Blackwell Reference Online

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Mysticism is a phenomenon known to all religions and religious systems. A definition of mysticism, however, even from within the same religious tradition, is no easy task to accomplish, if possible at all. In a now classic study by Dom Cuthbert Butler, first published in 1922, the problem of defining mysticism is clearly stated:There is probably no more misused word in these our days than “mysticism.” It has come to be applied to many things of many kinds: to theosophy and Christian science; to spiritualism and clairvoyance; to demonology and witchcraft; to occultism and magic; to weird psychical experiences, if only they have some religious color; to revelations and visions; to other-worldliness …(1966: 3)More recently, Bernard McGinn, in a lengthy appendix titled “Theoretical Foundations: The Modern Study of Mysticism” in Foundations of Mysticism (1991), affirms the same position as he cites a variety of authors who have likewise acknowledged the lack of agreement on the meaning of the term “mysticism” and the near impossibility of coming to a consensus on its precise definition or its relationship to institutional religion, prayer, or dogmatic belief.What is acknowledged, however, is that how one defines mysticism depends on one's perspective, and, as Grace Jantzen makes clear in her study Power, Gender, and Christian Mysticism (1995), also depends on one's gender. Jantzen further ... log in or subscribe to read full text