Scientia mystica sive theologia – Alberts des Grossen Begriff der Mystik
Scientia mystica sive theologia – Albert the Great’s Concept of Mysticism

Summary/Abstract: The term mysticism is often employed as a religious category whose meaning, in ordinary language, is fuzzy and unclear. Attempts to define it in reference to the history of philosophy and by means of interdisciplinary approaches in the natural sciences and the humanities alike have proven to increase and polarise its ambiguity. Theological reflections, in contrast, appear to provide a more solid understanding of the specific religious life forms belonging to the term mysticism. Indeed, these reflections seem to provide certain strategies that have proven to be capable of addressing the question of human union with God. Still, the attainment of an appropriate understanding of mysticism does not only presuppose a deep understanding of the different models concerning a mystical union. Rather, it also presupposes a close familiarity with the philosophical and religious traditions which build the theoretical backbone and the necessary instrument for mystical speculation in general. The purpose of this paper, then, is to uncover some of these presuppositions in one of mysticism’s most famous historical proponents, Albert the Great († 1280). Albert—the universal thinker of the middle ages and founder of the Dominican School—has long been recognised as forerunner to the famous Rhineland Mysticism, propounded by illustrious medieval thinkers such as Dietrich of Freiberg, Meister Eckhart, and Henry Suso (Heinrich Seuse). Consequently, his views on mysticism have been subject to an ongoing and oftentimes heated scholarly debate that is principally led by Alois M. Haas, Kurt Ruh, Werner Beierwaltes, Ruedi Imbach, Burkhard Mojsisch, Alain de Libera, Kurt Flasch and Loris Sturlese. In the context of these debates, then, my paper is meant to add a truthful portrayal of Albert’s views on mysticism.

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