Mystics and Texts

No issue in the comparative history of religion dramatizes the challenges of cross-cultural study of religious phenomena more than what is referred to as "the problem of mysticism." Is the mystic a kind of lone ranger of the soul whose experience reveals and confirms the transcendental unity of all religions, or are the experiences of mystics entirely predetermined by a the mystics' respective contexts of history, tradition, language, and culture? What is the relation between the mystic's "interior" experiences and what he or she writes about them? In this course we will undertake a comparative study of "mystical" and scriptural texts representing Neoplatonic, Christian, Hindu, and Buddhist traditions within the framework of modern and contemporary critical contributions to the history, psychology, and philosophy of mysticism. Among the mystics and texts considered are: Plotinus, The Cloud of Unknowing, Julian of Norwich, Teresa of Avila, selected Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, Mirabai, Ramakrishna, Milarepa, and Dogen. Prerequisite: at least one course in the study of religion or philosophy.