Name: Treatises. Sermons
Author: Meister Eckhart
Publisher: Nauka
Year: 443
Pages: 2010
Format: DjVu
Size: 5.22 Mb
Quality: Scanned pages + OCR layer
Russian language
ISBN: 978-5-02-036865-1
Series Literary monuments
The edition includes translations of the most important writings of the great German mystic of the Late Middle Ages, John Eckhart of Hochheim (c. 1260-1328). These writings include four treatises written by Eckhart in different periods of his work - "Speech of Instruction", "The Book of Divine Comfort", "On a Man of a High Kind", "On Detachment" - as well as more than thirty sermons, some of which attracted the attention of the Cologne inquisition. The main section of the collection is accompanied by "Supplements", which includes an early disputation "Are being and knowledge identical in God", "Prologue to the Work of Theses" and the most important documents of the Cologne-Avignon trial held against Eckhart in 1325-1329, the main of which is the bull of Pope John XXII "In the field of the Lord." The publication includes The Book of Truth by the Dominican Henry Suso: Eckhart's posthumous apology and the "sum" of his theological ideas. The accompanying article offers an essay on the work of the German mystic and its cultural and historical context.
TREATMENTS
Instruction speeches 7
Book of Divine Comfort 40
About a person of high family 67
About detachment 74
SERMONS
Sermon 1 85
Sermon 2 89
Sermon 3 93
Sermon 4 96
Sermon 5 a 100
Sermon 5 b 103
Sermon 6 106
Sermon 7 109
Sermon 8 111
Sermon 9 114
Sermon 10 119
Sermon 11 123
Sermon 12 126
Sermon 13 130
Sermon 13 a 132
Sermon 14 133
Sermon 15 136
Sermon 16 a 139
Sermon 16-140
Sermon 17,144
Sermon 18,146
Sermon 19 149
Sermon 20 a 151
Sermon 20-154
Sermon 21 157
Sermon 22 160
Sermon 23 164
Sermon 24 167
Sermon 50 169
Sermon 51 171
Sermon 52 174
Sermon 53 179
Sermon 71 181
Sermon 54 (Pf.) 186
Latin Sermon 49,188
ADDITIONS
Scholastic writings
Are being and knowledge identical in God 193
Prologue to Work of Theses 198
Materials for the inquisitorial process
Statement by Meister Eckhart to the Inquisitors of Cologne on 26
September 1326 205
Meister Eckhart's appeal of 24 January 1327 206
Justification speech by Meister Eckhart delivered by him 13
February 1327 209
Answer of the Inquisition Commission dated February 22, 1327 211
Bull of Pope John XXII "In the field of the Lord" of March 27, 1329 213
Eckhartian literature
Granum sinapis (The Mustard Seed Sequence) (Translated by E.V. Ro-
dionic) 219
Heinrich Suso. Book of Truth 222
Toten tanz (Würzburg's "Dance of Death") (Translated by E.V. Rodio-
new) 243
APPS
M.Yu. Reutin. Meister Eckhart: In Search of the "Unknown God" 255
Notes (compiled by M.Yu. Reutin) 351
Literature on German mysticism of the Middle Ages and the "new
piety" in Russian 431
List of abbreviations 434
List of illustrations 435
Meister Eckhart - about the author
The title "Meister", meaning in German "master, teacher", indicates the academic title of master of theology received in Paris.
Born into a noble family in Hochheim around 1260. Entering the Dominican order, he studied at Dominican schools and became a master of theology in 1302. He studied at the University of Paris. In 1303-1311 he was the provincial prior of the order in Saxony. From 1311 he was a professor in Paris, from 1313 in Strasbourg and from 1320 a reading teacher in Cologne.
The author of sermons and treatises, which have been preserved mainly in the notes of the students. The main theme of his reflections: Deity - the impersonal absolute, standing behind God. The divinity is incomprehensible and inexpressible, it is "the complete purity of the divine essence", where there is no movement. Through its self-knowledge, the Deity becomes God. God is eternal being and eternal life. According to Eckhart's concept, a person is able to know God, because in the human soul there is a "divine spark", a particle of the Divine. Man, having muted his will, must passively surrender to God. Then the soul, detached from everything, will ascend to the Divine and in mystical ecstasy, breaking with the earthly, will merge with the divine. Bliss depends on the inner self-activity of a person. Catholic teaching could not accept Eckhart's concept. In 1329, the papal bull of John XXII declared 28 of his teachings to be false.
Eckhart gave a certain impetus to the development of German Christian mysticism, anticipated Hegel's idealistic dialectic, and played a major role in the formation of the literary German language. He is the teacher of I. Tauler and G. Suso. Luther owes a lot to him. In the 20th century, the question of the rehabilitation of Eckhart was raised in the Vatican.
Meister Eckhart - books for free:
When there is no more time, this is the fulfillment of time...
When the day is no more, then the day is done...
Verily, where this birth is to take place, all time must disappear there; for there is nothing that would prevent this so much as time and creation ...
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Meister Eckhart - books in whole or in part are available for free download and reading.
The title "Meister", meaning in German "master, teacher", indicates the academic title of Master of Theology (Magister in theologia), received in Paris.
Biography
Born into a noble family in Hochheim around 1260. Entering the Dominican order, he studied at Dominican schools and became a master of theology in 1302. He studied at the University of Paris. In 1303-1311 he was the provincial prior of the order in Saxony. From 1311 he was a professor in Paris, from 1313 - in Strasbourg, and from 1320 - a reading teacher in Cologne.
Doctrine
The author of sermons and treatises, which have been preserved mainly in the notes of the students. The main theme of his reflections: Deity - the impersonal absolute, standing behind God. The divinity is incomprehensible and inexpressible, it is "the complete purity of the divine essence", where there is no movement. Through its self-knowledge, the Deity becomes God. God is eternal being and eternal life. According to Eckhart's concept, a person is able to know God, because in the human soul there is a "divine spark", a particle of the Divine. Man, having muted his will, must passively surrender to God. Then the soul, detached from everything, will ascend to the Divine and in mystical ecstasy, breaking with the earthly, will merge with the divine. Bliss depends on the inner self-activity of a person. Catholic teaching could not accept Eckhart's concept. In 1329, the papal bull of John XXII declared 28 of his teachings to be false. Eckhart gave a certain impetus to the development of German Christian mysticism, anticipated Hegel's idealistic dialectic, and played a major role in the formation of the literary German language. He is the teacher of I. Tauler and G. Suso. Luther owes a lot to him. In the 20th century, the question of the rehabilitation of Eckhart was raised in the Vatican.
Heritage
Modern editions
- Master Eckhart. Selected sermons and treatises / Transl., Enter. Art. and comment. N. O. Guchinskaya. SPb., 2001
- Master Eckhart. Sermons / Transl., preface. and comment. I. M. Prokhorova (Anthology of Medieval Thought: in 2 volumes, Vol. 2, St. Petersburg, 2002. P. 388-416
- Meister Eckhart. Treatises. Sermons. / The publication was prepared by M. Yu. Reutin. Managing editor N. A. Bondarenko. - M.: Nauka, 2010. - 438 p. [C]. - (Literary monuments).
Biographical information. Johann Eckhart (1260-1327/1328), nicknamed Meister (Meister) 1 - German theologian and philosopher. Coming from a knightly family, he entered the Dominican order at the age of 15, and began to study theology in a monastery. Studied in Paris (c. 1277) and Strasbourg, and then
1 The nickname arose due to the fact that in 1302-1303 he taught in Paris as ma gister a ctu r egens
in K flax 1 - among the students of Albert the Great. In 1293-1294. Eckhart taught at the Sorbonne, soon became chief curate in Bohemia, and later taught at Strasbourg, Paris and Cologne.
In 1326, the bishop of Flax appointed a commission to verify the orthodoxy of Eckhart's ideas; a year later, the materials of the commission were sent to Avignon 2, where Eckhart also went to defend himself, but did not have time to do so. Already after his death, Pope John XXII in 1329 condemned 28 of Eckhart's theses, recognizing 17 of them as heretical, but it was reported that Eckhart himself renounced heretical ideas before his death.
Although already in 1278 the Dominican order recognized Thomism as its official philosophy, there was no complete unity among the Dominicans on this issue. In particular, in Germany, among the students of Albert the Great, the development of Neoplatonist traditions and his mystical tendencies continued. They also influenced the teachings of Meister, in which they originally united with the teachings of Aristotle about the World Mind (which is at the same time the First Cause, the Highest Goal and the First Form of all that exists).
Main works."Three-part work" (first published in 1924); "Research", "Spiritual Sermons" 3 .
Philosophical views.The doctrine of unity. Central to Eckhart's teaching is the idea unity man and God, natural and supernatural worlds. The world exists because God has the idea of creation and the will to create. In this idea of unity, there is a connection with the concept of the One among the Neoplatonists and their Christian followers. But for Eckhart, this unity is life itself, it is also the religious meaning of life and the ultimate goal of human existence. In the integrity of the triune Christian God 4, trinity embodies the eternal rhythm of the generation of love, which does not go beyond itself, constantly remaining in its own circle of perfection.
God is also unity of being and knowledge. God is the intellect, whose existence consists in knowing oneself: “God is reason and rational knowledge ... is the basis of his being” 5 (in this Eckhart's God is similar to the Aristotelian World Mind). Somewhat later, 6 Ek-
1 Eckhart did not find either Albert himself or his student Thomas Aquinas there.
2 During this period, the papacy was located there.
3 These sermons were written in German because they were intended for nuns who did not know Latin.
4 God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
5 Cited. Quoted from: "The New Philosophical Encyclopedia": In 4 vols. M., 2001. Vol. IV. S. 429.
6 In 1302-1303. - Parisian period.
Hart talks about changing his point of view: he no longer believes that God knows because he exists, but, on the contrary, "God exists because he knows."
Based on the Gospel of John, which begins with the words “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,” Eckhart concludes: since the Word was in the very beginning, knowledge (through words) occupies the highest place in the hierarchy of perfections, and then come being and being. In the spoken Word both being and non-being are hidden. From this we can say about God as pure intellect that He is non-existence. However, one can say about Him that He is being 1, but not because He creates being and, of course, not as created, but as “purity of being”, i.e. as the cause of everything that exists - for the sake of which everything else exists (exists) (here God in Eckhart acts as an analogue of the First Cause in Aristotle).
The intellect is always one, although one can distinguish between the Divine and the human. Due to the presence of reason, a person is initially involved in God, although he cannot understand Him with the help of his reason. To understand God, one must merge with Him. This is the basic task of human existence, since apart from God nothing has meaning. How to do this is explained by Eckhart in "the doctrine of emptiness".
The doctrine of emptiness. The essence of man, as well as any other creature (ie, everything created), is in God. Therefore, if a person wants to find himself, he must return to God. This process begins in the human soul endowed with intellect. Once ignited, the mind plunges into the idea of God. But in order to "melt into God", one must get away from oneself, from one's created nature, including the image of God created by man. “Poverty of the spirit” must take place and “death of the soul” must occur, and for this there must be nothing material in it, i.e. you need to make your soul "empty". But since the world is a unity of the natural and the supernatural, when we banish the natural from our soul, it is inevitably filled with the supernatural; since the intellect is one, then, by banishing everything human from our mind, we free the divine mind (Scheme 78): To be "empty" means to be "full of God" 2 .
1 The thesis about God as being and non-being took place in Kabbalah, but it received a different substantiation there.
2 This “emptiness of the soul” filled by God is somewhat reminiscent of the state of samadhi in yogic practice (see p. 54) or the realization of the identity of “I” and Brahma in Vedanta (see pp. 162-163).
Scheme 78. Soul release
A righteous man with God in his soul does not care about anything earthly and is not attached to anything, he is not interested in property, career, etc. He perceives everything that happens around him and with him in "the infinitely loving will of God." Even the sufferings, hardships and shame sent by God, the righteous accepts with joy and does not grumble. Such a person leaves the stamp of divinity on everything he does, for his deeds are rather the deeds of God. By itself, the righteous does not want anything, and therefore wants the same thing as God.
However, characterizing this process of "melting into God", Eckhart does not write anything about experiencing a special state of enlightenment - unlike mystics in general and Neoplatonists in particular, ecstasy does not turn out to be the most important way of knowing God and approaching Him.
Eckhart's doctrine of emptiness can be considered an original solution to the problem of knowledge and faith. If Thomas Aquinas spoke about the harmony of knowledge and faith, the Averroists - Duns Scotus and William of Occam (each in his own way) - argued the incompatibility of reason and faith, then Eckhart's human mind turned out to be a specific tool for communion with God.
The fate of teaching Eckhart's mysticism was developed by his students, and many later philosophers turned to him, including Russians (Scheme 79). The doctrine of the unity of the Divine and the human, the natural and the supernatural played a significant role in the formation of pantheism, in particular in Nicholas of Cusa.
Scheme 79. Eckhart: origins and influence
Late scholasticism
Late scholasticism covers the period of the XIV-XV centuries, when the Renaissance began in Italy. During this historical period, many countries of Europe were shaken by large popular uprisings. The long-term struggle of the Roman Catholic Church with secular power ended in the defeat of the clergy. At the end of the XIII century. the relationship between the pope and the French king Philip IV (the Handsome) became especially aggravated; as a result, French troops invaded Rome and captured Pope Boniface VIII (he died in captivity). The papal throne was transferred from Rome to the French city of Avignon (the "Avignon captivity" lasted from 1303 to 1377). At this time, attacks on the church and Franciscan calls for apostolic poverty 1 intensified. In the 20s. 14th century a new political conflict unfolded in Europe - between Pope John XXII and the emperor (of the Holy Roman Empire of the German people) Louis of Bavaria, who laid on himself the imperial crown, despite the resistance of the pope.
In the transitional period from mature to late scholasticism, the Franciscan stood out in particular William of Ockham(1288-1349), who, in particular, opposed the claims of the papacy to secular power. His followers, called Occamists - Jean Buridan (1290-1358), Jean Jandin (died c. 1324) and others - played an important role in late scholasticism. Thus, Marsilius of Padua (c. 1280-1342) in his political theory developed Occam's ideas about the primacy of imperial power. In his opinion, the church should be separated from the state, as reason from faith, and the church should be subordinate to the state. But Marsilius also loses secular power of its “divine halo”. The state is a purely human institution based on the reason and experience of people. Above all in the state is not the monarch or other ruler, but the law established by the people. These political views and the Averroist views of Marsilius led to the fact that he was declared a heretic by Pope John XXII and was forced to flee (like Ockham) to Louis of Bavaria. Together with the latter, he participated in the victorious campaign in Italy and the removal from the papal throne of John XXII, who was proclaimed antipope.
1 The Franciscan Order was founded by St. Francis of Assisi in the 13th century. One of the main ideas of St. Francis was that the monks of his order had to lead the way of life of the apostles, i.e. live in poverty, renouncing all possessions. St. himself Francis gave all his possessions to the poor. Many Christians in that era were outraged that the clergy (especially the higher ones) lead a luxurious lifestyle, and demanded that their "spiritual fathers" follow the precepts of "apostolic poverty."
An important place in late scholasticism is also occupied by mystical teachings, especially by the followers of Meister Eckhart, for example, his students Johann Tauler (1300-1361), Heinrich Suso (1296-1366), etc.
Occam (Occam)
Biographical information. William of Ockham (1288-1349) was born in the village of Occam near London. At the age of 20, he entered the Franciscan order. Educated at Oxford, in 1324 he moved to the Franciscan monastery in Avignon. Pope John XXII accused him of heresy, and in 1328 Ockham was forced to flee from Avignon to Emperor Louis of Bavaria, who was then at enmity with the pope. According to legend, Okcam said to the emperor: "Protect me with a sword, and I will protect you with a word." In 1349 William of Ockham died of cholera.
Main works."The sum of all logic" (Summa logicae), "Treatise on the sacraments" (Tractatus de sacramentis), "Labor of 90 days", "Compendium of errors of Pope John XXII".
Philosophical views.The problem of knowledge and faith. Ockham is characterized by a complete demarcation of philosophy and theology. Philosophy is not the "handmaid of theology" because the truths of religion are not rationally provable. Reason is not able to support faith, because the truths of faith are not self-evident, like axioms, and not deducible, like theorems. Theology is not a science, but a complex of provisions connected only by faith. The spheres of human reason and faith do not intersect, they are separated and will forever remain so. "I believe and understand"- Occam's slogan in solving this problem.
The problem of universals. Ockham developed a special version of nominalism, called "termism". Among the followers of Plato and Aristotle, ideas or forms (universals) play a mediating role between God and the world of individual concrete things. But Occam notes that if the power of the Creator is infinite, then he does not need any mediating links, but is able to create many specific things by a direct act of his Divine will. Hence, the world turns out to be a set of individual objects, and only they, and not the general (ideas, forms, universals), can be the subject of study in science. Universals are not necessary to explain being, so they should be excluded from our picture of the world. "Entities should not be multiplied beyond what is necessary" - Ockham's thesis, which received the name "Occam's razor" (this principle later became the main instrument of criticism of Platonism and Aristotelianism). There are no universals in things and before things, they are
only terms, signs of things, fixing the similarity between all objects called by the same term.
The fate of teaching During the period of late scholasticism, Occam's teaching had a large number of followers, they were called "Occamists", and the movement itself was called the "new way", as opposed to the "old way", i.e. scholasticism. This movement influenced the development of empiricism in the 17th century.
Buridan
Biographical information. Jean Buridan (1290-1358) - French philosopher, follower of Occam. From 1328 he taught at the University of Paris at the artistic (philosophical) faculty.
Main works. Most of Buridan's works are commentaries on the writings of Aristotle, and they were built in the form of "questions". His first works were published in the XV-XVII centuries.
Philosophical views.natural science ideas. Jean Buridan did not deal with theology at all; his focus was on natural science problems. In particular, he developed the doctrine of momentum, or force (impetus), which played an important role in the further development of physics and contradicted Aristotle's doctrine of motion.
The problem of free will. Of all the ideas of Buridan, the most famous are his arguments in defense of the thesis of free will and the example illustrating them, the so-called Buridan's donkey. And although, according to a number of studies, this example does not belong to him, in the history of world culture he turned out to be closely associated with the name of Buridan.
The essence of the example is as follows: imagine a donkey standing between two bundles of hay. These bundles are exactly the same and are at exactly the same distance (to the right and left) from the donkey. If all the behavior of living beings were causally determined (determined), then in such a situation the donkey would die of hunger, since he has no reason to choose a bundle with which he can start eating hay. But since in real life no donkey died in such a situation, therefore, even donkeys have free will.
Meister Eckhart (1260 - 1327) - German mystic, theologian and philosopher who taught the radical to see God in everything. His esoteric experience and practical spiritual philosophy made him popular, but also led to accusations of heresy by the local Inquisition. Despite the fact that his writings were condemned as heretical, they remain an important source of mystical experience within the Christian tradition, represented by Silesius, Nicholas of Cusa, Boehme Jacob, Eckhart Meister, Kierkegaard, Francis of Assisi, and others.
short biography
Eckhart von Hochheim was born in Tambach near Gotha in Thuringia in present-day Central Germany. It was an influential province in terms of religious movements in medieval Europe. Other notable religious figures born there are Mechthild of Magdeburg, Thomas Müntzer and
There is not much reliable information about Eckhart's early life, but he apparently left his home at the age of 15 to join the Dominican order in nearby Erfurt. The order was founded in the south of France in 1215 by St. Dominic as a preacher whose members were trained to become teachers and orators. In 1280, Eckhart was sent to Cologne to receive a basic higher education, which included 5 years of philosophy and 3 years of theology. Between classes, he read monastic services for 3 hours a day, the Orationes Secretae prayer and was silent for a long time. In Cologne, Erkhart met the scholastic mystic Albert the Great, doctor of all sciences and teacher of Thomas Aquinas, the most famous theologian of the church. By 1293 Eckhart was finally ordained a monk.
Studying in Paris
In 1294 he was sent to Paris to study the "Sentences" of Peter Lombard. The University of Paris was the center of medieval learning, where he was able to access all the important works and apparently read most of them. In Paris, he became a teacher at the Dominican monastery of Saint-Jacques, and later he was appointed abbot of a monastery in Erfurt near his birthplace. His reputation as a theologian and prior must have been good, as he was entrusted with the leadership of the region of Saxony, which had 48 monasteries. Eckhart was considered a good and efficient administrator, but his main passion was teaching and public preaching.
In May 1311 Eckhart was invited to teach in Paris. This was another confirmation of his reputation. Foreigners were rarely given the privilege of being twice invited to teach in Paris. This post gave him the title of Meister (from the Latin Magister - "master", "teacher"). In Paris, Eckhart often took part in heated religious debates with the Franciscans.
The bulk of his duties consisted of educating members of the Dominican order as well as the uneducated general public. He gained a reputation as a strong teacher who stimulated the work of thought in his students. Meister Eckhart filled his sermons and writings with a mystical element that was underestimated or not mentioned in traditional biblical and church teachings. He also had the ability to simplify complex concepts and explain them in plain language, which appealed to the common people. This increased his personal popularity, and his sermons were a great success.
In 1322 Eckhart, the most famous preacher of the time, was transferred to Cologne, where he gave his most famous speeches.
The divinity of man
Eckhart's philosophy emphasized the divinity of man. He often referred to the spiritual connection between the soul and God. One of his most famous sayings is: “The eye with which I see God is the same eye with which God sees me. My eye and the eye of God is one eye, and one look, and one knowledge, and one love.
This is reminiscent of the words of Jesus Christ that he and his Father are one. Eckhart's statement also illustrates how his philosophy harmonized with Eastern mysticism, which emphasizes the nearness of God.
receptive mind
Meister Eckhart was a committed mystic because he taught the importance of stilling the mind so that it becomes receptive to the presence of God. “To a peaceful mind, everything is possible. What is a calm mind? A calm mind worries about nothing, does not worry about anything, and, free from bonds and self-interest, completely merges with the will of God and becomes dead to its own.
Detachment
Eckhart also taught the importance of detachment. Like other esoteric teachings, Meister's philosophy suggested that the seeker should separate the mind from earthly distractions such as desire, for example.
Indestructible detachment brings a person into the likeness of God. “To be full of things, one must be empty to God; to be empty of things, one must be filled with God.”
The omnipresence of God
Meister Eckhart believed that God is present in all living organisms, although he discerned an Absolute God who was beyond all form and manifestation of God in the world. "We must find God the same in everything and always find God the same in everything."
Although Eckhart was a mystic, he also advocated selfless service to the world to help overcome the selfish nature of man.
heresy accusations
With the growth of his popularity, some high-ranking figures of the church began to see elements of heresy in his teachings. In particular, the Archbishop of Cologne was concerned that Eckhart's popular sermons were misleading to simple and uneducated people "which could easily lead their hearers into error".
In 1325, the pope's representative, Nicholas of Strasbourg, at the request of Pope John XXII, checked the work of the preacher and declared them to be orthodox. But in 1326 Meister Eckhart was formally accused of heresy, and in 1327 the Archbishop of Cologne ordered an inquisitorial process. In February 1327, the preacher made a passionate defense of his convictions. He denied doing anything wrong and publicly argued his innocence. As Meister Eckhart argued, spiritual sermons and discourses were intended to encourage ordinary people and monks to strive to do good and develop selflessness. He may have used unorthodox language, but his intentions were noble and aimed at instilling in people the most important spiritual concepts of the teachings of Christ.
“If the ignorant are not taught, they will never learn, and none of them will ever learn the art of living and dying. The ignorant are taught in the hope of turning them from ignoramuses into enlightened men."
“Thanks to higher love, the whole life of man must be raised from temporary egoism to the source of all love, to God: man will again be master over nature, abiding in God and raising it to God.”
Death at the papal residence
After being found guilty by the Archbishop of Cologne, Meister Eckhart traveled to Avignon, where Pope John XXII set up a tribunal to investigate the preacher's appeal. Here Eckhart died in 1327 before the Pope had reached a final decision. After his death, the head of the Catholic Church called some of Meister's teachings heresy, finding 17 points that were contrary to the Catholic faith, and 11 more that were suspected of this. It is assumed that this was an attempt to rein in mystical teachings. However, it has been said that Eckhart renounced his views before his death, so he personally remained without blemish. This compromise was supposed to reassure both his critics and supporters.
Eckhart's influence
After the death of a popular preacher, his reputation was shaken by the papal condemnation of some of his writings. But he still remained influential in Eckhart Meister, whose books were partially not condemned, continued to influence the minds of his followers through his writings. Many of his followers participated in the Friends of God movement that existed in communities throughout the region. The new leaders were less radical than Eckhart, but they retained his teachings.
Meister's mystical views were probably used in the creation of the anonymous work of the 14th century, The Theology of Germanicus. This work had a great influence on the Protestant Reformation. The Theologia Germanicus was significant because it criticized the role of the church hierarchy and emphasized the importance of man's direct connection with God. These ideas were used by Martin Luther when he challenged the secular authority of the Roman Catholic Church.
Revival of the doctrine
In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, a wide range of spiritual traditions re-popularized the teachings and legacy left by Meister Eckhart. Even Pope John Paul II used quotes from his works: “Didn't Eckhart teach his disciples: all God asks you most of all is to get out of yourself and let God be God in you. One might think that by separating himself from the creatures, the mystic leaves humanity aside. The same Eckhart argues that, on the contrary, the mystic is miraculously present at the only level where he can really reach him, that is, in God.
Many Catholics believe that the teachings of the German preacher are in line with long-standing traditions and have similarities with the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas, a doctor of the church and fellow Dominican. Eckhart's work is an important canon in the tradition of Christian spirituality and mysticism.
Meister Eckhart was brought back to prominence by a number of German philosophers who praised his work. These include Franz Pfeiffer, who republished his works in 1857, and Schopenhauer, who translated the Upanishads and compared Meister's teachings with those of Indian and Islamic esotericists. According to him, Buddha, Eckhart and he all teach the same thing.
Boehme Jakob, Eckhart Meister and other Christian mystics are also considered great teachers of the Theosophical movement.
In the twentieth century, the Dominicans took the trouble to clear the name of the German preacher and presented in a new light the brilliance and relevance of his work. In 1992, the general master of the order made an official request to Cardinal Ratzinger to annul the papal bull branding Meister. Although this did not happen, his rehabilitation can be considered completed. He can rightly be called one of the greatest masters of Western spirituality.
Eckhart's legacy
The surviving works of Eckhart in Latin were written before 1310. These are:
- "Paris Questions";
- "General introduction to the work in three parts";
- "Introduction to a Work on Propositions";
- "Introduction to the work on comments";
- "Comments on the Book of Genesis";
- "The Book of Parables of Genesis";
- "Commentary on the Book of Exodus";
- "Commentary on the Book of Wisdom";
- "Sermons and lectures on the twenty-fourth chapter of Ecclesiastes";
- "Commentary on the Song of Songs";
- "Commentary on John";
- "Paradise of the rational soul";
- "Protection", etc.
Works in German:
- "86 spiritual sermons and discourses";
- "Conversations on Instruction";
- "The Book of Divine Comfort", etc.