Mysticism

The course aims at validating mystical experience as an authentic human experience distinguishing from similar induced experiences; concentrate on varieties of mystical experiences with special reference to Christian mysticism taking a cursory glance at the Eastern and Western history of Christians mysticism; and will exclusively concentrate on an in-depth study of certain selected texts of some world-renowned mystics, both in Christian and other major religious traditions. Karl Rahner once said that the Christian of the future will be a mystic. What the implications of that for theology need to be unpacked. This seminar course introduces the student to the world of mystical texts, their relationship to theology, and the history of that relationship synchronically and diachronically. Texts of representative writers (early, medieval, modern; e.g., Dionysius, Eckhart, Ignatius) will be read, first historically and contextually. Their theological import will then be examined. Attempts will then be made to arrive at some conclusions with regard to the history of the relationship between mysticism and theology (reading mystical texts theologically and theological texts mystically).