Pneumatology

Mysticism is not reserved for spiritual elites but is the Holy Spirit's ordinary call for every Christian to be transformed into a 'second Christ.' The Spirit remains hidden in this age but is revealed through transformed Christians—saints and mystics—who become little 'christs.' Christians are called to put on Christ, live by the Spirit, and become 'partakers of the divine nature' (2 Pet. 1:4). Examples from Symeon the New Theologian, Seraphim of Sarov, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, baptismal and eucharistic theology, and Augustine's work illustrate this teaching across Christian East and West.

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Abstract

This chapter seeks to show that mysticism is not about the rarefied experience of certain spiritual athletes but the Holy Spirit’s ordinary or common call to transformation of every Christian into a potentially extraordinary ‘second Christ’. The author contends that in Christian teaching the Spirit hides himself but in this age is made known in the faces of transformed Christians—saints and mystics—as little ‘christs’. The Spirit is said to be the author of the Body of Christ in which Christians are called to put on Christ, living lives headed by the Spirit, as ‘partakers of the divine nature’ (2 Pet. 1: 4). Examples are drawn from the mystical and liturgical tradition in Christian East and West: Symeon the New Theologian, Seraphim of Sarov, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, as well as in baptismal and eucharistic theology and especially in the work of Augustine.