Mystics as Teachers

Mystics who write and speak for others act as teachers, challenging the common view that mystical quests are purely individual and idiosyncratic. Teaching implies recipients and superior knowledge based on divine inspiration rather than personal experience alone. In Christian traditions, no single mystical curriculum exists, but many mystics rely on traditional doctrines and practices. This chapter examines mystics as teachers through sources, authority, and methods, all understood as derived from God and mediated through a teacher.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Mystics who speak and write for others act as teachers in various ways. Studies of mysticism and religious experience have tended to consider a mystical quest as a highly individual and idiosyncratic venture, but it is apparent that many mystics wrote and spoke to instruct their followers. Teaching implies recipients of that teaching, both as individuals and in aggregate, and it implies superior knowledge, which is based in small part on the mystic’s own experience but relies almost entirely on inspiration from God. Although there is no one mystical curriculum or pedagogical approach in Christian traditions, many mystics adhere to content and methods that are rooted firmly in traditional doctrines and practices. This chapter examines mystics as teachers primarily through the lenses of sources, authority, and methods, each of which is understood to be derived from and modelled on God and mediated through a teacher.