Mysticism, Language and Silence in Plotinus's Philosophy
Maria Simone Cabral Marinho
Original title: Mística, Linguagem e Silêncio na Filosofia de Plotino
Published in Expressing the Divine: Language, Art and Mysticism
Keywords: Language, Mysticism, Plotinus, Silence.
This article tries to highlight some important aspects of mystical experience in Plotinus, pointing out, above all, the problem of language that appears in the Plotinian Philosophy as a mediating term between the need to communicate the One and the impossibility of doing so.
Redemption Theology in Mystical Convent Drama: “The Already and the Not Yet” in Hildegard of Bingen’s Ordo virtutum and Marcela de San Félix’s Breve festejo
Alisa J. TIGCHELAAR
Original title: A Teologia da Redenção no Drama do Mosteiro Místico: “O já e o ainda não” no Ordo virtutum de Hildegarda de Bingen e no Breve Festejo de Marcela de San Félix
Published in Emotions in the Ancient and Medieval Mediterranean World
Keywords: Convent, Hildegard of Bingen, Marcela de San Felix, Mysticism, Redemption theology.
This study most centrally explores the distinctly corporeal divinity that is revealed through mystical paradigms in two plays by female religious: Hildegard of Bingen’s (1098-1179) Ordo virtutum and a play convincingly attributed to Marcela de san Félix (1605-87), Breve festejo que se hizo para nuestra Madre priora y a alegrar la comunidad la noce de los reyes deste año 1653. It highlights and analyzes the fact that, in both plays, various triadic relationships point to the essential presence of the second person of the Trinity in the mystical Godhead. The central argument is that a particularly Christocentric mystical divinity has theological connotations which bear investigation against the general problematization of the corporeal element in the mystical relational and theological economy through the seventeenth century. The paper articulates why a particularly human mystical divinity might have been undervalued in the Christian practice of mysticism from Medieval times onward, and exegetes why the bias toward transcendence over immanence in mysticism might even be regarded as theologically incomplete in the light of (Catholic) Christian redemption theology. It ends by showing how the “already and not yet” is alluded to in both plays, and draws some relevant theological conclusions which stand in answer to the transcendent deity usually privileged in mysticism, hearkening to other works by both Bingen and san Félix to substantiate the theology which can arguably be attributed to them. Along the way, relevant aspects of different understandings of emotions–among them the concept of the humors, the Aristotelian understanding of the relationship between the (Christian) virtues and the emotional realm, and the central role of eros in the mystical practice and the theological implications of the same–will be raised, according to the theme of this particular volume.
The tree and the light. Signs and significances in the Llibre d’amic e amat by Ramon Llull
Maria SAIZ RAIMUNDO
Original title: L’arbre i la llum. Signes i significacions al Llibre d’amic e amat de Ramon Llull
Published in
Keywords: Llibre d’amic e amat, Mysticism, Ramon Llull, Sign, Significance.
All the creatures are divided into signs and significates: all signs are things, and, in addition, there are significant. In the Middle Ages, the world is a place of theophanys and, therefore, all creatures and all creation are sign of God. Thus, the signs become a fundamental element of a medieval culture and, obviously, they also play an important role in the literature of the time. In this work, we suggest proposing identifying and analyzing two of the elements that have an important significance in the Llibre d'amic i amat by Ramon Llull: the tree and the light. This element serves the hermit (l’amic) in the cam to the search of God (l’amat), since they are at the service of the first Llull intention: to love, to understand and to serve God.
