Metaphor, Making and Mysticism
Radical Re-Imaginings in Language and Art
1st Edition
Published on 24. October 2025
290 pages
978-1-040-40190-3 (ISBN)
Description
This volume focuses on the interplay between metaphor, making, and mysticism and sheds new light on the power of the metaphorical and creative dimensions of the mystical for the twenty-first century. It explores the ways a variety of mystical writers deal with metaphor and image by bringing together chapters from interdisciplinary vantage points - theological, philosophical, historical, artistic, and literary. The book touches on a range of historical and contemporary figures, including Jalal al-Din al-Rumi, John of Ruusbroec, Hadewijch, John Scottus Eriugena and Edward Abbey. In reviewing the place of metaphor in mystical texts (both Christian and Islamic), the contributions reflect on the hard and difficult places both metaphor and mysticism can bring us to. They explore contemporary artists' engagement with the mystical and how these open up new ways of reimagining our present - moving us beyond static categories such as religion versus secular and Christianity versus Islam. Overall, the book highlights the potential of mysticism to push us beyond comfortable spaces and associations and considers the language and images used to do so.
More details
Series
Edition
1. Auflage
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Illustrations
17 Halftones, black and white; 17 Illustrations, black and white
File size
3,94 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-040-40190-3 (9781040401903)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Sheila Gallagher | Louise Nelstrop | Lydia Shahan
Metaphor, Making and Mysticism
Radical Re-Imaginings in Language and Art
Book
10/2025
1st Edition
Routledge
€206.70
Shipment within 10-20 days
Persons
Sheila Gallagher is an Associate Professor in the Department of Art, Art History and Film at Boston College, USA.
Louise Nelstrop is Professor of Church History at the Protestant Theological University in Utrecht, the Netherlands, as well as Director of Studies at the Margaret Beaufort Institute of Theology and a Research Fellow at the University of Oxford, UK.
Lydia Shahan is a doctoral student in the Committee on the Study of Religion at Harvard University, USA, where she is also affiliated with the Standing Committee on Medieval Studies.
Louise Nelstrop is Professor of Church History at the Protestant Theological University in Utrecht, the Netherlands, as well as Director of Studies at the Margaret Beaufort Institute of Theology and a Research Fellow at the University of Oxford, UK.
Lydia Shahan is a doctoral student in the Committee on the Study of Religion at Harvard University, USA, where she is also affiliated with the Standing Committee on Medieval Studies.
Content
Introduction 1. Eriugena's Dream and Dreaming with Eriugena Part One: Metaphor and Mysticism 2. Metaphors and/or Negations in Mystical Literature: Considerations from the Work of John of Ruusbroec 3. Negotiating Speech and Silence in Rumi's Poetry 4. Metaphor Users in Late Middle English Women's Mystical Texts 5. What Are We to Make of Mysticism? Part Two: Eriugena as Master of Metaphor, Mysticism and Making 6. Eriugena: A Celtic Mystic? 7. Cur 'Nihil' Vocatur: Eriugena on Divine Non-Being 8. Eriugena and Emerson on Thinking Nature Part Three: Making and Mysticism 9. The Poetic Performance of the Mystical 10. 'Complete Surrender': A Hermeneutic of Listening and Paying Attention 11. A Hard and Brutal Mysticism 12. Pseudonymity and Authorship in the Albertine and Pseudo-Albertine Corpus Epilogue 13. Exhibiting the Mystical
