy, conducting trials of suspected heretics. Studies of the records have found that the overwhelming majority of sentences consisted of penances, ...
, and tried as a
heretic Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...
by
Pope John XXII Pope John XXII ( la, Ioannes PP. XXII; 1244 – 4 December 1334), born Jacques Duèze (or d'Euse), was head of the Catholic Church from 7 August 1316 to his death in December 1334. He was the second and longest-reigning Avignon Pope, elected by ...
. He seems to have died before his verdict was received. He was well known for his work with pious lay groups such as the
Friends of God The Friends of God (German: Gottesfreunde; or gotesvriunde) was a medieval mystical group of both ecclesiastical and lay persons within the Catholic Church (though it nearly became a separate sect) and a center of German mysticism. It was founde ...
and was succeeded by his more circumspect disciples
John Tauler Johannes Tauler OP ( – 16 June 1361) was a German mystic, a Roman Catholic priest and a theologian. A disciple of Meister Eckhart, he belonged to the Dominican order. Tauler was known as one of the most important Rhineland mystics. He prom ...
and
Henry Suso Henry Suso, OP (also called Amandus, a name adopted in his writings, and Heinrich Seuse or Heinrich von Berg in German; 21 March 1295 – 25 January 1366) was a German Dominican friar and the most popular vernacular writer of the fourteenth centu ...
who was later
beatified Beatification (from Latin ''beatus'', "blessed" and ''facere'', "to make”) is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their nam ...
. Since the 19th century, he has received renewed attention. He has acquired a status as a great mystic within contemporary popular
spirituality The meaning of ''spirituality'' has developed and expanded over time, and various meanings can be found alongside each other. Traditionally, spirituality referred to a religious process of re-formation which "aims to recover the original shape o ...
, as well as considerable interest from scholars situating him within the medieval scholastic and philosophical tradition.


Biography

Eckhart was probably born around 1260 in the village of Tambach, near
Gotha Gotha () is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, west of Erfurt and east of Eisenach with a population of 44,000. The city is the capital of the district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine Wettins from 1640 until the ...
, in the
Landgraviate of Thuringia The Duchy of Thuringia was an eastern frontier march of the Merovingian kingdom of Austrasia, established about 631 by King Dagobert I after his troops had been defeated by the forces of the Slavic confederation of Samo at the Battle of Wogastis ...
, perhaps between 1250 and 1260. It was previously asserted that he was born to a noble family of landowners, but this originated in a misinterpretation of the archives of the period. In reality, little is known about his family and early life. There is no basis for giving him the Christian name of Johannes, which sometimes appears in biographical sketches: his Christian name was Eckhart; his surname was von Hochheim.


Church career

Probably around 1278 Eckhart joined the Dominican convent at
Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital and largest city in the Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest. It sits i ...
, when he was about eighteen. It is assumed he studied at
Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...
before 1280. He may have also studied at the University of Paris, either before or after his time in Cologne. The first solid evidence we have for his life is when on 18 April 1294, as a ''baccalaureus'' (lecturer) on the ''
Sentences ''The Four Books of Sentences'' (''Libri Quattuor Sententiarum'') is a book of theology written by Peter Lombard in the 12th century. It is a systematic compilation of theology, written around 1150; it derives its name from the ''sententiae'' o ...
'' of
Peter Lombard Peter Lombard (also Peter the Lombard, Pierre Lombard or Petrus Lombardus; 1096, Novara – 21/22 July 1160, Paris), was a scholastic theologian, Bishop of Paris, and author of '' Four Books of Sentences'' which became the standard textbook of ...
, a post to which he had presumably been appointed in 1293, he preached the Easter Sermon (the ''Sermo Paschalis'') at the Dominican convent of St. Jacques in Paris. In late 1294, Eckhart was made
Prior Prior (or prioress) is an ecclesiastical title for a superior in some religious orders. The word is derived from the Latin for "earlier" or "first". Its earlier generic usage referred to any monastic superior. In abbeys, a prior would be l ...
at Erfurt and Dominican Provincial of Thuringia. His earliest vernacular work, ''Reden der Unterweisung'' (''The Talks of Instructions''/''Counsels on Discernment''), a series of talks delivered to Dominican novices, dates from this time (c. 1295–1298). In 1302, he was sent to Paris to take up the external Dominican chair of theology. He remained there until 1303. The short ''Parisian Questions'' date from this time. In late 1303 Eckhart returned to Erfurt, and was given the position of Provincial superior for
Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...
, a province which reached at that time from the Netherlands to
Livonia Livonia ( liv, Līvõmō, et, Liivimaa, fi, Liivinmaa, German and Scandinavian languages: ', archaic German: ''Liefland'', nl, Lijfland, Latvian and lt, Livonija, pl, Inflanty, archaic English: ''Livland'', ''Liwlandia''; russian: Ли ...
. He therefore had responsibility for forty-seven convents in this region. Complaints made against him and the Provincial superior of Teutonia at the Dominican general chapter held in Paris in 1306, concerning irregularities among the ternaries, must have been trivial, because the general, Aymeric of Piacenza, appointed him in the following year his vicar-general for
Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...
with full power to set the demoralized monasteries there in order. Eckhart was Provincial for Saxony until 1311, during which time he founded three convents for women there. On 14 May 1311 Eckhart was appointed by the general chapter held at
Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
as teacher at Paris. To be invited back to Paris for a second stint as ''magister'' was a rare privilege, previously granted only to
Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known wi ...
. Eckhart stayed in Paris for two academic years, until the summer of 1313, living in the same house as William of Paris. Then follows a long period of which it is known only that he spent part of the time at
Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...
. It is unclear what specific office he held there: he seems chiefly to have been concerned with spiritual direction and with preaching in convents of Dominicans.''Meister Eckhart, The Essential Sermons, Commentaries, Treatises and Defense'', trans. and ed. by Bernard McGinn and Edmund Colledge, New York: Paulist Press, 1981, p.10. A passage in a chronicle of the year 1320, extant in manuscript (cf. Wilhelm Preger, i. 352–399), speaks of a prior Eckhart at
Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...
who was suspected of heresy, and some historians have linked this to Meister Eckhart.


Accusation of heresy

In late 1323 or early 1324, Eckhart left Strasbourg for the Dominican house at Cologne. It is not clear exactly what he did there, though part of his time may have been spent teaching at the prestigious ''Studium'' in the city. Eckhart also continued to preach, addressing his sermons during a time of disarray among the clergy and monastic orders, rapid growth of numerous pious lay groups, and the
Inquisition The Inquisition was a group of institutions within the Catholic Church whose aim was to combat heresy, conducting trials of suspected heretics. Studies of the records have found that the overwhelming majority of sentences consisted of penances, ...
's continuing concerns over heretical movements throughout Europe. It appears that some of the Dominican authorities already had concerns about Eckhart's teaching. The Dominican General Chapter held in Venice in the spring of 1325 had spoken out against "friars in Teutonia who say things in their sermons that can easily lead simple and uneducated people into error".McGinn, ''Eckhart'', (2001), p.14 This concern (or perhaps concerns held by the archbishop of Cologne,
Henry of Virneburg Henry may refer to: People *Henry (given name) * Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...
) may have been why Nicholas of Strasbourg, to whom the Pope had given the temporary charge of the Dominican convents in Germany in 1325, conducted an investigation into Eckhart's orthodoxy. Nicholas presented a list of suspect passages from the ''Book of Consolation'' to Eckhart, who responded sometime between August 1325 and January 1326 with the treatise ''Requisitus'', now lost, which convinced his immediate superiors of his orthodoxy. Despite this assurance, however, the archbishop in 1326 ordered an inquisitorial trial.cf. the document in Preger, i. 471; more accurately in ''ALKG'', ii. 627 sqq. At this point Eckhart issued a ''Vindicatory Document'', providing chapter and verse of what he had been taught. Throughout the difficult months of late 1326, Eckhart had the full support of the local Dominican authorities, as evident in Nicholas of Strasbourg's three official protests against the actions of the inquisitors in January 1327.McGinn, ''Eckhart'', (2001), p.17 On 13 February 1327, before the archbishop's inquisitors pronounced their sentence on Eckhart, Eckhart preached a sermon in the Dominican church at Cologne, and then had his secretary read out a public protestation of his innocence. He stated in his protest that he had always detested everything wrong, and should anything of the kind be found in his writings, he now retracts. Eckhart himself translated the text into German, so that his audience, the vernacular public, could understand it. The verdict then seems to have gone against Eckhart. Eckhart denied competence and authority to the inquisitors and the archbishop, and appealed to the Pope against the verdict. He then, in the spring of 1327, set off for
Avignon Avignon (, ; ; oc, Avinhon, label=Provençal dialect, Provençal or , ; la, Avenio) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region of So ...
. In Avignon,
Pope John XXII Pope John XXII ( la, Ioannes PP. XXII; 1244 – 4 December 1334), born Jacques Duèze (or d'Euse), was head of the Catholic Church from 7 August 1316 to his death in December 1334. He was the second and longest-reigning Avignon Pope, elected by ...
seems to have set up two tribunals to inquire into the case, one of theologians and the other of cardinals. Evidence of this process is thin. However, it is known that the commissions reduced the 150 suspect articles down to 28; the document known as the ''Votum Avenionense'' gives, in scholastic fashion, the twenty-eight articles, Eckhart's defence of each, and the rebuttal of the commissioners. On 30 April 1328, the pope wrote to Archbishop Henry of Virneburg that the case against Eckhart was moving ahead, but added that Eckhart had already died (modern scholarship suggests he may have died on 28 January 1328). The papal commission eventually confirmed (albeit in modified form) the decision of the Cologne commission against Eckhart.
Pope John XXII Pope John XXII ( la, Ioannes PP. XXII; 1244 – 4 December 1334), born Jacques Duèze (or d'Euse), was head of the Catholic Church from 7 August 1316 to his death in December 1334. He was the second and longest-reigning Avignon Pope, elected by ...
issued a bull (''In agro dominico''), 27 March 1329, in which a series of statements from Eckhart is characterized as heretical, another as suspected of heresy. At the close, it is stated that Eckhart recanted before his death everything which he had falsely taught, by subjecting himself and his writing to the decision of the
Apostolic See An apostolic see is an episcopal see whose foundation is attributed to one or more of the apostles of Jesus or to one of their close associates. In Catholicism the phrase, preceded by the definite article and usually capitalized, refers to the S ...
. It is possible that the Pope's unusual decision to issue the bull, despite the death of Eckhart (and the fact that Eckhart was not being personally condemned as a heretic), was due to the pope's fear of the growing problem of mystical heresy, and pressure from his ally Henry of Virneburg to bring the case to a definite conclusion.


Rehabilitation

Eckhart's status in the contemporary Catholic Church has been uncertain. The Dominican Order pressed in the last decade of the 20th century for his full rehabilitation and confirmation of his theological orthodoxy.
Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...
voiced favorable opinion on this initiative, even going as far as quoting from Eckhart's writings, but the outcome was confined to the corridors of the
Vatican Vatican may refer to: Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum The Holy See * The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...
. In the spring of 2010, it was revealed that there had been a response from the Vatican in a letter dated 1992.
Timothy Radcliffe Timothy Peter Joseph Radcliffe, OP (born 22 August 1945) is an English Roman Catholic priest and Dominican friar who served as master of the Order of Preachers from 1992 to 2001. He is the only member of the English Province to hold that off ...
, then Master of the Dominicans and recipient of the letter, summarized the contents as follows: Professor Winfried Trusen of Würzburg, a correspondent of Radcliffe, wrote in a defence of Eckhart to Cardinal Ratzinger (later
Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...
), stating:


Influences

Eckhart was schooled in medieval
scholasticism Scholasticism was a medieval school of philosophy that employed a critical organic method of philosophical analysis predicated upon the Aristotelian 10 Categories. Christian scholasticism emerged within the monastic schools that translate ...
and was well-acquainted with
Aristotelianism Aristotelianism ( ) is a philosophical tradition inspired by the work of Aristotle, usually characterized by deductive logic and an analytic inductive method in the study of natural philosophy and metaphysics. It covers the treatment of the socia ...
and
Augustinianism Augustinianism is the philosophical and theological system of Augustine of Hippo and its subsequent development by other thinkers, notably Boethius, Anselm of Canterbury and Bonaventure. Among Augustine's most important works are ''The City of Go ...
. The
Neo-Platonism Neoplatonism is a strand of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a chain of thinkers. But there are some ide ...
of
Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (or Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite) was a Greek author, Christian theologian and Neoplatonic philosopher of the late 5th to early 6th century, who wrote a set of works known as the ''Corpus Areopagiticum'' or ...
asserted a great influence on him, as reflected in his notions on the Gottheit beyond the God who can be named.


Teachings


Sermons

Although he was an accomplished academic theologian, Eckhart's best-remembered works are his highly unusual sermons in the vernacular. Eckhart as a preaching friar attempted to guide his flock, as well as monks and nuns under his jurisdiction, with practical sermons on spiritual/psychological transformation and New Testament metaphorical content related to the creative power inherent in disinterest (dispassion or detachment). The central theme of Eckhart's German sermons is the presence of God in the individual soul, and the dignity of the soul of the just man. Although he elaborated on this theme, he rarely departed from it. In one sermon, Eckhart gives the following summary of his message: As Eckhart said in his trial defence, his sermons were meant to inspire in listeners the desire above all to do some good. In this, he frequently used unusual language or seemed to stray from the path of orthodoxy, which made him suspect to the
Church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...
during the tense years of the Avignon Papacy.


Theology proper

In Eckhart's vision,
God In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...
is primarily fecund. Out of overabundance of love the fertile God gives birth to the
Son A son is a male offspring; a boy or a man in relation to his parents. The female counterpart is a daughter. From a biological perspective, a son constitutes a first degree relative. Social issues In pre-industrial societies and some current c ...
, the
Word A word is a basic element of language that carries an semantics, objective or pragmatics, practical semantics, meaning, can be used on its own, and is uninterruptible. Despite the fact that language speakers often have an intuitive grasp of w ...
in all of us. Clearly, this is rooted in the Neoplatonic notion of "ebullience; boiling over" of the One that cannot hold back its abundance of Being. Eckhart had imagined the creation not as a "compulsory" overflowing (a metaphor based on a common
hydrodynamic In physics and engineering, fluid dynamics is a subdiscipline of fluid mechanics that describes the flow of fluids—liquids and gases. It has several subdisciplines, including ''aerodynamics'' (the study of air and other gases in motion) and ...
picture), but as the free act of will of the triune nature of Deity (refer
Trinitarianism The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the ...
). Another bold assertion is Eckhart's distinction between God and Godhead (''Gottheit'' in German, meaning Godhood or Godhead, state of being God). These notions had been present in
Pseudo-Dionysius Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (or Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite) was a Greek author, Christian theologian and Neoplatonic philosopher of the late 5th to early 6th century, who wrote a set of works known as the ''Corpus Areopagiticum'' o ...
's writings and John the Scot's ''
De divisione naturae ''De Divisione Naturae'' ("The Division of Nature") is the title given by Thomas Gale to his edition (1681) of the work originally titled by 9th-century theologian Johannes Scotus Eriugena ''Periphyseon''.''John Scotus Erigena'', ''The Age of Bel ...
'', but Eckhart, with characteristic vigor and audacity, reshaped the germinal metaphors into profound images of polarity between the Unmanifest and
Manifest Absolute Manifest may refer to: Computing * Manifest file, a metadata file that enumerates files in a program or package * Manifest (CLI), a metadata text file for CLI assemblies Events * Manifest (convention), a defunct anime festival in Melbourne, Au ...
.


Contemplative method

John Orme Mills notes that Eckhart did not "leave us a guide to the spiritual life like St Bonaventure’s Itinerarium – the Journey of the Soul," but that his ideas on this have to be condensed from his "couple of very short books on suffering and detachment" and sermons.John Orme Mills
''Meister Eckhart and Prayer''
Eckhart Society
According to Mills, Eckhart's comments on prayer are only about
contemplative prayer Christian mysticism is the tradition of mystical practices and mystical theology within Christianity which "concerns the preparation f the personfor, the consciousness of, and the effect of ..a direct and transformative presence of God" ...
and "detachment." Accordng to Reiner Schürmann, four stages can be discerned in Eckhart's understanding mystical development: dissimilarity, similarity, identity, breakthrough.


Influence and study


13th century

Eckhart was one of the most influential 13th-century Christian
Neoplatonist Neoplatonism is a strand of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a chain of thinkers. But there are some ide ...
s in his day, and remained widely read in the later Middle Ages. Some early twentieth-century writers believed that Eckhart's work was forgotten by his fellow Dominicans soon after his death. In 1960, however, a manuscript ("''in agro dominico''") was discovered containing six hundred excerpts from Eckhart, clearly deriving from an original made in the Cologne Dominican convent ''after'' the promulgation of the bull condemning Eckhart's writings, as notations from the bull are inserted into the manuscript. The manuscript came into the possession of the
Carthusians The Carthusians, also known as the Order of Carthusians ( la, Ordo Cartusiensis), are a Latin enclosed religious order of the Catholic Church. The order was founded by Bruno of Cologne in 1084 and includes both monks and nuns. The order has its ...
in Basel, demonstrating that some Dominicans and Carthusians had continued to read Eckhart's work. It is also clear that
Nicholas of Cusa Nicholas of Cusa (1401 – 11 August 1464), also referred to as Nicholas of Kues and Nicolaus Cusanus (), was a German Catholic cardinal, philosopher, theologian, jurist, mathematician, and astronomer. One of the first German proponents of Renai ...
, Archbishop of Cologne in the 1430s and 1440s, engaged in extensive study of Eckhart. He assembled, and carefully annotated, a surviving collection of Eckhart's Latin works. As Eckhart was the only medieval theologian tried before the Inquisition as a heretic, the subsequent (1329) condemnation of excerpts from his works cast a shadow over his reputation for some, but followers of Eckhart in the lay group
Friends of God The Friends of God (German: Gottesfreunde; or gotesvriunde) was a medieval mystical group of both ecclesiastical and lay persons within the Catholic Church (though it nearly became a separate sect) and a center of German mysticism. It was founde ...
existed in communities across the region and carried on his ideas under the leadership of such priests as John Tauler and
Henry Suso Henry Suso, OP (also called Amandus, a name adopted in his writings, and Heinrich Seuse or Heinrich von Berg in German; 21 March 1295 – 25 January 1366) was a German Dominican friar and the most popular vernacular writer of the fourteenth centu ...
.


Johannes Tauler and Rulman Merswin

Eckhart is considered by some to have been the inspirational "layman" referred to in
Johannes Tauler Johannes Tauler OP ( – 16 June 1361) was a German mystic, a Roman Catholic priest and a theologian. A disciple of Meister Eckhart, he belonged to the Dominican order. Tauler was known as one of the most important Rhineland mystics. He prom ...
's and
Rulman Merswin Rulman Merswin (c. 1307 - 1382) was a German mystic, leader for a time of the Friends of God. Life Born into an important family in Strasbourg, at the time a free city of the Holy Roman Empire, Rulman Merswin became a banker and amassed a large fo ...
's later writings in Strasbourg where he is known to have spent time (although it is doubtful that he authored the simplistic ''
Book of the Nine Rocks The ''Book of the Nine Rocks'' is an anonymous 14th century German mystical text. Contents The ''Book of the Nine Rocks'' uses the metaphor of jumping from rock to rock to illustrate the soul’s journey to God. Each rock represents a higher le ...
'' published by Merswin and attributed to
The Friend of God from the Oberland The Friend of God from the Oberland (''Der Gottesfreund vom Oberland'', sometimes translated as "the friend of God from the Upland," or "the mysterious layman from the Oberland") was the name of a figure in Middle Ages German mysticism, associated ...
). On the other hand, most scholars consider The Friend of God from the Oberland to be a pure fiction invented by Merswin to hide his authorship because of the intimidating tactics of the Inquisition at the time.


''Theologia Germanica'' and the Reformation

It has been suspected that his practical communication of the mystical path is behind the influential 14th-century "anonymous" ''
Theologia Germanica ''Theologia Germanica'', also known as ''Theologia Deutsch'' or ''Teutsch'', or as ''Der Franckforter'', is a mystical treatise believed to have been written in the later 14th century by an anonymous author. According to the introduction of the ...
'', which was disseminated after his disappearance. According to the medieval introduction of the document, its author was an unnamed member of the
Teutonic Order The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, commonly known as the Teutonic Order, is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. It was formed to aid Christians on ...
of Knights living in Frankfurt. The lack of ''
imprimatur An ''imprimatur'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''impr.'', from Latin, "let it be printed") is a declaration authorizing publication of a book. The term is also applied loosely to any mark of approval or endorsement. The imprimatur rule in the R ...
'' from the Church and anonymity of the author of the ''Theologia Germanica'' did not lessen its influence for the next two centuries – including
Martin Luther Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Reformation, Protestant Refo ...
at the peak of public and clerical resistance to Catholic
indulgences In the teaching of the Catholic Church, an indulgence (, from , 'permit') is "a way to reduce the amount of punishment one has to undergo for sins". The '' Catechism of the Catholic Church'' describes an indulgence as "a remission before God o ...
 – and was viewed by some historians of the early 20th century as pivotal in provoking Luther's actions and the subsequent
Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...
. The following quote from the ''Theologia Germanica'' depicts the conflict between worldly and ecclesiastical affairs:


Obscurity

Eckhart was largely forgotten from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries, barring occasional interest from thinkers such as
Angelus Silesius Angelus Silesius (9 July 1677), born Johann Scheffler and also known as Johann Angelus Silesius, was a German Catholic priest and physician, known as a mystic and religious poet. Born and raised a Lutheran, he adopted the name ''Angelus'' (Lati ...
(1627–1677). For centuries, his writings were known only from a number of
sermon A sermon is a religious discourse or oration by a preacher, usually a member of clergy. Sermons address a scriptural, theological, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, law, or behavior within both past and present contexts. El ...
s found in old editions of Johann Tauler's sermons, published by Kachelouen (Leipzig, 1498) and by Adam Petri (Basel, 1521 and 1522).


Rediscovery

Interest in Eckhart's works was revived in the early nineteenth century, especially by German Romantics and
Idealist In philosophy, the term idealism identifies and describes metaphysical perspectives which assert that reality is indistinguishable and inseparable from perception and understanding; that reality is a mental construct closely connected to ide ...
philosophers.
Franz Pfeiffer Franz Pfeiffer (February 27, 1815 – May 29, 1868), was a Swiss literary scholar who worked in Germany and Austria. Biography Franz Pfeiffer was born in Solothurn as a Bürger (citizen) of Bettlach. After studying at the University of Munich he ...
's publication in 1857 of Eckhart's German sermons and treatises added greatly to this interest. A second important figure in the later nineteenth century for the recovery of Eckhart's works was
Heinrich Seuse Denifle Henry Denifle, in German Heinrich Seuse Denifle (January 16, 1844 in Imst, Tyrol – June 10, 1905 in Munich), was an Austrian paleographer and historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an aut ...
, who was the first to recover Eckhart's Latin works, from 1886 onwards. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, much Catholic interest in Eckhart was concerned with the consistency of his thought in relation to Neoscholastic thought – in other words, to see whether Eckhart's thought could be seen to be essentially in conformity with orthodoxy as represented by his fellow Dominican
Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known wi ...
.


Attribution of works

Since the mid-nineteenth century scholars have questioned which of the many pieces attributed to Eckhart should be considered genuine, and whether greater weight should be given to works written in the vernacular, or Latin. Although the vernacular works survive today in over 200 manuscripts, the Latin writings are found only in a handful of manuscripts. Denifle and others have proposed that the Latin treatises, which Eckhart prepared for publication very carefully, were essential to a full understanding of Eckhart. In 1923, Eckhart's ''Essential Sermons, Commentaries, Treatises and Defense'' (also known as the ''Rechtsfertigung'', or ''Vindicatory Document'') was re-published. The ''Defense'' recorded Eckhart's responses against two of the Inquisitional proceedings brought against him at Cologne, and details of the circumstances of Eckhart's trial. The excerpts in the ''Defense'' from vernacular sermons and treatises described by Eckhart as his own, served to authenticate a number of the vernacular works. Although questions remain about the authenticity of some vernacular works, there is no dispute about the genuine character of the Latin texts presented in the critical edition.


Eckhart as a mystic

Since the 1960s debate has been going on in Germany whether Eckhart should be called a "mystic". The philosopher
Karl Albert Karl Albert (2 October 1921 – 9 October 2008) was a German philosopher and professor emeritus at ''Bergische Universität'' Wuppertal. Born in Neheim, a borough of the Westphalia town of Arnsberg, Albert studied at University of Cologne and U ...
had already argued that Eckhart had to be placed in the tradition of philosophical mysticism of
Parmenides Parmenides of Elea (; grc-gre, Παρμενίδης ὁ Ἐλεάτης; ) was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher from Elea in Magna Graecia. Parmenides was born in the Greek colony of Elea, from a wealthy and illustrious family. His dates a ...
,
Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...
,
Plotinus Plotinus (; grc-gre, Πλωτῖνος, ''Plōtînos'';  – 270 CE) was a philosopher in the Hellenistic philosophy, Hellenistic tradition, born and raised in Roman Egypt. Plotinus is regarded by modern scholarship as the founder of Neop ...
, Porphyry,
Proclus Proclus Lycius (; 8 February 412 – 17 April 485), called Proclus the Successor ( grc-gre, Πρόκλος ὁ Διάδοχος, ''Próklos ho Diádokhos''), was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher, one of the last major classical philosophers ...
and other neo-Platonistic thinkers. Heribert Fischer argued in the 1960s that Eckhart was a mediaeval theologian. Kurt Flasch, a member of the so-called Bochum-school of mediaeval philosophy, strongly reacted against the influence of New Age mysticism and "all kinds of emotional subjective mysticism", arguing for the need to free Eckhart from "the Mystical Flood". He sees Eckhart strictly as a philosopher. Flasch argues that the opposition between "mystic" and "scholastic" is not relevant because this mysticism (in Eckhart's context) is penetrated by the spirit of the
university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
, in which it occurred. According to Hackett, Eckhart is to be understood as an "original hermeneutical thinker in the Latin tradition". To understand Eckhart, he has to be properly placed within the western philosophical tradition of which he was a part.
Josiah Royce Josiah Royce (; November 20, 1855 – September 14, 1916) was an American objective idealist philosopher and the founder of American idealism. His philosophical ideas included his version of personalism, defense of absolutism, idealism and his ...
, an objective idealist, saw Eckhart as a representative example of 13th and 14th century Catholic mystics "on the verge of pronounced heresy" but without original philosophical opinions. Royce attributes Eckhart's reputation for originality to the fact that he translated scholastic philosophy from Latin into German, and that Eckhart wrote about his speculations in German instead of Latin. Eckhart generally followed
Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known wi ...
's doctrine of the Trinity, but Eckhart exaggerated the scholastic distinction between the divine essence and the divine persons. The very heart of Eckhart's speculative mysticism, according to Royce, is that if, through what is called in Christian terminology the procession of the Son, the divine omniscience gets a complete expression in eternal terms, still there is even at the centre of this omniscience the necessary mystery of the divine essence itself, which neither generates nor is generated, and which is yet the source and fountain of all the divine. The Trinity is, for Eckhart, the revealed God and the mysterious origin of the Trinity is the Godhead, the absolute God.


Modern popularisation


Theology


Matthew Fox

Matthew Fox Matthew Chandler Fox (born July 14, 1966) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Charlie Salinger on ''Party of Five'' (1994–2000) and Jack Shephard on the drama series ''Lost'' (2004–2010), the latter of which earned him ...
(born 1940) is an American
theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
. Formerly a priest and a member of the
Dominican Order The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of Cal ...
within the
Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, Fox was an early and influential exponent of a movement that came to be known as
Creation Spirituality Timothy James Fox (born December 21, 1940) is an American priest and theologian. Formerly a member of the Dominican Order within the Catholic Church, he became a member of the Episcopal Church following his expulsion from the order in 1993. Fox ...
. The movement draws inspiration from the wisdom traditions of Christian scriptures and from the philosophies of such medieval Catholic visionaries as
Hildegard of Bingen Hildegard of Bingen (german: Hildegard von Bingen; la, Hildegardis Bingensis; 17 September 1179), also known as Saint Hildegard and the Sibyl of the Rhine, was a German Benedictine abbess and polymath active as a writer, composer, philosopher ...
,
Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known wi ...
,
Saint Francis of Assisi Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, better known as Saint Francis of Assisi ( it, Francesco d'Assisi; – 3 October 1226), was a Mysticism, mystic Italian Catholic Church, Catholic friar, founder of the Franciscans, and one of the most vener ...
, Julian of Norwich,
Dante Alighieri Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: '' ...
, Meister Eckhart and
Nicholas of Cusa Nicholas of Cusa (1401 – 11 August 1464), also referred to as Nicholas of Kues and Nicolaus Cusanus (), was a German Catholic cardinal, philosopher, theologian, jurist, mathematician, and astronomer. One of the first German proponents of Renai ...
, and others. Fox has written a number of articles on Eckhart and a book titled ''Breakthrough: Meister Eckhart's Creation Spirituality in New Translation''.


Modern philosophy

In "Conversation on a Country Path,"
Martin Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; ; 26 September 188926 May 1976) was a German philosopher who is best known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. He is among the most important and influential philosophers of the 20th centur ...
develops his concept of Gelassenheit, or releasement, from Meister Eckhart. Ian Moore argues "that Heidegger consulted Eckhart again and again throughout his career to develop or support his own thought.". The French philosopher
Jacques Derrida Jacques Derrida (; ; born Jackie Élie Derrida; See also . 15 July 1930 – 9 October 2004) was an Algerian-born French philosopher. He developed the philosophy of deconstruction, which he utilized in numerous texts, and which was developed t ...
distinguishes Eckhart's
Negative Theology Apophatic theology, also known as negative theology, is a form of theological thinking and religious practice which attempts to approach God, the Divine, by negation, to speak only in terms of what may not be said about the perfect goodness th ...
from his own concept of ''
différance is a French term coined by Jacques Derrida. It is a central concept in Derrida's deconstruction, a critical outlook concerned with the relationship between text and meaning. The term means "difference and deferral of meaning." Overview Derr ...
'' although John D. Caputo in his influential ''The Tears and Prayers of Jacques Derrida'' emphasises the importance of that tradition for this thought.


Modern spirituality

Meister Eckhart has become one of the timeless heroes of modern
spirituality The meaning of ''spirituality'' has developed and expanded over time, and various meanings can be found alongside each other. Traditionally, spirituality referred to a religious process of re-formation which "aims to recover the original shape o ...
, which, to historian of religion
Wouter Hanegraaff Wouter Jacobus Hanegraaff (born 10 April 1961) is full professor of History of Hermetic Philosophy and related currents at the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He served as the first president of the European Society for the Study of W ...
, thrives on an all-inclusive
syncretism Syncretism () is the practice of combining different beliefs and various school of thought, schools of thought. Syncretism involves the merging or religious assimilation, assimilation of several originally discrete traditions, especially in t ...
. This syncretism started with the colonisation of Asia, and the search of similarities between Eastern and Western religions. Western monotheism was projected onto Eastern religiosity by Western orientalists, trying to accommodate Eastern religiosity to a Western understanding, whereafter Asian intellectuals used these projections as a starting point to propose the superiority of those Eastern religions. Early on, the figure of Meister Eckhart has played a role in these developments and exchanges. Renewed academic attention to Eckhart has attracted favorable attention to his work from contemporary non-Christian mystics. Eckhart's most famous single quote, "The Eye with which I see God is the same Eye with which God sees me", is commonly cited by thinkers within
neopaganism Modern paganism, also known as contemporary paganism and neopaganism, is a term for a religion or family of religions influenced by the various Paganism, historical pre-Christian beliefs of pre-modern peoples in Europe and adjacent areas of No ...
and ultimatist
Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
as a point of contact between these traditions and Christian mysticism.


Schopenhauer

The first European translation of
Upanishads The Upanishads (; sa, उपनिषद् ) are late Vedic Sanskrit texts that supplied the basis of later Hindu philosophy.Wendy Doniger (1990), ''Textual Sources for the Study of Hinduism'', 1st Edition, University of Chicago Press, , ...
appeared in two parts in 1801 and 1802. The 19th-century philosopher
Arthur Schopenhauer Arthur Schopenhauer ( , ; 22 February 1788 – 21 September 1860) was a German philosopher. He is best known for his 1818 work ''The World as Will and Representation'' (expanded in 1844), which characterizes the phenomenal world as the prod ...
was influenced by the early translations of the Upanishads, which he called "the consolation of my life". Schopenhauer compared Eckhart's views to the teachings of Indian, Christian and Islamic mystics and
ascetic Asceticism (; from the el, ἄσκησις, áskesis, exercise', 'training) is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from sensual pleasures, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals. Ascetics may withdraw from the world for their p ...
s: Schopenhauer also stated:


Theosophical Society

A major force in the mutual influence of Eastern and Western ideas and religiosity was the
Theosophical Society The Theosophical Society, founded in 1875, is a worldwide body with the aim to advance the ideas of Theosophy in continuation of previous Theosophists, especially the Greek and Alexandrian Neo-Platonic philosophers dating back to 3rd century CE ...
, which also incorporated Eckhart in its notion of
Theosophy Theosophy is a religion established in the United States during the late 19th century. It was founded primarily by the Russian Helena Blavatsky and draws its teachings predominantly from Blavatsky's writings. Categorized by scholars of religion a ...
. It searched for ancient wisdom in the East, spreading Eastern religious ideas in the West. One of its salient features was the belief in "Masters of Wisdom", "beings, human or once human, who have transcended the normal frontiers of knowledge, and who make their wisdom available to others". The Theosophical Society also spread Western ideas in the East, aiding a modernisation of Eastern traditions, and contributing to a growing nationalism in the Asian colonies.


Neo-Vedanta

The Theosophical Society had a major influence on
Hindu reform movements Contemporary groups, collectively termed Hindu reform movements, reform Hinduism, Neo-Hinduism, or Hindu revivalism, strive to introduce regeneration and reform to Hinduism, both in a religious or spiritual and in a societal sense. The movement ...
. A major proponent of this "neo-Hinduism", also called "neo-Vedanta", was
Vivekananda Swami Vivekananda (; ; 12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902), born Narendranath Datta (), was an Indian Hindu monk, philosopher, author, religious teacher, and the chief disciple of the Indian mystic Ramakrishna. He was a key figure in the intr ...
(1863–1902) who popularised his modernised interpretation of Advaita Vedanta in the 19th and early 20th century in both India and the West, emphasising ''anubhava'' ("personal experience") over scriptural authority. Vivekananda's teachings have been compared to Eckhart's teachings. In the 20th century, Eckhart's thoughts were also compared to Shankara's
Advaita Vedanta ''Advaita Vedanta'' (; sa, अद्वैत वेदान्त, ) is a Hinduism, Hindu sādhanā, a path of spiritual discipline and experience, and the oldest extant tradition of the Āstika and nāstika, orthodox Hindu school Ved ...
by Rudolf Otto in his ''Mysticism East and West''. According to Richard King, the aim of this work was to redeem Eckhart's mysticism in Protestant circles, attempting "to establish the superiority of the German mysticism of Eckhart over the Indian mysticism of Sankara".


Buddhist modernism

The Theosophical Society also had a major influence on
Buddhist modernism Buddhist modernism (also referred to as modern Buddhism, modernist Buddhism, and Neo-Buddhism are new movements based on modern era reinterpretations of Buddhism. David McMahan states that modernism in Buddhism is similar to those found in other ...
, and the spread of this modernised Buddhism in the West. Along with H. S. Olcott and
Anagarika Dharmapala Anagārika Dharmapāla (Pali: ''Anagārika'', ; Sinhala: Anagārika, lit., si, අනගාරික ධර්මපාල; 17 September 1864 – 29 April 1933) was a Sri Lankan Buddhist revivalist and a writer. Anagarika Dharmapāla is not ...
, Helena P. Blavatsky was instrumental in the Western transmission and revival of
Theravada ''Theravāda'' () ( si, ථේරවාදය, my, ထေရဝါဒ, th, เถรวาท, km, ថេរវាទ, lo, ເຖຣະວາດ, pi, , ) is the most commonly accepted name of Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school' ...
Buddhism. In 1891,
Karl Eugen Neumann Karl Eugen Neumann (18651915) was the first translator of large parts of the Pali Canon of Buddhist scriptures from the original Pali into a European language (German) and one of the pioneers of European Buddhism. Life When Neumann was born, hi ...
, who translated large parts of the Tripitaka, found parallels between Eckhart and
Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
, which he published in ''Zwei buddhistische Suttas und ein Traktat Meister Eckharts'' (''Two Buddhist Suttas and a treatise of Meister Eckhart'').
D.T. Suzuki , self-rendered in 1894 as "Daisetz", was a Japanese-American Buddhist monk, essayist, philosopher, religious scholar, translator, and writer. He was a scholar and author of books and essays on Buddhism, Zen and Shin that were instrumental in s ...
, who joined the
Theosophical Society Adyar The Theosophy Society was founded by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and others in 1875. The designation 'Adyar' is sometimes added to the name to make it clear that this is the Theosophical Society headquartered there, after the American section ...
and was an active Theosophist, discerned parallels between Eckhart's teachings and
Zen Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...
Buddhism in his ''Mysticism: Christian and Buddhist'', drawing similarities between Eckhart's "pure nothingness" (''ein bloss nicht'') and '' sunyata''.
Shizuteru Ueda was a Japanese philosopher specialized in philosophy of religion, especially in philosophy of Buddhism and Zen. He was a professor at Kyoto University and considered a third generation member of Kyoto School (京都学派, Kyoto-gakuha). Biogra ...
, a third generation
Kyoto School The is the name given to the Japanese philosophical movement centered at Kyoto University that assimilated Western philosophy and religious ideas and used them to reformulate religious and moral insights unique to the East Asian cultural tradit ...
philosopher and scholar in medieval philosophy showed similarities between Eckhart's
soteriology Soteriology (; el, σωτηρία ' "salvation" from σωτήρ ' "savior, preserver" and λόγος ' "study" or "word") is the study of religious doctrines of salvation. Salvation theory occupies a place of special significance in many religio ...
and
Zen Buddhism Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...
in an article.
Reiner Schürmann Father Reiner Schürmann, O.P., Ph.D. (February 4, 1941 – August 20, 1993) was a German Dominican priest and philosopher. From 1975 to his death, he was Professor in the department of philosophy of the Graduate Faculty of the New School f ...
, a professor of philosophy, while agreeing with Daisetz T. Suzuki that there exist certain similarities between
Zen Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...
Buddhism and Meister Eckhart's teaching, also disputed Suzuki's contention that the ideas expounded in Eckhart's sermons closely approach Buddhist thought, "so closely indeed, that one could stamp them almost definitely as coming out of Buddhist speculations". Schurmann's several clarifications included: # On the question of "Time" and Eckhart's view (claimed as parallel to Buddhism in reducing awakening to instantaneity) that the birth of the Word in the ground of the mind must accomplish itself in an instant, in "the eternal now", that in fact Eckhart in this respect is rooted directly in the catechisis of the Fathers of the Church rather than merely derived from Buddhism; # On the question of "Isness" and Suzuki's contention that the "Christian experiences are not after all different from those of the Buddhist; terminology is all that divides us", that in Eckhart "the Godhead's ''istigkeit'' ranslated as "isness" by Suzukiis a negation of all quiddities; it says that God, rather than non-being, is at the heart of all things" thereby demonstrating with Eckhart's theocentrism that "the ''istigkeit'' of the Godhead and the isness of a thing then refer to two opposite experiences in Meister Eckhart and Suzuki: in the former, to God, and in the latter, to 'our ordinary state of the mind'" and Buddhism's attempts to think "pure nothingness"; # On the question of "Emptiness" and Eckhart's view (claimed as parallel to Buddhist emphasis "on the emptiness of all 'composite things'") that only a perfectly released person, devoid of all, comprehends, "seizes", God, that the Buddhist "emptiness" seems to concern man's relation to things while Eckhart's concern is with what is "at the end of the road opened by detachment
hich is Ij ( fa, ايج, also Romanized as Īj; also known as Hich and Īch) is a village in Golabar Rural District, in the Central District of Ijrud County, Zanjan Province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also ...
the mind espouses the very movement of the divine ''dehiscence''; it does what the Godhead does: it lets all things be; not only must God also abandon all of his own – names and attributes if he is to reach into the ground of the mind (this is already a step beyond the recognition of the emptiness of all composite things), but God's essential being – releasement – becomes the being of a released man."


Psychology and psychoanalysis


Erich Fromm

The notable humanistic psychoanalyst and philosopher
Erich Fromm Erich Seligmann Fromm (; ; March 23, 1900 – March 18, 1980) was a German social psychologist, psychoanalyst, sociologist, humanistic philosopher, and democratic socialist. He was a German Jew who fled the Nazi regime and settled in the U ...
was another scholar who brought renewed attention in the West to Eckhart's writings, drawing upon many of the latter's themes in his large corpus of work. Eckhart was a significant influence in developing
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
Secretary General
Dag Hammarskjöld Dag Hjalmar Agne Carl Hammarskjöld ( , ; 29 July 1905 – 18 September 1961) was a Swedish economist and diplomat who served as the second Secretary-General of the United Nations from April 1953 until his death in a plane crash in September 196 ...
's conception of spiritual growth through selfless service to humanity, as detailed in his book of contemplations called ''
Vägmärken ''Vägmärken'' (''Markings'', or more literally ''Waymarks''), published in 1963, is the only book by former UN secretary general, Dag Hammarskjöld. The journal was discovered after his death, with a covering letter to his literary executor, "a ...
'' ("Markings").


Carl G. Jung

In ''Aion, Researches into the Phenomenology of Self''
Carl G. Jung Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung's work has been influential in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, philo ...
cites Eckhart approvingly in his discussion of Christ as a symbol of the
archetypal The concept of an archetype (; ) appears in areas relating to behavior, historical psychology, and literary analysis. An archetype can be any of the following: # a statement, pattern of behavior, prototype, "first" form, or a main model that ...
self. Jung sees Eckhart as a Christian Gnostic:
Meister Eckhart's theology knows a "Godhead" of which no qualities, except unity and being, can be predicated; it "is becoming," it is not yet Lord of itself, and it represents an absolute coincidence of opposites: "But its simple nature is of forms formless; of becoming becomingless; of beings beingless; of things thingless," etc. Union of opposites is equivalent to unconsciousness, so far as human logic goes, for consciousness presupposes a differentiation into subject and object and a relation between them. (Page 193.)
As the Godhead is essentially unconscious, so too is the man who lives in God. In his sermon on "The Poor in Spirit" (Matt. 5 : 3), the Meister says: "The man who has this poverty has everything he was when he lived not in any wise, neither in himself, nor in truth, nor in God. He is so quit and empty of all knowing that no knowledge of God is alive in him; for while he stood in the eternal nature of god, there lived in him not another: what lived there was himself. And so we say this man is as empty of his own knowledge as he was when he was not anything; he lets God work with what he will, and he stands empty as when he came from God." Therefore he should love God in the following way: "Love him as he is; a not-God, a not-spirit, a not-person, a not-image; as a sheer, pure, clear One, which he is, sundered from all secondness; and in this One let us sink eternally, from nothing to nothing. So help us God. Amen." (Page 193.)
Jung summed up his view of Eckhart saying:
The world-embracing spirit of Meister Eckhart knew, without discursive knowledge, the primordial mystical experience of India as well as of the Gnostics, and was itself the finest flower on the tree of the "Free Spirit" that flourished at the beginning of the eleventh century. Well might the writings of this Master be buried for six hundred years, for "his time was not yet come." Only in the nineteenth century did he find a public at all capable of appreciating the grandeur of his mind. (Page 194.)


Meister Eckhart Prize


In popular culture

In ''
Jacob's Ladder Jacob's Ladder ( he, סֻלָּם יַעֲקֹב ) is a ladder leading to heaven that was featured in a dream the biblical Patriarch Jacob had during his flight from his brother Esau in the Book of Genesis (chapter 28). The significance of th ...
'', Louis, the main character's friend, attributes the following quote to Eckhart: In '' Z213: Exit'', by
Dimitris Lyacos Dimitris Lyacos ( el, Δημήτρης Λυάκος; born 19 October 1966) is a contemporary Greek poet and playwright. He is the author of the ''Poena Damni'' trilogy. Lyacos's work is characterised by its genre-defying form and the avant-garde ...
the same quote, attributed to Eckhart, appears in a slightly different wording: In the book '' The Gargoyle'' by Andrew Davidson, Eckhart is mentioned in a story Marianne Engel recounts to the (unnamed) protagonist about her days in the Engelthal Monastery: Eckhart is also referenced in
J. D. Salinger Jerome David Salinger (; January 1, 1919 January 27, 2010) was an American author best known for his 1951 novel ''The Catcher in the Rye''. Salinger got his start in 1940, before serving in World War II, by publishing several short stories in '' ...
's ''
Franny and Zooey ''Franny ''and'' Zooey'' is a book by American author J. D. Salinger which comprises his short story "Franny" and novella ''Zooey'' . The two works were published together as a book in 1961, having originally appeared in ''The New Yorker'' in 19 ...
''. In a letter to Zooey, Buddy says, The third movement of John Adams's
Harmonielehre ''Harmonielehre'' is a forty-minute orchestral composition by the American composer John Adams, composed in 1985. In his memoir, Adams stated that the piece "was a statement of belief in the power of tonality at a time when I was uncertain about ...
symphony (1985) is titled "Meister Eckhart and Quackie", which imagines the mystic floating through space with the composer's daughter Emily (nicknamed Quackie) on his back whispering secrets of grace in his ear.
Eckhart Tolle Eckhart Tolle ( ; ; born Ulrich Leonard Tölle, February 16, 1948) is a German-born spiritual teacher and self-help author of ''The Power of Now'' and '' A New Earth''. After being recommended by Oprah Winfrey, his first book, ''The Power of No ...
quotes Meister Eckhart in ''The Power of Now'' as saying "Time is what keeps the light from reaching us".


Works

The publication of the modern critical edition of Eckhart's German and Latin works began in 1936 and was completed in April 2022.


Latin works

One difficulty with Eckhart's Latin writings is that they clearly represent only a small portion of what he planned to write. Eckhart describes his plans to write a vast ''Opus Tripartitum'' (''Three-Part Work''). Unfortunately, all that exists today of the first part, the ''Work of Propositions'', is the Prologue illustrating the first proposition (with Eckhart intending the first part alone to consist of over one thousand propositions). The second part, called the ''Work of Questions'', no longer exists. The third part, the ''Work of Commentaries'', is the major surviving Latin work by Eckhart, consisting of a Prologue, six commentaries, and fifty-six sermons. It used to be thought that this work was begun while Eckhart was in Paris between 1311 and 1313; however, recent manuscript discoveries mean that much of what survives must be dated to before 1310. The surviving Latin works are, therefore: *The early ''Quaestiones Parisiensis'' (''Parisian Questions''). *''Prologus generalis in Opus tripartitium'' (''General Prologue to the Three-Part Work''). *''Prologus in Opus propositionum'' (''Prologue to the Work of Propositions''). *''Prologus in Opus expositionum'' (''Prologue to the Work of Commentaries''). *''Expositio Libri Genesis'' (''Commentary on the Book of Genesis''). *''Liber Parabolorum Genesis'' (''Book of the Parables of Genesis''). *''Expositio Libri Exodi'' (''Commentary on the Book of Exodus''). *''Expositio Libri Sapientiae'' (''Commentary on the Book of Wisdom''). *''Sermones et Lectiones super Ecclesiastici c.24:23–31'' (''Sermons and Lectures on the Twenty-fourth chapter of Ecclesiasticus''). *Fragments of the ''Commentary on the Song of Songs'' survive *''Expositio sancti Evangelii secundum Iohannem'' (''Commentary on John'') *Various sermons, including some preserved in the collection ''Paradisus anime intelligentis'' (''Paradise of the Intelligent Soul''/''Paradise of the Intellectual Soul''). *A brief treatise on the Lord's Prayer, largely an anthology culled from earlier authorities. *The ''Defense''. *Although not composed by Eckhart, also relevant are the Vatican archive materials relating to Eckhart's trial, the ''Votum theologicum'' (or ''Opinion'') of the Avignon commission who investigated Eckhart, and the bull ''In agro dominico''.


Vernacular works

Questions concerning the authenticity of the Middle High German texts attributed to Eckhart are much greater than for the Latin texts. The problems involve not only whether a particular sermon or treatise is to be judged authentic or pseudonymous, but also, given the large number of manuscripts and the fragmentary condition of many of them, whether it is even possible to establish the text for some of the pieces accepted as genuine. Eckhart's sermons are versions written down by others from memory or from notes, meaning that the possibility for error was much greater than for the carefully written Latin treatises. The critical edition of Eckhart's works traditionally accepted 86 sermons as genuine, based on the research done by its editor Josef Quint (1898–1976) during the 20th century. Of these, ''Sermons'' 1–16b are proved authentic by direct citation in the ''Defense''. ''Sermons'' 17–24 have such close textual affinities with Latin sermons recognised as genuine that they are accepted. ''Sermons'' 25–86 are harder to verify, and judgements have been made on the basis of style and content. Georg Steer took over the editorship in 1983. Between 2003 and 2016, the critical edition under Georg Steer added another 30 vernacular sermons (Nos. 87 to 117) in volumes 4.1 and 4.2. Because six sermons exist in an A and B version (5a-b, 13-13a, 16a-b, 20a-b, 36a-b und 54a-b) the final total of vernacular sermons is 123 (numbered consecutively from 1 to 117). When Franz Pfeiffer published his edition of Eckhart's works in 1857, he included seventeen vernacular treatises he considered to be written by Eckhart. Modern scholarship is much more cautious, however, and the critical edition accepts only four of Eckhart's vernacular treatises as genuine: *The longest of these, the ''Reden der Unterweisung'' (''Counsels on Discernment''/''Discourses on Instruction''/''Talks of Instruction''), is probably Eckhart's earliest surviving work, a set of spiritual instructions that he gave to young Dominicans in the 1290s. It was clearly a popular work, with fifty-one manuscripts known. *A second vernacular treatise, the ''Liber Benedictus'' (''Book "Benedictus" ''), in fact consists of two related treatises firstly, ''Daz buoch der götlîchen trœstunge''(''The Book of the Divine Consolation''), and secondly, a sermon entitled ''Von dem edeln menschen'' (''Of the Nobleman''). *The final vernacular treatise accepted as genuine by the critical edition is entitled ''Von Abgescheidenheit'' (''On Detachment''). However, this treatise is generally today not thought to be written by Eckhart.Bernard McGinn, ''The Harvest of Mysticism'', (2005), p.632.


Modern editions and translations

* ''Meister Eckhart: Die deutschen und lateinischen Werke''. Herausgegeben im Auftrage der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft. Stuttgart and Berlin: Verlag W. Kohlhammer, 11 Vols., 1936–2022. (This is the critical edition of Meister Eckhart's works. The Latin works comprise six volumes and were completed in 2022. The Middle High German works comprise five volumes and were completed in 2016).
Eckhart, the German Works: 64 Homilies for the Liturgical Year. I. De Tempore: Introduction, Translation and Notes''

''Meister Eckhart, The Essential Sermons, Commentaries, Treatises and Defense''
trans. and ed. by Bernard McGinn and
Edmund Colledge Edmund Colledge (14 August 1910 – 16 November 1999) was an English academic, military officer, and Roman Catholic priest. He is chiefly known for his scholarly publications on European medieval literature, in particular spiritual writers fro ...
, New York: Paulist Press and London: SPCK, 1981. Re-published in paperback without notes and a foreword by John O’Donohue as ''Meister Eckhart, Selections from His Essential Writings'', (New York, 2005).
''Meister Eckhart: Teacher and Preacher''
trans. and ed. by Bernard McGinn and Frank Tobin, New York and London: Paulist Press/SPCK, 1987. * C. de B. Evans, ''Meister Eckhart by Franz Pfeiffer'', 2 vols., London: Watkins, 1924 and 1931. * ''Meister Eckhart: A Modern Translation'', trans. Raymond B. Blakney, New York: Harper and Row, 1941, (a translation of many of the works, including treatises, 28 sermons, and ''Defense).'' * Otto Karrer ''Meister Eckhart Speaks'' The Philosophical Library, Inc. New York, 1957. * James M. Clark and John V. Skinner, eds. and trans., ''Treatises and Sermons of Meister Eckhart'', New York: Octagon Books, 1983. (Reprint of Harper and Row ed., 1958/London: Faber & Faber, 1958.) * Armand Maurer, ed., ''Master Eckhart: Parisian Questions and Prologues'', Toronto, Canada: Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, 1974. * ''Meister Eckhart, Sermons and Treatises'', trans. by M. O'C. Walshe, 3 vols., (London: Watkins, 1979–1981; later printed at Longmead, Shaftesbury, Dorset: Element Books, 1979–1990). Now published as ''The Complete Mystical Works of Meister Eckhart'', trans. and ed. by Maurice O'C Walshe, rev. by Bernard McGinn (New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 2009). *Matthew Fox, ''Breakthrough: Meister Eckhart's Creation Spirituality in New Translation'' (Garden City, New York, 1980). * ''Meister Eckhart: Selected Writings'', ed. and trans. by Oliver Davies, London: Penguin, 1994. * ''Meister Eckhart's Book of the Heart: Meditations for the Restless Soul'', by
Jon M. Sweeney Jon M. Sweeney (born July 18, 1967) is an author of popular history, spirituality, biography, poetry, fiction for young readers, and memoir. His most frequent subjects are Catholic, particularly St. Francis of Assisi, about whom Sweeney has writte ...
and Mark S. Burrows, Charlottesville, VA: Hampton Roads, 2017.


See also

* '' Book of the 24 Philosophers'' *
Brethren of the Free Spirit The Brethren of the Free Spirit were adherents of a loose set of beliefs deemed heretical by the Catholic Church but held (or at least believed to be held) by some Christians, especially in the Low Countries, Germany, France, Bohemia, and Norther ...
* Essence–energies distinction * Gonsalvo of Spain * '' Sister Catherine Treatise''


Notes


References


Sources

* * * * * Herman Büttner, ed.,
Schriften und Predigten
', vol. 1. Jena: Eugen Diederichs, 1903. * Herman Büttner, ed.,
Schriften und Predigten
', vol. 2. Jena: Eugen Diederichs, 1909. * Augustine Daniels, O.S.B., ed., "Eine lateinische Rechtfertigungsschrift des Meister Eckharts", ''Beiträge zur Geschichte der Philosophie des Mittelalters'', 23, 5 (Münster, 1923): 1 – 4, 12 – 13, 34 – 35, 65 – 66. * * * * * * * * * Franz Jostes, ed.,
Meister Eckhart und seine Jünger: Ungedruckte Texte zur Geschichte der deutschen Mystik
'. Berlin: De Gruyter, 1972 (Series: Deutsche Neudrucke Texte des Mittelalters). * Thomas Kaepelli, "Kurze Mitteilungen über mittelalterliche Dominikanerschriftsteller", ''Archivum Fratrum Praedicatorum'' 10, (1940), pp. 293 – 94. * Thomas Kaepelli, ''Scriptores ordinis Praedicatorum medii aevi''. Vol. I (A-F). Rome, 1970. * *
Gustav Landauer Gustav Landauer (7 April 1870 – 2 May 1919) was one of the leading theorists on anarchism in Germany at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. He was an advocate of social anarchism and an avowed pacifist. In 1919, he ...
, ed. and trans.
Meister Eckharts mystische Schriften
'. Berlin: Karl Schnabel, 1903. * M.H. Laurent, "Autour du procés de Maître Eckhart. Les documents des Archives Vaticanes", ''Divus Thomas'' (Piacenza) 39 (1936), pp. 331 – 48, 430 – 47. * * * * * * Franz Pelster, S.J., ed., Articuli contra Fratrem Aychardum Alamannum, Vat. lat. 3899, f. 123r – 130v, in "Ein Gutachten aus dem Eckehart-Prozess in Avignon", ''Aus der Geistewelt des Mittelalters, Festgabe Martin Grabmann, Beiträge Supplement'' 3, Munster, 1935, pp. 1099–1124. * Franz Pfeiffer, ed.
Deutsche Mystiker des vierzehnten Jahrhunderts
', vol. II: Meister Eckhart. 2nd ed. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck, 1906. * Josef Quint, ed. and trans. ''Meister Eckehart: Deutsche Predigten und Traktate'', Munich: Carl Hanser, 1955. * Josef Quint, ed., ''Textbuch zur Mystik des deutschen Mittelalters: Meister Eckhart, Johannes Tauler, Heinrich Seuse'', Halle/Saale: M. Niemeyer, 1952. * * * Rubin, Bruce Joel, Jacob's Ladder. Mark Mixson, general editor, The Applause Screenplay Series, Applause Theatre Book Publishers, 1990. . * * * Gabriel Théry, "Édition critique des piéces relatives au procés d'Eckhart continues dans le manuscrit 33b de la Bibliothèque de Soest", ''Archives d'histoire littéraire et doctrinal du moyen âge'', 1 (1926), pp. 129 – 268. * * James Midgely Clark, ''Meister Eckhart: An Introduction to the Study of His Works with an Anthology of His Sermons'', Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson, 1957. * Shizuteru Ueda, ''Die Gottesgeburt in der Seele und der Durchbruch zur Gottheit. Die mystische Anthropologie Meister Eckharts und ihre Konfrontation mit der Mystik des Zen-Buddhismus'', Gütersloh: Mohn, 1965. * Reiner Schürmann, ''Meister Eckhart: Mystic and Philosopher'', Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1978. * Matthew Fox, ed., ''Breakthrough: Meister Eckhart's Creation Spirituality in New Translation'', Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1980. * Bernard McGinn ''The Mystical Thought of Meister Eckhart: The Man from whom God Hid Nothing'', (New York: Herder & Herder, 2001)


Further reading

* Jeanne Ancelet-Hustache, ''Master Eckhart and the Rhineland Mystics'', New York and London: Harper and Row/ Longmans, 1957. * Leonardo Vittorio Arena, ''The Shadows of the Masters'', ebook, 2013. * James M. Clark, ''The Great German Mystics'', New York: Russell and Russell, 1970 (reprint of Basil Blackwell edition, Oxford: 1949.) * James M. Clark, trans., ''Henry Suso: Little Book of Eternal Wisdom and Little Book of Truth'', London: Faber, 1953. * Cesare Catà, ''Il Cardinale e l'Eretico. Nicola Cusano e il problema della eredità "eterodossa" di Meister Eckhart nel suo pensiero'', in "Viator. Medieval and Renaissance Studies", UCLA University, Volume 41, No.2 (2010), pp. 269–291. * Oliver Davies, ''God Within: The Mystical Tradition of Northern Europe'', London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1988. * Oliver Davies, ''Meister Eckhart: Mystical Theologian'', London: SPCK, 1991. * ''Eckardus Theutonicus, homo doctus et sanctus'', Fribourg:
University of Fribourg The University of Fribourg (french: Université de Fribourg; german: Universität Freiburg) is a public university located in Fribourg, Switzerland. The roots of the university can be traced back to 1580, when the notable Jesuit Peter Canisi ...
, 1993. * Robert K. Forman, ''Meister Eckhart: Mystic as Theologian'', Rockport, Massachusetts/Shaftesbury, Dorset: Element Books, 1991. * Gundolf Gieraths, O.P., '"Life in Abundance: Meister Eckhart and the German Dominican Mystics of the 14th Century", ''Spirituality Today Supplement'', Autumn, 1986. * Joel F. Harrington, ''Dangerous Mystic: Meister Eckhart’s Path to the God Within'', New York: Penguin Press, 2018. * Aldous Huxley, ''The Perennial Philosophy: An Interpretation of the Great Mystics, East and West'', New York: HarperCollins, 1945. * Amy Hollywood, ''The Soul as Virgin Wife: Mechthild of Magdeburg, Marguerite Porete, and Meister Eckhart'', Notre Dame and London: University of Notre Dame Press, 1996. * Rufus Jones, ''The Flowering of Mysticism in the Fourteenth Century'', New York: Hafner Publishing Co., 1971 (facsimile of 1939 ed.). * Bernard McGinn, "Eckhart's Condemnation Reconsidered" in ''The Thomist'', vol. 44, 1980. * Bernard McGinn, ed., ''Meister Eckhart and the Beguine Mystics Hadewijch of Brabant, Mechthild of Magdeburg, and Marguerite Porete'', New York: Continuum, 1994. * Ben Morgan. ''On Becoming God: Late Medieval Mysticism and the Modern Western Self.'' New York: Fordham UP, 2013. *
Arthur Schopenhauer Arthur Schopenhauer ( , ; 22 February 1788 – 21 September 1860) was a German philosopher. He is best known for his 1818 work ''The World as Will and Representation'' (expanded in 1844), which characterizes the phenomenal world as the prod ...
, ''
The World as Will and Representation ''The World as Will and Representation'' (''WWR''; german: Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung, ''WWV''), sometimes translated as ''The World as Will and Idea'', is the central work of the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer. The first edition ...
'', Vol. II, * Cyprian Smith, ''The Way of Paradox: Spiritual Life as Taught by Meister Eckhart'', New York: Paulist Press, 1988. * Frank Tobin, ''Meister Eckhart: Thought and Language'', Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1986. *
Denys Turner Denys Alan Turner (born 5 August 1942) is a British-born American philosopher and theologian. He is Horace Tracy Pitkin Professor of Historical Theology emeritus at Yale University having been appointed in 2005, previously having been Norris ...
, ''The Darkness of God: Negativity in Christian Mysticism'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. * Winfried Trusen, ''Der Prozess gegen Meister Eckhart'', Fribourg: University of Fribourg, 1988. * Andrew Weeks, ''German Mysticism from Hildegard of Bingen to Ludwig Wittgenstein: A Literary and Intellectual History'', Albany: State University of New York Press, 1993. * Richard Woods, O.P., ''Eckhart's Way'', Wilmington, Delaware: Glazier, 1986 (Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press, 1991). * Richard Woods, O.P., ''Meister Eckhart: The Gospel of Peace and Justice'', Tape Cassette Program, Chicago: Center for Religion & Society, 1993. * Richard Woods, O.P., ''Meister Eckhart: Master of Mystics'' (London, Continuum, 2010).


External links


The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume V.
Published 1909. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Nihil Obstat, 1 May 1909. Remy Lafort, Censor. Imprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York

translated into English by Claud Field, at
Christian Classics Ethereal Library The Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) is a digital library that provides free electronic copies of Christian scripture and literature texts. Description CCEL is a volunteer-based project founded and directed by Harry Plantinga, a pr ...
.
Meister Eckhart und seine Zeit
German Website, most texts in German translation, some in Latin

*
"Meister Eckhart (1260–1328)"
article in the ''
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy The ''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' (''IEP'') is a scholarly online encyclopedia, dealing with philosophy, philosophical topics, and philosophers. The IEP combines open access publication with peer reviewed publication of original pape ...
''
Meister Eckhart: German mystic
by Father Reiner Schürmann, O.P. on Britannica *Brown, Arthur,
The Man From Whom God Hid Nothing.


Research by catholic scholars

including full text o

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Eckhart, Meister 1260 births 1328 deaths 13th-century Christian mystics 13th-century German Catholic theologians Buddhism and Christianity Dominican mystics German Dominicans German Christian mystics German philosophers German spiritual writers People from Gotha (district) Rhineland mystics Roman Catholic mystics 13th-century Latin writers 14th-century Christian mystics 14th-century German Catholic theologians 14th-century Latin writers 14th-century German philosophers