Mysticism and Social Transformation

Journal of Church and State, Autumn, 2002 by F. Matthew Schobert, Jr.

Edited by Janet K. Ruffing. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 2001. 220 pp. $24.95.

This collection of essays challenges the modern philosophical construction that artificially separates and obscures the relationship "between contemplation and action, theory and practice, and mysticism and ethical behavior" (p. 2). Typically, mystical experiences are judged to be subjective, affective, and psychological religious phenomena which are far too "other-worldly" for any practical import. These essays, however, argue quite the opposite, revealing that mystical experiences often compel people to examine critically their social environments, and then, through purposive action directed at the transformation of unjust social arrangements, advocate on behalf of people suffering the indignities of socially-sanctioned and socially-supported stigma.

The authors demonstrate how mysticism functions as an alternative method of knowing, in contrast to the hegemony of rational philosophical and theological discourse, and how this salient characteristic enables the mystic to question, challenge, and see beyond the given social arrangements of the dominate culture in order to perceive the power structures lying behind these arrangements. This form of ethical investigation invariably uncovers latent injustices that cry for redress. Therefore, instead of isolating people from their cultural contexts, mystical experiences generate social and religious dissent that inaugurates radical transformation in the structures of oppressive, discriminatory, or dehumanizing economic, political, and religious systems.

One discerns within these essays a process of mysticism leading to social transformation in which (1) a mystical experience leads to (2) a religious conversion that results in (3) a critically attuned insight into the given arrangement of contemporary social structures that renders (4) incisive judgment of social injustices which calls for (5) deliberate action aimed at confronting, challenging, and changing unjust systems.

The essays focus, almost exclusively, on examples of mystics from Western Christendom. Part One: Theoretical Perspectives includes two articles that present the socially destabilizing effects of resistance rooted in mystical experience. Grace Jantzen examines the political commentary embedded within the mystical writings of Marguerite Poreteto, an early fourteenth-century Beguine in Paris, that culminated in her martyrdom by Philip IV. Dorothee Solle uses the life of abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe as representative of the progressive mystical path of amazement, letting-go, and resistance.

The six essays of Part Two: Christian Mystics and Social Transformation stand as the centerpiece of this text. Paul Lachance studies the mysticism of the Franciscan tradition, as revealed in the writings of St. Francis and St. Clare, which manifests itself socially in the practice of poverty, the peaceful life, and the personal example of social transformation. Employing a linguistic analysis of Meister Eckhart's Sermon 86, Amy Hollywood identifies Eckhart's unique perspective that mystical transformation enables social action. Carole Slade treats Teresa of Avila, the sixteenth-century Spanish mystic, who provided and advocated for women and conversos (Jewish converts to Christianity) and Janet Ruffing examines the reforming spirit of Ignatian mysticism in the sixteenth and twentieth centuries.

The final two articles in this section depart from the Roman Catholic mystics and turn to the Quaker tradition and the narrative experiences of nineteenth-century African-American women. Margaret Benefiel and Rebecca Phipps examine how Quaker practical mysticism motivated the abolitionist efforts of John Woolman and the abolitionist and anti-poverty work of Catherine Phillips. Joy Bostic relies on autobiographies and spiritual writings from four nineteenth-century African-American women to reveal spiritually motivated resistance to pervasive attitudes of racism and sexism.

Part Three: Emerging Contemporary Approaches contains two essays dealing with socially-engaged Buddhism and deep ecology. Donald Rothberg describes the relationship within Buddhist traditions between personal transformation and communal service. Roger Gottlieb concentrates on deep ecology's potential to function as a category of mysticism that elevates the theme of humanity's communion with and responsibility toward living and non-living forms of nature.

Despite the modest exploration of its theme, limited mostly to a handful of exemplars from the Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Free Church traditions, Ruffing trusts that this volume vindicates the claim that mysticism (as a general category) and social transformation should be understood as "two sides of one coin or as interrelated aspects of one process" (p. 24). Although the contributions by Rothberg and Gottlieb are the only articles that focus exclusively on philosophical traditions outside of Christianity, the essay by Egan and Ruffing's introduction to the volume refer to contributions from other religious and philosophical traditions, particularly Judaism, Islam, and Hinduism for this project. A great deal of work remains to be done, however, to explore the link between mysticism and social transformation within these and other traditions.