Christian mysticism Wikipedia. Christian mysticism refers to the development of mystical practices and theory within Christianity. It has often been connected to mystical theology, especially in the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christianity both the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox traditions. The attributes and means by which Christian mysticism is studied and practiced are varied. They range from ecstatic visions of the souls mystical union with God to simple prayerful contemplation of Holy Scripture i. Lectio Divina. EtymologyeditMysticism is derived from the Greek, meaning to conceal,1 and its derivative, mystikos, meaning an initiate. In the Hellenistic world, a mystikos was an initiate of a mystery religion. Mystical referred to secret religious rituals1 and use of the word lacked any direct references to the transcendental. In early Christianity the term mystikos referred to three dimensions, which soon became intertwined, namely the biblical, the liturgical and the spiritual or contemplative. The biblical dimension refers to hidden or allegorical interpretations of Scriptures. The liturgical dimension refers to the liturgical mystery of the Eucharist, the presence of Christ at the Eucharist. The third dimension is the contemplative or experiential knowledge of God. DefinitioneditPresenceeditBernard Mc. Ginn defines Christian mysticism as That part, or element, of Christian belief and practice that concerns the preparation for, the consciousness of, and the effect of. God. Presence versus experienceeditMc. Physis Greek is a Greek theological, philosophical, and scientific term usually translated into English as nature. Founder of the Franciscan Order, born at Assisi in Umbria, in 1181. In 1182, Pietro Bernardone returned from a trip to France to find out his wife had given birth to. Image/tour48205/327x256.jpg' alt='Download The Mystical Laws Online' title='Download The Mystical Laws Online' />Ginn argues that presence is more accurate than union, since not all mystics spoke of union with God, and since many visions and miracles were not necessarily related to union. He also argues that we should speak of consciousness of Gods presence, rather than of experience, since mystical activity is not simply about the sensation of God as an external object, but more broadly about. God becomes present in our inner acts. William James popularized the use of the term religious experience in his 1. The Varieties of Religious Experience. It has also influenced the understanding of mysticism as a distinctive experience which supplies knowledge. Wayne Proudfoot traces the roots of the notion of religious experience further back to the German theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher 1. The notion of religious experience was used by Schleiermacher to defend religion against the growing scientific and secular critique. It was adopted by many scholars of religion, of which William James was the most influential. Personal transformationeditMc. Ginns emphasis on the transformation that occurs through mystical activity relates to this idea of presence instead of experience This is why the only test that Christianity has known for determining the authenticity of a mystic and her or his message has been that of personal transformation, both on the mystics part andespeciallyon the part of those whom the mystic has affected. Other criticswhich point out that the stress on experience is accompanied by favoring the atomic individual, instead of the shared life on the community. It also fails to distinguish between episodic experience, and mysticism as a process that is embedded in a total religious matrix of liturgy, scripture, worship, virtues, theology, rituals and practices. Richard King also points to disjunction between mystical experience and social justice The privatisation of mysticism that is, the increasing tendency to locate the mystical in the psychological realm of personal experiences serves to exclude it from political issues as social justice. Mysticism thus becomes seen as a personal matter of cultivating inner states of tranquility and equanimity, which, rather than seeking to transform the world, serve to accommodate the individual to the status quo through the alleviation of anxiety and stress. Transformation has particular importance in the theology of Origen. Social constructionismeditMystical experience is not simply a matter between the mystic and God, but is often shaped by cultural issues. Hd Video Download Haunted Castle. For instance, Caroline Bynum has shown how, in the late Middle Ages, miracles attending the taking of the Eucharist were not simply symbolic of the Passion story, but served as vindication of the mystics theological orthodoxy by proving that the mystic had not fallen prey to heretical ideas, such as the Cathar rejection of the material world as evil, contrary to orthodox teaching that God took on human flesh and remained sinless. Thus, the nature of mystical experience could be tailored to the particular cultural and theological issues of the time. DevelopmenteditThe idea of mystical realities has been widely held in Christianity since the second century AD, referring not simply to spiritual practices, but also to the belief that their rituals and even their scriptures have hidden mystical meanings. The link between mysticism and the vision of the Divine was introduced by the early Church Fathers, who used the term as an adjective, as in mystical theology and mystical contemplation. In subsequent centuries, especially as Christian apologetics began to use Greek philosophy to explain Christian ideas, Neoplatonism became an influence on Christian mystical thought and practice via such authors as Augustine of Hippo and Origen. Greco Judean influenceseditJewish antecedentseditJewish spirituality in the period before Jesus was highly corporate and public, based mostly on the worship services of the synagogues, which included the reading and interpretation of the Hebrew Scriptures and the recitation of prayers, and on the major festivals. Thus, private spirituality was strongly influenced by the liturgies and by the scriptures e. Psalms for prayer, and individual prayers often recalled historical events just as much as they recalled their own immediate needs. Of special importance are the following concepts 1. Daat knowledge and Chokhmah wisdom, which come from years of reading, praying and meditating the scriptures Shekhinah, the presence of God in our daily lives, the superiority of that presence to earthly wealth, and the pain and longing that come when God is absent the hiddenness of God, which comes from our inability to survive the full revelation of Gods glory and which forces us to seek to know God through faith and obedience Torah mysticism, a view of Gods laws as the central expression of Gods will and therefore as worthy object not only of obedience but also of loving meditation and Torah study andpoverty, an ascetic value, based on the apocalyptic expectation of Gods impending arrival, that characterized the Jewish peoples reaction to being oppressed by a series of foreign empires. In Christian mysticism, Shekhinah became mystery, Daat became gnosis, and poverty became an important component of monasticism. Alexandria Greek philosophyeditThe Alexandrian contribution to Christian mysticism centers on Origen and Clement of Alexandria. Clement was an early Christian humanist who argued that reason is the most important aspect of human existence and that gnosis not something we can attain by ourselves, but the gift of Christ helps us find the spiritual realities that are hidden behind the natural world and within the scriptures. Given the importance of reason, Clement stresses apatheia as a reasonable ordering of our passions in order to live within Gods love, which is seen as a form of truth. Origen, who had a lasting influence on Eastern Christian thought, further develops the idea that the spiritual realities can be found through allegorical readings of the scriptures along the lines of Jewish aggadah tradition, but he focuses his attention on the Cross and on the importance of imitating Christ through the Cross, especially through spiritual combat and asceticism.