Background
Eckhart was probably born in the village of Tambach, near Gotha, in the Landgraviate of Thuringia, с. 1260. Almost nothing is know about his early life. There is no authority for giving him the Christian name of Johannes.
(Here are the texts that illustrate the diversity of one o...)
Here are the texts that illustrate the diversity of one of the most enigmatic and influential mystics of the Western Christian tradition. Eckhart the teacher is represented by the Commentary on Exodus and by selections from six other commentaries, including the Commentary on Wisdom 7:14, the Commentary on Ecclesiasticus 24:29, and the Commentary on John 14:8. Eckhart's ministry as a preacher was an equally important part of the man, and thus his sermons, from both the Latin and the Middle High German manuscripts, are included. What emerges is a comprehensive picture of the works of this great speculative theologian. Together with Meister Eckhart: The Essential Sermons, Commentaries and Treatises, this work form the most extensive corpus of Eckhart's writings in English.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0809128276/?tag=2022091-20
(Meister Eckhart (c. 1260-1327) was a Dominican philosophe...)
Meister Eckhart (c. 1260-1327) was a Dominican philosopher and spiritual master whose thought is among the most daring and difficult in the history of western mysticism.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0809123703/?tag=2022091-20
(This introduction to the writing and preaching of the gre...)
This introduction to the writing and preaching of the greatest medieval European mystic contains selections from his sermons, treatises, and sayings, as well as Table Talk, the records of his informal advice to his spiritual children.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1590302796/?tag=2022091-20
(In this remarkable work, Reiner Schürmann shows Meister E...)
In this remarkable work, Reiner Schürmann shows Meister Eckhart, the thirteenth-century Christian mystic, as the great teacher of the birth of God in the soul, which shatters the dualism between God and the world, the self and God. This is an exposition of Eckhar's mysticism?perhaps the best in English?and, because Eckhart is a profound philosopher for whom knowing precedes being, it is also an exemplary work of contemporary philosophy. Schürmann shows us that Eckhart is our contemporary. He describes the threefold movement of detachment, release, and "dehiscence" (splitting open), which leads to the experience of "living without a why," in which all things are in God and sheer joy. Going beyond that, he describes the transformational force of approaching the Godhead, the God beyond God: "A man who has experienced the same no longer has a place to establish himself. He has settled on the road, and for those who have learned how to listen, his existence becomes a call. This errant one dwells in joy. Through his wanderings the origin beckons."
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0970109717/?tag=2022091-20
( In a modern translation by Raymond B. Blakney, here are...)
In a modern translation by Raymond B. Blakney, here are the essential writings of Meister Eckhart, the celebrated 14th Century German-born Dominican philosopher, mystic, and spiritual master, including his famous, brilliantly reasoned defense against charges of heresy during a local Franciscan-led Inquisition. Perhaps the most daring and profound Christian philosophy in the history of Western mysticism, the writings and teachings of Meister Eckhart at once challenge and inspire all who wish to deepen their experience of God.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/006130008X/?tag=2022091-20
Eckhart was probably born in the village of Tambach, near Gotha, in the Landgraviate of Thuringia, с. 1260. Almost nothing is know about his early life. There is no authority for giving him the Christian name of Johannes.
Eckhart was trained as a Dominican friare at Erfurt, probably when he was about eighteen, and it is assumed he studied at Cologne. He may have also studied at the University of Paris, either before or after his time in Cologne.
On April 18, 1294, as a baccalaureus (lecturer) on the Sentences of Peter Lombard, a post to which he had presumably been appointed in 1293, Eckhart preached the Easter Sermon (the Sermo Paschalis) at the Dominican convent of St. Jacques in Paris. In late 1294, he was made Prior at Erfurt and Provincial of Thuringia. His earliest vernacular work, Reden der Unterweisung (The Talks of Instructions/Counsels on Discernment) dates from this time (c. 1295-1298).
In 1302, Eckhart was sent to Paris to take up the external Dominican chair of theology, where he remained until 1303. In late 1303 Eckhart returned to Erfurt, and was made Provincial for Saxony. During this time he founded three convents for women. The following year the general, Aymeric of Piacenza, appointed him his vicar-general for Bohemia with full power to set the demoralized monasteries there in order. On May 14, 1311, Eckhart was appointed by the general chapter held at Naples as teacher. He stayed in Paris for two academic years, until the summer of 1313. In Strasbourg (1314-1322), and after in Cologne, large congregations flocked to hear him.
In late 1323 or early 1324 Eckhart left Strasbourg for the Dominican house at Cologne, where he may have been 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's continuing concerns over heretical movements throughout Europe. In 1325 Nicholas of Strasbourg, to whom the pope had in 1325 given the temporary charge of the Dominican monasteries in Germany, conducted an investigation of 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 a lost treatise Requisitus, which satisfied his immediate superiors of his orthodoxy. However, the archbishop in 1326 ordered an inquisitorial process. 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.
On February 13, 1327, before the archbishop's inquisitors pronounced their sentence on Eckhart, he 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. Then Eckhart denied competence and authority to the inquisitors and the archbishop, and appealed to the Pope against the verdict. In the spring of 1327 he set off for Avignon. There Pope John XXII seems to have set up two tribunals to inquire into the case, one of theologians and the other of cardinals. It is known that the commissions reduced the 150 suspect articles down to 28; the document known as the Votum Avenionense gives, the twenty-eight articles, Eckhart's defence of each, and the rebuttal of the commissioners.
He died between 1327 and 1329, but the exact date, place, and circumstances are not recorded. Some modern scholarship suggests he may have died on 28 January 1328. The papal commission eventually confirmed the decision of the Cologne commission against Eckhart. Pope John XXII issued a bull, March 27, 1329, in which a series of statements from Eckhart is characterized as heretical, another as suspected of heresy. The papal bull says that before his death he submitted to the judgment of the Holy See.
(This introduction to the writing and preaching of the gre...)
(In this remarkable work, Reiner Schürmann shows Meister E...)
(Here are the texts that illustrate the diversity of one o...)
( In a modern translation by Raymond B. Blakney, here are...)
(Meister Eckhart (c. 1260-1327) was a Dominican philosophe...)
The present tendency is to regard Eckhart as an orthodox Christian who used the terminology of neo-Platonism, but without accepting its pantheistic implications. He taught that apart from God there is no being. God is present everywhere, but particularly in the human soul. Humanity in its sinful state is not aware of the divine presence. It is only by stripping off everything that is sinful that the soul can be made ready for mystical union with God, which is the ultimate aim of human existence. This goal is not attained by merit but bestowed by grace. No human language is adequate to describe this, the greatest of human experiences, which Eckhart terms "the birth of the Son in the soul."
He was a thorough Aristotelian, but by preference appears to have been drawn towards the mystical writings of the Neoplatonists and the pseudo-Dionysius. His style is unsystematic, brief and abounding in symbolical expression. His manner of thinking is clear, calm and logical, and he has certainly given the most complete exposition of what may be called Christian pantheism.
From his works it is evident that Eckhart was deeply learned in all the philosophy of the time.
