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IMC 2012: Sessions

Session 1625: 'We Should Feel Ourselves Completely in God and Completely in Ourselves': Axioms for the Union with God in the Mystics of the Low Countries, I

Thursday 12 July 2012, 11.15-12.45

Sponsor:Ruusbroecgenootschap, Universiteit Antwerpen / Faculty of Theology, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Organiser:Rob Faesen, Faculteit Theologie en Religiewetenschappen, KU Leuven / Ruusbroecgenootschap, Universiteit Antwerpen
Moderator/Chair:Rob Faesen, Faculteit Theologie en Religiewetenschappen, KU Leuven / Ruusbroecgenootschap, Universiteit Antwerpen
Paper 1625-a'And I Saw Whom I Was Seeking': The Modalities of Contemplation in Hadewijch's Visions
(Language: English)
Veerle Fraeters, Ruusbroecgenootschap, Universiteit Antwerpen
Index terms: Ecclesiastical History, Language and Literature - Dutch, Religious Life, Theology
Paper 1625-bBeing God by the Condition of Love: Deification of the Soul in Margaret Porete (d. 1310) in Critical Dialogue with Beatrice of Nazareth, 1200-1268
(Language: English)
John Arblaster, Faculteit Theologie en Religiewetenschappen, KU Leuven
Index terms: Ecclesiastical History, Language and Literature - Dutch, Religious Life, Theology
Paper 1625-cImages of an Abysmal Love: Retrieving Ruusbroec's Relational Anthropology in Conversation with Jean Luc Marion
(Language: English)
Patrick Ryan Cooper, Faculteit Godgeleerdheid, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Index terms: Ecclesiastical History, Language and Literature - Dutch, Religious Life, Theology
Abstract

One of the most challenging intellectual problems raised in the Middle Ages is the union (or unity) of the human person and God. One may identify movements that emphasise the unbridgeable distance between the human person and God, but also movements that describe complete fusion. In the mystical literature of the Low Countries, a nuanced attempt was made to recognise and valorise both human nature and the deepest union with God, wherein these two dimensions are not mutually exclusive. The contributions in this session investigate which axioms were used in attempting to maintain this balance.