Meister Eckhart On Divine Knowledge

Of all Christian mystical teachings, those of the Dominican theologian Meister Eckhart (c. 1260--c. 1328) are increasingly recognized as the most compatible with the non-dualistic traditions of Buddhism and Hinduism. Based on the author's three decades of formal study and spiritual practice, this book offers a clear path to understanding the breadth and depth of Eckhart's unique achievement. C.F. Kelley argues that the fundamental principle that elevates Eckhart above all other Western mystics, and links him to Eastern spiritual approaches, is his insistence that we think principally in divinis-that is, from within the mind or orientation of the Godhead or Divine Knowledge itself. Kelley begins by identifying Eckhart's fundamental tenets and clearing up common misconceptions about his teachings. Then he devotes individual chapters to key topics including God and Man, The Word, and Detachment. Like Eckhart, Kelley can be seen as teacher and preacher, leading contemporary readers through his subject's most difficult philosophical and theological principles in a manner that appeals to both our mind and our heart.

"The most engaging and illuminating study of a 'mystical thinker' I have read. Those who read it carefully will find the most sympathetic and sophisticated treatment of Eckhart in English."
--Steven E. Ozment, author of "Mysticism and Dissent: Religious Ideology and Social Protest in the Sixteenth Century "and "Flesh and Spirit: A Study of Private Life in Early Modern Germany"
"C. F. Kelley's "Meister Eckhart on Divine Knowledge," first published in 1977, is a true classic of modern research on Eckhart. The first major study of the German Dominican in English, it effected an important shift in understanding Eckhart by demonstrating that he teaches and preaches primarily from a 'principial' perspective--that is, from God's viewpoint as the source and principle of all things. Eckhart's principial knowledge, as Kelley shows, 'starts within God and then proceeds to understand all things from the standpoint of divine instasis.' Once one grasps this fundamental, if startling, insight, many of the seeming contradictions and conundrums of Eckhart's thought fall away to reveal the true profundity of his teaching about the relation of God and human. This reissue of Kelley's book will be welcomed by all students of Eckhart."
--Bernard McGinn, author of "The Mystical Thought of Meister Eckhart: The Man from Whom God Hid Nothing" and "The Harvest of Mysticism in Medieval Germany"
"In my view, no other study of Meister Eckhart has so well penetrated to the marrow of the great Dominican teacher and preacher's philosophical and theological achievement. In the process of exploring what he has called the 'axial theme' in Eckhart's teaching, Kelley has also managed to produce the greatestphilosophical and theological exegesis on non-dualism to come out of the Christian tradition."
--William Stranger, DharmaCafe.com