From Library Journal
Meister Eckhart has become one of the touchstones of modern spirituality and liberal Christianity, a type representing the misunderstood and ultimately persecuted mystic. And, indeed, there is much value in his writings. This newly translated selection does not much alter that, although Eckhart's own rather terse, not to say cryptic, mystic messages are somewhat overwhelmed by lengthy commentary. For larger collections, especially where Eckhart is lacking. Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Bernard McGinn, University of Chicago, author of The Presence of God and The Man from Whom God Hid Nothing
"It is a boon for all students of Eckhart to have this ground-breaking book available."


Michael Sells, Haverford College, author of Mystical Languages of Unsaying
"Essential reading in Eckhart studies and mysticism studies.... Highly recommended."


Book Description
“There are two births—one is into the world, and the other out of the world, that is, spiritually into God. Do you want to know if your child is born? If you reach a state where you feel neither suffering nor vexation from whatever may happen, so that suffering is not suffering for you and that all things are sheer joy to you, then the child is truly born” (Meister Eckhart). This remarkable work shows Meister Eckhart, the thirteenth-century Western mystic, as the great teacher of the birth of God in the soul that shatters the dualism between God and the world and the self and God. It is at once an exposition of Eckhar’s mysticism — perhaps the best in English — and, because Eckhart is a profound philosopher for whom knowing precedes being, it is also an exemplary work of contemporary philosophy. Schürmann shows us that Eckhart is our contemporary. Writing as if from experience, he describes the threefold movement of detachment, releasement, and “dehiscence” (splitting open) that leads to the experience of “living without a why” in which all things are in God and which is sheer joy. Going beyond that, he describes the transformational force of approaching the Godhead, the God beyond God. “A man who has experienced the same no longer has a place to establish himself. He has settled on the road, and for those who have learned how to listen, his existence becomes a call. This errant one dwells in joy. Through his wanderings the origin beckons.”


Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French, German


About the Author
Reiner Schürmann was born of German parents in Amsterdam in 1941. He received his doctorate at the Sorbonne in 1981 and was Professor of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research in New York City. Among many other awards for his scholarship and writing, he received the Distinguished University Teacher Award in 1989. He wrote a seminal work on Heidegger and, just before his death in 1993, completed the two-volume "Broken Hegemonies," a study of the imposition of the universal on the singular throughout the history of philosophy. David Appelbaum is Professor of Philosophy at SUNY New Paltz and editor of Parabola magazine and of the SUNY Press “Studies in Esotericism” series. He is a poet and the author of numerous books, including "The Stop," "Everyday Spirits," and "Disruption."

FROM THE PUBLISHER

This remarkable work shows Meister Eckhart, the thirteenth-century Western mystic, as the great teacher of the birth of God in the soul that shatters the dualism between God and the world and the self and God. It is at once an exposition of Eckhart's mysticism- perhaps the best in English-and, because Eckhart is a profound philosopher for whom knowing precedes being, it is also an exemplary work of contemporary philosophy.

Sch￯﾿ﾽrmann shows us that Eckhart is our contemporary. Writing as if from experience, he describes the threefold movement of detachment, releasement, and "dehiscence" (splitting open) that leads to the experience of "living without a why" in which all things are in God and which is sheer joy. Going beyond that, he describes the transformational force of approaching the Godhead, the God beyond God. "A man who has experienced the same no longer has a place to establish himself. He has settled on the road, and for those who have learned how to listen, his existence becomes a call. This errant one dwells in joy. Through his wanderings the origin beckons."

About the Author:

Reiner Sch￯﾿ﾽrmann was born of German parents in Amsterdam in 1941. He received his doctorate at the Sorbonne in 1981 and was Professor of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research in New York City. Among many other awards for his scholarship and writing, he received the Distinguished University Teacher Award in 1989. He wrote a seminal work on Heidegger and, just before his death in 1993, completed the two-volume Broken Hegemonies, a study of the imposition of the universal on the singular throughout the history of philosophy.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal

Meister Eckhart has become one of the touchstones of modern spirituality and liberal Christianity, a type representing the misunderstood and ultimately persecuted mystic. And, indeed, there is much value in his writings. This newly translated selection does not much alter that, although Eckhart's own rather terse, not to say cryptic, mystic messages are somewhat overwhelmed by lengthy commentary. For larger collections, especially where Eckhart is lacking. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

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