Meister Eckhart

Meister Eckhart was a German Dominican theologian, preacher and mystic who twice held a chair of theology at Paris. He wrote learned Latin works and preached in German to lay people and nuns, urging them to let go of self-will and mental images so that God could be born in the soul. His bold language about the soul's union with God led to a heresy trial, and in 1329, after his death, Pope John XXII condemned 28 of his propositions. He has influenced later mystics, German philosophy, and modern dialogue with Buddhism and Vedanta.

Key ideas

• Beyond God as known through attributes lies the hidden 'Godhead', a ground beyond all names and images.
• Detachment, letting go of self-will and every image, opens the soul to God.
• God gives birth to the Word in the ground of the detached soul.
• In the ground of the soul, God's ground and the soul's ground are one.
• Good works should be done 'without a why', for their own sake and not for reward.

Major works

• Selected Sermons and Treatises (c. 1295–1327)
• Talks of Instruction (c. 1295–1298)
• Parisian Questions (1302–1303)
• The Book of Divine Consolation (early 14th century)
• Opus tripartitum (unfinished, before c. 1310)

In the Book corner

• Selected Sermons and Treatises c. 1290s–1320s · Intermediate
  A selection of the German sermons and treatises of Meister Eckhart, the Dominican preacher and Paris master who died around 1328. Most…

In the conversation

No topics yet. Start one about this thinker.