Mystical Theology The Integrity of Spirituality and Theology

by McIntosh, Mark A.

• ISBN13: 9781557869074
• ISBN10: 1557869073
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-06-29
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

Recent years have seen growing popular absorption with "spirituality" in all its forms. But as this study shows, it is largely separated from theology. Spirituality has grown more self-referential and is subverted by consumerist mentality, while theology has grown critically proficient but uneasy in speaking from or to the heart of Christian mysteries.Through a study of exemplary writers such as Gregory of Nyssa, McIntosh recovers an understanding of the inner integrity of mystical consciousness and theological expression. The final chapters test the possibility of renewed conversation between spirituality and theology by drawing on spiritual traditions to re-think contemporary problems in Trinitarian thought, christology, and the understanding of the self. This book offers not only an analysis of spirituality and theology in the eras of their united activity, but also a hermeneutic for the theological appropriation of spirituality and a sustained argument for the renewal of mystical theology.

Author Biography

Mark A. McIntosh is Assistant Professor of Theology at Loyola University of Chicago.

Table of Contents

Issues of History and Method

Spirituality and Theology: The Questions at Issue

Mystery and Doctrine: The Historical Integrity of Spirituality and Theology

Recovering the Mystical Element of Theology: The Twentieth-Century Examples of Rahner and von Balthasar

Theological Hermeneutics and Spiritual Texts

Mystical Theology in Practice

Trinitarian Self-Abandon and the Problem of Divine Suffering

The Hiddenness of God and the Self-Understanding of Jesus

Love for the Other and Discovery of the Self

Index

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.