Theo-Monistic Mysticism: A Hindu-Christian Comparison

143 Pages·1994·15.081 MB·English

by  Michael Stoeber (auth.)

THEO-MONISTIC MYSTICISM
Also by Michael Stoeber
EVIL AND THE MYSTICS' GOD
Towards a Mystical Theodicy
Theo-Monistic
Mysticism
A Hindu-Christian Comparison
Michael Stoeber
Assistant Professor
Department of Religion and Religious Education
The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC
M
St. Martin's Press
© Michael Stoeber 1994
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1994 978-0-333-61064-0
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First published in Great Britain 1994 by
THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
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and London
Companies and representatives
throughout the world
This book is published in Macmillan's
Library of Philosophy mzd Religio11 series
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ISBN 978-1-349-39217-9 ISBN 978-0-230-37706-6 (eBook)
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Stoeber, Michael F.
Thea-monistic mysticism :a Hindu-Christian comparison I Michael
Stoeber.
p. em.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Mysticism-Comparative studies. 2. Mysticism-Hinduism.
3. Christianity and other religions-Hinduism. 4. Hinduism
-Relations-Christianity. I. Title.
BL625.567 1994
291.4'22-dc20 93-34044
CIP
For Lois, Anne and Tom

Contents
Preface ix
Introduction 1
1 Constructivist Epistemologies of Mysticism:
a Critique and a Revision 7
I Constructivism 7
II Experiential-Constructivism 15
2 Introvertive Mystical Experiences: Monistic,
Theistic, and the Theo-Monistic 21
I The Essentialist Thesis 21
II Monistic Versus Theistic Experiences 23
III Theo-Monistic Experiences 31
IV Theo-Monism and Mystic Pluralism 34
3 Monistic and Theistic Hierarchies of Mysticism 39
I Epistemological Assumptions 39
II Monistic Hierarchies 41
III Theistic Hierarchies 50
IV Theistic Hierarchies and Mystic Pluralism 56
4 The Dialectic of the Divine 61
I The Apophatic Divine 61
II The Theoretical Integration 67
III The Practical Integration 75
5 The Theo-Monistic Hierarchy 87
I Numinous, Paranormal and Extrovertive
Experiences 87
II Mystic Quietism and the Christian Sannyasin 95
III Religious Exclusivism, Taoism and Buddhism 106
Notes 113
Bibliography 127
Index 133
VII

Preface
My interest in the issues surrounding typologies of mysticism
arose a number of years ago, in reading Ninian Smart's 'Interpre-
tation and Religious Experience' and Reasons and Faiths. As I
further pursued the subject, I was astonished to find so much
written on it. There are many direct and indirect contributions to
an interdisciplinary debate that has gone on for at least eighty
years. Bernard McGinn's recent The Foundations of Mysticism at-
tests well to this phenomenon. It includes an impressive overview
of this interest, lucidly outlined in an extensive appendix that
includes theological, philosophical, and comparative and psycho-
logical approaches to the study of mysticism.
This book draws upon those theologians and philosophers
through whom I can best illustrate both my interpretive schema
and what I take to be the most pertinent issues related to it. I
focussed upon a Hindu and Christian comparison because at this
point in time these are the mystic traditions in which I have the
most competence and interest. The book is not intended as an
exhaustive survey. To give the reader some idea of what the book
is and is not about, I list the major direct and indirect influences.
The scholarly: Louis Dupre, Donald Evans, Carolyn Franks Davis,
John Hick, William James, Steven Katz, Julius Lipner, John
Macquarrie, Terence Penelhum, Ninian Smart, Walter Stace, Evelyn
Underhill, and R. C. Zaehner. The mystical: Abhishiktananda,
Jacob Boehme, Bonaventure, Meister Eckhart, Donald Evans,
Aurobindo Ghose, Ramanuja, Jan Van Ruusbroec, and Saiikara.
Theo-Monistic Mysticism is related in some respects to my Evil
and the Mystics' God, which was published in 1992. Although I
only refer to Evil and the Mystics' God once in this book, the
typology developed here is implicit to my earlier work, and owes
its formulation in part to the teleological perspective I see under-
lying coherent mystical theodicy. The structure of mystical theodicy
corresponds to the framework of theo-monistic mysticism. Never-
theless, the two books remain quite distinct. Readers require no
familiarity with Evil and the Mystics' God in order to follow the
argument presented here.
Versions of Chapters 1 and 2 are published by Religious Studies;
I thank Cambridge University Press for permission to draw upon
IX