Open AccessSpirituality as a Subject of Academic Studies in Continental Theology of the Twentieth Century
Author(s) -
Petr Mikhaylov
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
european journal for philosophy of religion
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.25
H-Index - 9
ISSN - 1689-8311
DOI - 10.24204/ejpr.v7i2.127
Subject(s) - mysticism , spirituality , subject (documents) , reading (process) , existentialism , doctrine , situated , religious experience , interpretation (philosophy) , philosophy , religious studies , literature , epistemology , theology , art , linguistics , medicine , alternative medicine , pathology , artificial intelligence , library science , computer science
I examine mystical experience through the history of European religious thought, its modern state, and different spiritual practices of the Patristic epoch. The survey gives some definitions: mystical experience is situated in the field of spirituality along with practices of its acquisition – ascetics; and the fruits of it – theology and doctrine. The second part of the article is devoted to a wide field of Christian texts as a representative example of the same experience of the crystallization of mystical experience in ancient tradition, providing a few general types. Reading of religious texts is related very closely with the spiritual condition of the reader and supposes that he/she changes radically in the process of reading, being involved in some existential- hermeneutic circle.