Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-18T18:55:21.582Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

10 - Exploring the Nature of Mystical Experience

from Part IV - Prominent Themes and Challenges

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 June 2020

By
Steven T. Katz
Edited by
Paul K. Moser  and
Chad Meister
Paul K. Moser
Affiliation:
Loyola University, Chicago
Chad Meister
Affiliation:
Bethel University, Indiana
Get access

Summary

Katz examines mystical experience in relation to the tendency that its content turns out to be what the mystic desires it to be, and he suggests that this tendency is not to be accounted for by the nature of the mystical experience itself. Instead, he proposes that the ineffable and ecstatic experiences of mystics are expressed by them from within the traditions they follow, thus influencing their characterizations of their mystical experiences.

Keywords

Religious experienceMysticismMetaphysicsEpistemologyMystical consciousnessMeditationTradition
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Companion to Religious Experience , pp. 239 - 260
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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

Alston, William. Perceiving God: The Epistemology of Religious Experience. Ithaca, 1991.Google Scholar
Blum, Jason N. Zen and the Unspeakable God: Comparative Interpretations of Mystical Experience. University Park, PA, 2015.Google Scholar
Forgie, William. “Hyper-Kantianism in Recent Discussions of Mysticism,” Religious Studies 21 (1985): 205–18.Google Scholar
Forman, Robert K. C. (ed.). The Problem of Pure Consciousness. New York, 1990.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Forman, Robert K. C. Mysticism, Mind, Consciousness. Albany, 1999.Google Scholar
Gellman, Jerome I. Experience of God and the Rationality of Theistic Belief. Ithaca, NY, 1997.Google Scholar
Gellman, Jerome I. Mystical Experience of God: A Philosophical Inquiry. Aldershot, UK, 2001.Google Scholar
Hammersholt, Torben. “Steven T. Katz’s ‘Philosophy of Mysticism’ Revisited,” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 81 (June 2013): 467–90.Google Scholar
Idel, Moshe, and McGinn, Bernard (eds.). Mystical Union and Monotheistic Faith: An Ecumenical Dialogue. New York, 1989.Google Scholar
Inge, William R. Mysticism in Religion. Chicago, 1948.Google Scholar
James, William. The Varieties of Religious Experience. New York, 1902.Google Scholar
Julian of Norwich, . Revelations of Divine Love. London, 1901.Google Scholar
Katz, Steven T. “Language Epistemology and Mysticism,” in Katz, Steven T. (ed.), Mysticism and Philosophical Analysis. New York, 1978.Google Scholar
Katz, Steven T. “Mystical Speech and Mystical Meaning,” in Katz, Steven T. (ed.), Mysticism and Language, pp. 3–41. New York, 1992.Google Scholar
Katz, Steven T. (ed.). Comparative Mysticism: An Anthology of Original Sources. Oxford, 2013.Google Scholar
King, Sally. “Two Epistemological Models for the Interpretation of Mysticism,” Journal of American Academy of Religion 71 (2) (1988): 257–79.Google Scholar
Kohn, Livia. Readings in Daoist Mysticism. St. Petersburg, FL, 2009.Google Scholar
Nishida, Kitaro. Inquiry into the God. Translated by Masao Abe and Christopher Ives. New Haven, 1990.Google Scholar
Otto, Rudolf. The Idea of the Holy: An Inquiry into the Non-Rational Factor in the Idea of the Divine and its Relation to the Rational. Translated by John W. Harvey. New York, 1958.Google Scholar
Poulain, Augustin. The Graces of Interior Prayer: A Treatise on Mystical Theology. St. Louis, 1987.Google Scholar
Pike, Nelson. Mystic Union: An Essay in the Phenomenology of Mysticism. Ithaca, 1992.Google Scholar
Price, James R. “Mysticism, Meditation and Consciousness,” in Forman, Robert K. C. (ed.), Innate Capacity: Mysticism, Psychology and Philosophy, pp. 211–222. Oxford, 1998.Google Scholar
Saint Teresa of Avila, . The Life of Teresa of Jesus: The Autobiography of Teresa of Avila. Translated by Peers, E. A.. Garden City, NY, 1960.Google Scholar
Saint Teresa of Avila, . The Interior Castle. Translated by Peers, E. A.. New York, 1961.Google Scholar
Smart, Ninian. “Interpretation and Mystical Experience,” in Woods, Richard (ed.), Understanding Mysticism. New York, 1980.Google Scholar
Stace, Walter T. Mysticism and Philosophy. London, 1961.Google Scholar
Suzuki, Daisetz T. Mysticism: Christian and Buddhist. London, 1957.Google Scholar
Underhill, Evelyn. Essentials of Mysticism and Other Essays. Oxford, 1999.Google Scholar
Wainwright, William J. Mysticism: A Study of Its Nature, Cognitive Value, and Moral Implications. Madison, WI, 1982.Google Scholar
Weiqiao, Jiang. Jingzuo fa jiyao. Taipei, 1985.Google Scholar
Zaehner, Robert Charles. Mysticism Sacred and Profane. Oxford, 1957.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×