Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T01:16:58.210Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Cross of the Living Lord: The Theology of the Cross and Mysticism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 January 2009

Franceen (Vann) Neufeld
Affiliation:
Faculty of Religious Studies McGill University3520 University St Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3A 2A7

Extract

The theology of the cross, that ‘thin tradition’ stretching back through Luther and Augustine and Paul to find its origins in the Hebrew Scriptures themselves, has often been counterposed to the thicker, yet equally long, tradition of mysticism. In recent years, however, distinctions between these traditions have been expressed less categorically. It is now generally recognized that mysticism cannot be regarded as a single phenomenon. Rather, an understanding of diversity within the mystical tradition is foundational to an adequate appreciation of the richness, not only of mysticism, but of the theology of the cross as well. Ecumenical concerns have provided an incentive for discovering complexities in both traditions, and for breaking down the artificial barriers of long-held prejudices. This may make it possible to perceive ‘mystical theology in Martin Luther and evangelical theology in John of the Cross’.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Scottish Journal of Theology Ltd 1996

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Hall, Douglas john, Lighten our Darkness: Toward an Indigenous Theology of the Cross (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1976), p. 116.Google Scholar

2 Nugent, Donald Christopher, ‘Mystical and Evangelical Theology in Martin Luther and St John of the Cross’, Journal of Ecumenical Studies 28/4 (1991): 556.Google Scholar

3 Nugent, Donald Christopher, ‘What has Wittenberg to do with Avila?Journal of Ecumenical Studies 23/4 (1986): 655.Google Scholar

4 Hoffman, Bengt R., Luther and the Mystics: a re-examination of Luther's spiritual experience and his relationship to the mystics (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1976), pp. 120121.Google Scholar

5 Hall, p. 93.

6 Nugent, , ‘Mystical and Evangelical Theology’, p. 563.Google Scholar

7 Deissmann, Adolf, ‘The Christ-Mystic (1925)’, in The Writings of St Paul, ed. Meeks, Wayne A. (New York: W. W. Norton & Co. Inc., 1972), p. 375.Google Scholar

8 Iserloh, Erwin, ‘Luther's Christ-Mysticism’, in Catholic Scholars Dialogue with Luther, ed. Wicks, Jared (Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1970), p. 40.Google Scholar

9 Nugent, , ‘What has Wittenberg 10 do with Avila?’ p. 657.Google Scholar

10 Hoffman, , Luther and the Mystics, p. 118.Google Scholar

11 von Loewenich, Walther, Luther's Theology of the Cross (Minneapolis, Minnesota: Augsburg Publishing House), p. 27.Google Scholar

12 Eckhart, Meister, Meister Eckhart: The Essential Sermons, Commentaries, Treatises, and Defense, trans. Colledge, Edmund and McGinn, Bernard (New York: Paulist Press, 1981), p. 179.Google Scholar

13 Moltmann, Jürgen, ‘Teresa of Avila and Martin Luther: The turn to the mysticism of the cross’, Studies in Religion 13/3 (1984): 267.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

15 Hoffman, Bengt R., ‘On the Relationship Between Mystical Faith and Moral Life in Luther's Thought’, In Encounters With Luther, Vol. 1: lectures, Discussions and Sermons at the Martin Luther Colloquia, 1970–1974, ed. Gritsch, Eric W. (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania: Lutheran Theological Seminary, 1980), p. 241.Google Scholar

16 Hoffman, , Luther and the Mystics, p. 100.Google Scholar

17 pNugent, , ‘Mystical and Evangelical Theology’, p. 560.Google Scholar

18 Moltmann, , ‘Teresa of Avila and Martin Luther’, p. 265.Google Scholar

19 Moltmann, , ‘Teresa of Avila and Martin Lutherr’, p. 267; Nugent, ‘What has Wittenberg to do with Avila?’, p. 650.Google Scholar

20 Nugent, ‘What has Wittenberg to do with Avila?’, pp. 651–653.

21 John of the Cross, quoted in Nayar, Nancy Ann, Theologia Crucis and the Catholic Tradition: A Study of St John of the Cross (Master's Dissertation, FRS, McGill University, 1981), p. 148.Google Scholar

22 McGrath, Alister E., Luther's Theology of the Cross: Martin Luther's Theological Breakthrough (Oxford: Basil Blackwell Ltd., 1985), p. 150.Google Scholar

23 Ibid., p. 151.

24 Eckhart, p. 198.

25 Tauler, Johannes, Johannes Tauler: Sermons, trans. Shrady, Maria (New York: Paulist Press, 1985), p. 90.Google Scholar

26 Ibid., p. 89.

27 Ibid., p. 70.

28 Ibid., p. 46–47.

29 The Theologia Germanica of Martin Luther, trans. Hoffman, Bengt (New York: Paulist Press, 1980), p. 84.Google Scholar

30 John of the Cross, John of the Cross: Selected Writings (New York: Paulist Press, 1987), p. 101.Google Scholar

31 Nicholas of Cusa, The Vision of God, trans. Salter, Emma Gurney (New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1960), p. 43.Google Scholar

32 Moltmann, , The Crucified God, p. 27.Google Scholar

33 Hall, p. 118.

34 Nicholas of Cusa, pp. 43–44.

35 John of the Cross, p. 83.

36 Ibid., p. 100.

37 Ibid., p. 201.

38 Ibid., p. 121.

39 Ibid., pp. 128–129.

40 Kitamori, Kazoh, Theology of the Pain of God (Richmond, Virginia: John Knox Press, 1965), p. 82.Google Scholar

43 Moltmann, Jürgen, The Crucified God: The Cross of Christ as the Foundation and Criticism of Christian Theology (New York: Harper & Row, 1974), p. 1.Google Scholar

44 Deissmann, p. 381.

45 Tauler, p. 48.

46 John of the Cross. p. 137.

47 Theologia Germanica, p. 63.

48 McGrath, p. 170.

49 Tillich, quoted in Hall, p. 120.

50 Williams, George Huntston, ‘German Mysticism in the Polarization of Ethical Behaviour in Luther and the Anabaptists’, The Mennonite Quarterly Review 48/3 (1974): 284.Google Scholar

51 Hall, p. 120.

52 McGrath, p. 171.

53 Theologia Germanica, p. 72.

54 Ibid., p. 74.

55 Ibid., pp. 98–99.

56 Ibid., p. 75.

57 John of the Cross, p. 192.

58 Ibid., p. 97.

59 Ibid., p. 98.

60 Ibid., p. 96.

61 Tauler, p. 76.

62 Ibid., p. 142.

63 Ibid., p. 76.

64 Hall, p. 111

65 Tauler, p. 143.

66 Ibid., p. 75.

67 Ibid., p. 144.

68 Ibid., p. 48.

69 Theologia Germanica, p. 75.

70 Tauler, p. 141.

71 Eckhart, p. 181.

72 Ibid., p. 198.

73 Ibid., p. 200.

74 Moltmann, , The Crucified God, p. 205.Google Scholar

75 Hall, p. 152.

76 Theologia Germanica p. 92.

77 Moltmann, , The Crucified Cod, p. 37.Google Scholar

78 Eckhari, p. 241.

79 Ibid., p. 203.

80 Ibid., p. 187.

81 Ibid., p. 202.

82 Ibid., p. 195.

83 Moltmann, ‘Teresa of Avila and Martin Luther’, p. 275.

84 Theologia Germanica, p. 107.

85 Ibid., pp. 118, 124.

86 Ibid., p. 110.

87 Ibid., p. 127.

88 McGinn, Bernard, ‘Theological Summary’, in Meister Eckhart: The Essential Sermons, Commentaries, Treatises, and Defense (New York: Paulist Press, 1981), p. 45.Google Scholar

89 Ibid., p. 44.

90 Hall, p. 205.

91 Moltmann, , The Crucified God, p. 72.Google Scholar

92 McGinn, p. 47.

93 Luther, quoted in Iserloh, p. 56.

94 Nugent, ‘What has Wittenberg to do with Avila?’ p. 656.

95 Theologia Germanica, p. 126.

96 Ibid., p. 92.

97 Ibid., p. 143.

98 Fox, Matthew, Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality Presented in Four Paths, Twenty-Six Themes, and Two Questions (Santa Fe: Bear & Company, 1983), p. 310.Google Scholar

99 Fox, Matthew, The Coming of the Cosmic Christ: The Healing ofMother Earth and the Birth of a Global Renaissance (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988), p. 178.Google Scholar

100 Ibid., p. 88.

101 Fox, Original Blessing, p. 220.

102 Kitamori, p. 71.

103 Ibid., p. 74.

104 Ibid., p. 82.

105 Ibid., p. 74.

106 Fox, The Coming of the Cosmic Christ, p.244.

107 Boulton, Wayne G., ‘Bringing Matthew Fox in from the Cold’, Theology Today 48/3 (1991): 277.Google Scholar

108 Fox, Original Blessing, p. 120.

109 Ibid., p. 119.

110 Ibid., p. 120.

111 Noble, Colin, ‘Matthew Fox's Cosmic Christ —A Critical Response’, Crux 27/1 (1991): 22.Google Scholar

112 Fox, Matthew, Whee! We, wee All the Way Home: A Guide to the New Sensual Spirituality (A Consortium Book, 1976), p. v.Google Scholar

113 Ibid., p. 1.

114 Kitamori, pp. 72–73.

115 Ibid., p. 82.

116 Fox, , The Coming of the Cosmic Christ, p. 240.Google Scholar

117 Ibid., pp. 240–241.

118 Kitamori, pp. 77–78.

119 Ibid., p. 73.

120 Käsemann, Ernst, ‘The Pauline Theology of the Cross’, Interpretation 24 (1970): 157.Google Scholar

121 Hall, p. 141.

122 Moltmann, , The Crucified God, p.74.Google Scholar