Eckhart von Hochheim
Meister Eckhart (c. 1260 - 1327/8) is one of the great Christian mystics.
He was born near Erfurt in Thuringia and in his distinguished career
became a Parisian Professor of Theology and took a leading pastoral and
organisational role in the Dominican Order.
In the language of the Christian tradition Eckhart expounds the eternal
mysteries in a style that is fresh and original in the best sense. Through the
vividness of his use of imagery (alluding to the mysteries of the spark of the
soul, the Abyss, the desert, the birth of the Word in the heart, etc.) Eckhart
paradoxically directs us to that which lies beyond image.
The depth and universality of Eckhart's teaching has drawn seekers of truth
Christian and non-Christian alike. His radical and penetrating insight makes
him a natural point of reference for a genuinely ecumenical understanding.
The Controversy
Despite Meister Eckhart's distinction and popularity, indeed partly because
of it, in the political and ecclesiastical turbulence of the fourteenth century,
the Meister found himself accused of heresy. Some passages of his work
were posthumously condemned as heretical or dangerous and a shadow was
cast over his reputation. His works were influential in late medieval
spirituality but later were almost forgotten. With the growing interest in
Eckhart today, both inside and outside the Church, it needs to be made clear
whether he is acceptable to the Church as a Christian theologian and
spiritual master.
Since 1980 steps have been taken by the Dominican Order, supported by lay
people and friends, to seek an official declaration from the Pope in order to
acknowledge "the exemplary character of Eckhart's activity and preaching
and to recommend his writings (particularly the spiritual works, treatises
and sermons) as an expression of authentic Christian mysticism and as
trustworthy guides to the Christian life according to the spirit of the gospel".
In 1985 the Master of the Dominican Order set up a Commission to
examine the orthodoxy of Eckhart's teaching, and one of the initial aims of
the Eckhart Society was to support the work of that Commission, whose
report has now been submitted.
Some sayings of Meister Eckhart:
"Whoever possesses God in their being, has him in a divine manner, and he
shines out to them in all things; for them all things taste of God and in all
things it is God's image that they see."
"People should not worry as much about what they do but rather about what
they are. If they and their ways are good, then their deeds are radiant. If you
are righteous, then what you do will also be righteous. We should not think
that holiness is based on what we do but rather on what we are, for it is not
our works which sanctify us but we who sanctify our works."
"It is a fair trade and an equal exchange: to the extent that you depart from
things, thus far, no more and no less, God enters into you with all that is
his, as far as you have stripped yourself of yourself in all things. It is here
that you should begin, whatever the cost, for it is here that you will find true
peace, and nowhere else." Talks of Instruction
In 1985 the Pope, John Paul II, said: "Did not Eckhart teach his disciples:
'All that God asks you most pressingly is to go out of yourself - and let God
be God in you'? One could think that, in separating himself from creatures,
the mystic leaves his brothers, humanity, behind. The same Eckhart affirms
that, on the contrary, the mystic is marvelously present to them on the only
level where he can truly reach them, that is in God."