A Thinking Reed

"Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature, but he is a thinking reed" – Blaise Pascal

The marginalization of the mystical

Luke Timothy Johnson writes on keeping the “exoteric” (legal, moral, ritual) and “esoteric” (mystical, devotional) aspects of religion together. Both, he says, are necessary for the religious life to flourish, but western monotheisms–Islam and Christianity particularly–have become too focused on the exoteric.

One response to “The marginalization of the mystical”

  1. Thanks for this link. I’ve been trying to dip into the writings of Dorothee Soelle, and the one I’m picking up most often is “The Silent Cry: Mysticism and Resistance,” which links mysticism and social justice – especially resistance to violence and materialism. Eventually, I’ll be able to say more.

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