Dangerous Mystic cover art

Dangerous Mystic

Meister Eckhart's Path to the God Within

 Preview

Get 30 days of Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30-day free trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options
Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

About this listen

 Life and times of the 14th century German spiritual leader Meister Eckhart, whose theory of a personal path to the divine inspired thinkers from Jean Paul Sartre to Thomas Merton, and most recently, Eckhart Tolle

Meister Eckhart was a medieval Christian mystic whose wisdom powerfully appeals to seekers seven centuries after his death. In the modern era, Eckhart's writings have struck a chord with thinkers as diverse as Heidegger, Merton, Sartre, John Paul II, and the current Dalai Lama. He is the inspiration for the bestselling New Age author Eckhart Tolle's pen name, and his fourteenth-century quotes have become an online sensation. Today a variety of Christians, as well as many Zen Buddhists, Sufi Muslims, Jewish Cabbalists, and various spiritual seekers, all claim Eckhart as their own. Meister Eckhart preached a personal, internal path to God at a time when the Church could not have been more hierarchical and ritualistic. Then and now, Eckhart’s revolutionary method of direct access to ultimate reality offers a profoundly subjective approach that is at once intuitive and pragmatic, philosophical yet non-rational, and, above all, universally accessible. This “dangerous mystic’s” teachings challenge the very nature of religion, yet the man himself never directly challenged the Church.

Eckhart was one of the most learned theologians of his day, but he was also a man of the world who had worked as an administrator for his religious order and taught for years at the University of Paris. His personal path from conventional friar to professor to lay preacher culminated in a spiritual philosophy that combined the teachings of an array of pagan and Christian writers, as well as Muslim and Jewish philosophers. His revolutionary decision to take his approach to the common people garnered him many enthusiastic followers as well as powerful enemies. After Eckhart’s death and papal censure, many religious women and clerical supporters, known as the Friends of God, kept his legacy alive through the centuries, albeit underground until the master’s dramatic rediscovery by modern Protestants and Catholics.

Dangerous Mystic grounds Meister Eckhart in a world that is simultaneously familiar and alien. In the midst of this medieval society, a few decades before the Black Death, Eckhart boldly preached to captivated crowds a timeless method, a “wayless way,” of directly experiencing the divine. Christianity Europe Medieval Other Religions, Practices & Sacred Texts Spirituality Middle Ages Mystic Spirituality
All stars
Most relevant
this was what you'd expect from an academic historian, well researched and careful but wide ranging. much of the biographical detail is really description of life for a Dominican doctor of theology in the period, fleshing out what is known about Eckhart's life specifically. I found the author sympathetic to a Catholic point of view, which non-Catholic's might find off putting, but he is not preachy.
Overall, if you want an introduction to this famous Catholic mystic, this is excellent.

scholarly and accessible

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Detailed account of his life and works. Also discusses on his influence on later generations and the modern day. Has given me ideas of where to go for further study.

The life and work of Meister Eckhart.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This is a wonderfully researched book on Meister Eckhart and the author really does that great man justice. Eckhart’s message was fresh and uplifting and incredibly brave - especially for those times - and the author clearly explains his thoughts and teachings leaving no stone left unturned. This is a really exceptional book. Thank you Joel and thank you Mark - the perfect narrator for this subject.

Superb book, superb narration.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.