Expert Symposium Mystical Anthropology. Cross-Religious Perspectives
Leuven, May 27, 2009
Organizers:
Ineke Cornet & Martin Sebastian Kallungal
together with Professor Lieven Boeve, Professor Rob Faesen and Dr. Frederiek Depoortere
The Symposium was organized as a combined project between The Institute for the Study of Spirituality and the Systematic-theological Research Unit: ‘Theology in a Postmodern Context’. The project, initiated by Martin Kallungal and Ineke Cornet, both working on mystical texts in their current PhD-projects, is organized together with Professor Lieven Boeve, Professor Rob Faesen and Dr. Frederiek Depoortere. The aim of the symposium is to bring out the essential elements of mystical anthropology and their implications for contemporary Christian theology and spirituality.
A crucial question in the current debate on the epistemological value of mysticism is the nature of relationship between the universality of mystical phenomenon and the particularity of mystical testimonies. On the one hand, the mystical phenomenon is widely conceived as a common human experience, one more fundamental than all other tradition-specific religious expressions, and in that sense, as transcending all religious categories and doctrines. On the other hand, the concept of trans-religious mysticism is eschewed as baseless eclecticism; there can be only Christian mysticism, Hindu mysticism, etc. In our view of mystical epistemology, it is unwise to play off the particular-theological and the universal-experiential elements against each other. Instead, we would advocate a critical-hermeneutical approach in which both elements are taken into account.
Different concepts of the Divine that emerge in different mystical testimonies have been studied and critiqued in the past. Seldom, however, has the human person, the common denominator of the experiencing and reflecting subject in all mystical testimonies, been given due attention. In fact, the anthropological aspects are of crucial importance in laying out the foundations for an encounter with the Divine, be It transcendent, immanent, personal, or yet something else. Therefore, in this expert-symposium we want to explore the different anthropological concepts present in varied mystical testimonies in general and the different aspects of divine-indwelling in particular. We will consider questions such as; is there a basic, common element in human persons across different cultures and religions? What is the specific role of a particular tradition in mystical experience and discourse? By researching into mystical testimonies with such questions, we aim to contribute to the general, ongoing debate on the issue of soul and divine-indwelling.
In the symposium, the unique expertise of scholars from the departments of Systematic Theology, Church History, Linguistics, and Philosophy was combined. Given our hermeneutical and cross-religious interests, the starting point of the discussion was two mystical texts: one from the Arnhem Mystical Sermons (from the Christian Tradition) and one from Sri Aurobindo’s Record of Yoga (from the Hindu Tradition). The researchers combined a bottom-up move (starting from the mystical texts) and a top-down move (reflecting on the texts’ claims from one’s own research background) in their contributions.
Contributions by
1. Ineke Cornet (Faculty of Theology, Church History, K.U. Leuven)
2. Frederiek Depoortere (Faculty of Theology, Systematic Theology, K.U. Leuven)
3. William Desmond (Institute of Philosophy, K.U. Leuven)
4. Anthony Dupont, (Faculty of Theology, Church History, K.U. Leuven)
5. Rob Faesen (Faculty of Theology, Church History, K.U. Leuven)
6. Joris Geldhof (Faculty of Theology, Pastoral Theology, K.U. Leuven)
7. Martin S. Kallungal, (Faculty of Theology, Systematic Theology, K.U. Leuven)
8. Satoshi Kikuchi (Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan)
9. Christoph Moonen (Faculty of Theology, Systematic Theology, K.U. Leuven)
10. Kees Schepers (Ruusbroec Society, Antwerp University)
