Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

ECKHART

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 886 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

ECKHART ,1 JOHANNES [" Meister Eckhart "] (? 1260-? 1327), See also:

German philosopher, the first of the See also:great speculative mystics. Extremely little is known of his See also:life; the date and See also:place of his See also:birth are equally uncertain. According to some accounts, he was a native of See also:Strassburg, with which he was afterwards closely connected; according to others, he was See also:born in See also:Saxony; or at See also:Hochheim near See also:Gotha. See also:Trithemius, one of the best authorities, speaks of him merely as " Teutonicus." 126o has frequently been given as the date of his birth; it was in all See also:probability some years earlier, forwe know that he was advanced in See also:age at the See also:time of his See also:death, about 1327. He appears to have entered the Dominican See also:order, and to have acted for some time as See also:professor at one of the colleges in See also:Paris. His reputation for learning was very high, and in 1302 he was summoned to See also:Rome by See also:Boniface VIII., to assist in the controversy then being carried on with See also:Philip of See also:France. From Boniface he received the degree of See also:doctor. In 1304 he became provincial of his order for Saxony, and in 1307 was See also:vicar-See also:general for Bohemia. In both provinces he was distinguished for his See also:practical reforms and for his See also:power in See also:preaching. Towards 1325 we hear of him as preaching with great effect 1 The name is variously spelled: Eckehart, Eckart, Eckhard.

at See also:

Cologne, where he gathered See also:round him a numerous See also:band of followers. Before this time, and in all probability at Strassburg, where he appears to have been for some years, he had come in contact with the Beghards (see See also:BEGUINES) and Brethren of the See also:Free Spirit, whose fundamental notions he may, indeed, be said to have systematized and expounded in the highest See also:form to which they could attain. In 1327 the opponents of the Beghards laid hold of certain propositions contained in Eckhart's See also:works, and he was summoned before the See also:Inquisition at Cologne. The See also:history of this See also:accusation is by no means clear. Eckhart appears, however, to have made a conditional recantation—that is, he professed to disavow whatever in his writings could be shown to be erroneous. Further See also:appeal, perhaps at his own See also:request, was made to See also:Pope See also:John XXII., and in 1329 a See also:bill was published condemning certain propositions extracted from Eckhart's works. But before its publication Eckhart was dead. The exact date of his death is unknown.' Of his writings, several of which are enumerated by Trithemius, there remain only the sermons and a few tractates. Till the See also:middle of the 19th See also:century the See also:majority of these were attributed to Johann See also:Tauler, and it is only from See also:Pfeiffer's careful edition (Deutsche Mystiker d. XI V. Jahrhunderts, vol. ii., 1857) that one has been able to gather a true See also:idea of Eckhart's activity. From his works it is evident that he was deeply learned in all the See also:philosophy of the time.

He was a thorough Aristotelian, but by preference appears to have been See also:

drawn towards the mystical writings of the Neoplatonists and the pseudo-See also:Dionysius. His See also:style is unsystematic, brief and abounding in symbolical expression. His manner of thinking is clear, See also:calm and logical, and he has certainly given the most See also:complete exposition of what may be called See also:Christian See also:pantheism. Eckhart has been called the first of the speculative mystics. In his theories the See also:element of mystical See also:speculation for the first time comes to the front as all-important. By its means the See also:church doctrines are made intelligible to the many, and from it the church dogmas receive their true significance. It was but natural that he should diverge more and more widely from the traditional See also:doctrine, so that at length the relation between his teaching and that of the church appeared to be one of opposition rather than of reconciliation. Eckhart is in truth the first who attempted with perfect freedom and logical consistency to give a speculative basis to religious doctrines. The two most important points in his, as in all mystical theories, are first, his doctrine of the divine nature, and second, his explanation of the relation between See also:God and human thought. (See See also:MYSTICISM.) For the German writings of Eckhart see F. Pfeiffer, Deutsche Mystiker, vol. ii. (See also:Leipzig, 1857), and F.

Jostes, Meister Eckhart and See also:

seine Junger (See also:Freiburg, 1895) ; for the Latin works, H. Denifle in Archiv f. Litt- and Kirchengeschichte d. Mittelalters, ii. (1886), pp. 417-652, and v. (1889), pp. 349-364; German See also:translations by G. Landauer, Meister Eckarts mystische 'Schriften (See also:Berlin, 1903), and Buttner (Leipzig, 1903 See also:foil.). See also A. Lasson, Meister Eckhart der Mystiker (i868); H. L.

See also:

Martensen, Meister Eckhart (1842) ; J. See also:Bach, Meister Eckhart der Vater der deutschen Speculation (1864) ; C. See also:Ullmann, Reformatoren vor der See also:Reformation (1842) ; W. Preger, Geschichte d. deutschen Mystik, i. (1874) ; and " Ein neuer Traktat M. Eckharts and d. Grundzuge der Eckhartischen Theosophie " in Zeitschr. f. hist. Phil. (1864), pp. 163 foll.; A. See also:Bullinger, Das Christenthum See also:im Lichte der deutschen Philos. (See also:Dillingen, 1895) ; H.

See also:

Delacroix, Le Mysticisms speculatif en Allemagne au XIV° sikcle (Paris, 1900) ; E. Kramm, Meister Eckhart im Lichte der Denifleschen Runde (See also:Bonn, 1889) ; R. Langenberg, Uber See also:die Verhaltnisse Meister Eckharts zur niederdeutschen Mystik (See also:Gottingen, 1896) ; W. Schopff, Meister Eckhart (Leipzig, 1889) ; A. Jundt, Hist. du pantheisme populaire au moyen age (Paris, 1875) ; See also:art. in See also:Herzog-Hauck, Realeneyklopadie (S. M. See also:Deutsch); R. M. See also:Jones, Mystical See also:Religion (19o9).

End of Article: ECKHART

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
ECKERSBERG, KRISTOFFER (1783-1853) 		[next]
ECKHEL, JOSEPH HILARIUS (1737-1798)

Site © 2006 - Net Industries