Mystical Union in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam: An Ecumenical Dialogue

Book Overview

Mystics who have spoken of their union with God have come under suspicion in all three major religious traditions, sometimes to the point of condemnation and execution in the case of Christianity and Islam. Nevertheless, in all three religions the tradition of unio mystica is deep and long. Many of the spiritual giants of these three faiths have seen the attainment of mystical union as the heart of their beliefs and practices.

Despite its importance, mystical union has rarely been investigated in itself, apart from the wider study of mysticism, and even more rarely from the aspect of comparative studies, especially those based upon broad and expert knowledge of the inner life of the three related monotheistic faiths. This text brings together essays that equally explore the broader idea of unio mystica as well as the mystic traditions within each religion.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1474281192
• ISBN13: 9781474281195
• Release Date: October 2016
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 1.23 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Mystical Bargain

It is a bit unseemly to speak of a bargain when it comes to a book on mysticism but this one really is. The original price was [amount]; I can only assume there was an over-printing. The five writers included in this book are some of the most insightful modern thinkers on the subject. Michael Sells treatment of mysticism in Islam makes for rich reflection. He seems to have a noetic understanding of the subject: "The encountering of the secret is not so much a resolution of mystery (transcending duality) through a comprehensive knowledge as it is a deepening of mystery through unresolvable paradox."Daniel Merkur makes an excellent discussion of the "unitive experience." He takes a cross cultural approach that gives the reader a fair estimate of what the actual experience of mystical union is for the mystic in practical terms: "Unitive visions are clearly variant forms of unitive ideas in which the ideas have undergone symboliztion into pictorial form, much as ideas do during the dreams of natural sleep....