THE CONCEPT OF TRINITY IN THE MYSTICISM OF ECKHART'S PHILOSOPHY AND IN ORTHODOX THEOLOGY

Philosophy has often tried to know God through reason alone. Meister Eckhart argued that the pure intellect can rise to a form of knowledge of God in His being, a capacity that contradicts the limits of created rationality. Orthodox doctrine, by contrast, holds that human nature can know God only through His uncreated energies, not His essence. Accepting Eckhart's mysticism as correct would place the created human intellect on an equal footing with the infinite nature of the triune God, which is defined as heresy.

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Abstract

Philosophy has often sought to speak of God, attempting to express of the knowledge of His transitory being through reason only. One theologian and philosopher who has done this is Meister Eckhart, who, in his philosophy, sought to demonstrate the capacity of the pure intellect to raise itself to a form of knowledge of God in His being, a form that contradicts the limitations of the rationality of the created nature. In contrast to these philosophical views, Orthodox doctrine emphasizes the reality of the capacity of human nature to know God, not in His being, but only through His uncreated energies. The acceptance of Eckhart's mysticism as correct would place the created intellect of human nature on an equal footing with the infinity of the nature of the One God, triune in Persons, and this is defined as heresy