Mysticism and religion

Press, 21 April 1984, Page 20

Mysticism and religion

Mysticism and Religious Traditions. Ed. by Steven T. Katz. Oxford, 1983. 279 pp. $18.50. (Reviewed by Colin Brown) Two claims are commonly made concerning mysticism. The first is expressed in the witticism that “Mysticism begins in mist and ends in schism” and it is true that in some religious traditions, perhaps especially Christianity and Islam, mystics have sometimes found themselves at odds with the religious establishment. The second claim is that mystical experience forms a “golden thread” running through all religions, an indentifiably similar core which can be exposed by peeling back the layers of interpretation provided by the various religious traditions. This volume of essays subjects both these claims to critical scrutiny and the tone is set by the title of the editor’s essay, “The Conservative Character of Mystical Experience.” This essay and three other contributions range generally over the field and across religious boundaries; several essays look at specific instances in detail (Sufism, the English mystics, Franciscan mysticism, Hindu “Bhakti” mysticism, and Confucianism and Taoism), while a concluding essay discusses the views of William James.

Those acquainted with the academic study of religion will recognise the names of Ninian Smart, Annemarie Schimmel, and John Carman among the essayists. It is, however, in some of

the more general essays, mostly by scholars less widely known as yet, that the sharpest challenges to widely received views are issued. Thus Hans Penner begins his essay with the provocative claim, “that ‘mysticism’ is an illusion, unreal, a false category which has distorted an important aspect of religion,” adds to this the claim that, “It is not mystical experience which explains mystical traditions or languages, rather it is mystical language which explains mystical experiences,” and, for good measure, controverts the views of Otto, Stace, Underhill, Zaehner, and Smart, all in the space of a single and provocative essay. “Mysticism and Religious Traditions” complements an earlier volume, “Mysticism and Philosophical Analysis,” also edited by Steven Katz, but the former gives closer attention to the location of mystics in specific traditions. The essays in the present volume are wide-ranging in their claims and implications but, in most cases, attempt to ground their assertions in precise and careful reference to the text and context of specific religious traditions. This collection of essays is definitely not armchair reading for the religious dilettante with an esoteric interest in mysticism but, for those with a serious and informed interest in mysticism, this volume of essays constitutes an important and provocative addition to the literature on the subject.