Mysticism is defined in a Wikipedia article as:
Mysticism is the practice of religious ecstasies (religious experiences during alternate states of consciousness), together with whatever ideologies, ethics, rites, myths, legends, and magic may be related to them.[web 1] It may also refer to the attainment of insight in ultimate or hidden truths, and to human transformation supported by various practices and experiences.[web 2]
The Oxford Dictionary defines mysticism as:
belief that union with or absorption into the Deity or the absolute, or the spiritual apprehension of knowledge inaccessible to the intellect, may be attained through contemplation and self-surrender. “St. Theresa’s writings were part of the tradition of Christian mysticism”
Wikiquote describes mysticism thusly:
Mysticism (from the Greek μυστικός, mystikos, an initiate of a mystery religion) is the pursuit of communion with, identification with, or conscious awareness of an ultimate Reality, Divinity, spiritual Truth, or God through direct experience or insight. Mysticism usually centers on a practice or practices intended to nurture those experiences of awareness. Mysticism may be monistic, dualistic, nondualistic, or ontologically pluralistic. Differing religious, social and psychological traditions have described this fundamental mystical experience in many different ways. The words “mystical” and “mysticism”, though commonly used by mystics to affirm extraordinary insights beyond all expression, and thus impossible to communicate to others, have also sometimes been used in a presumptive sense which insists that others must believe and accept what aspects of the experiences can be communicated, or in an entirely pejorative sense, strongly related to rejection of such authoritarian claims.
Mysticism and its panoply of religious-sounding concepts associated with the so-called “New Spirituality Movement” are far from being Biblical and in any way congruous with Scripture or orthodox Christianity. Rather, they are the polar opposite. All Mysticism thought must be rejected out-of-hand, discarded, and avoided at all costs. In sum, Mysticism will damn your soul! And, that is not an excessively strong statement.
With all that being said, the following is a list of Mystic writers, authors, expositors and commentators of the past and present that are frequently quoted, cited, or referenced in favorable terms by contemplative, spiritual formation, and Emergent writers, authors, expositors, and commentators. Consequently, both the sources and those who reference them and their teachings must be rejected and renounced by genuine believers in Christ. This list is presented as a means by which to identify some of the most egregious offenders, but the list is by no means exhaustive. Believers must always read with great discernment and prayer, being Berean-like in comparing the teachings of everyone with the Word of God. Unfortunately, we have found that self-purporting “Christians” identifying as “Pentecostal” or Neo-Pentecostal (Charismatic, et al.) are among the most ignorant about these matters that are infiltrating the entire width and breadth of ecclesial realm in these last days, producing the end-times Great Apostasy prophesied by Scripture.
CHRISTIAN AND NON-CHRISTIAN MYSTICS OF THE PAST
Mystics from the past oftentimes favorably endorsed by “Christian” authors today.
Middle Ages (Medieval Times) and Renaissance
Angela of Foligno (1248-1309)
Anthony of Padua (1195-1231)
Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153)
Bonaventure (1217-1274)
Catherine of Siena (1347-1380)
Hadewijch of Antwerp (13th century)
Henry Suso (1295-1366)
Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179)
Hugh of Saint Victor (1096-1141)
Jacopone da Todi (1230-1306)
Johannes Tauler (d.1361)
John of Ruysbroeck (1293-1381)
John Scotus Eriugena (810-877)
Julian of Norwich (1342-1416)
Mechthild of Magdeburg (1212-1297)
Meister Eckhart (1260-1327)
Richard of Saint Victor (d.1173)
Richard Rolle (1300-1341)
The Cloud of the Unknowing (anonymous, instruction in mysticism, 1375)
Theologia Germanica (anonymous, mystical treatise, late 14th century)
Thomas a’ Kempis (1380-1471)
Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
Walter Hilton (1340-1396)
Renaissance, Reformation, and Counter-Reformation
Brother Lawrence (1614–1691)
Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1822)
George Fox (1624–1691)
Ignatius of Loyola (1491–1556)
Jakob Böhme (1575-1624)
John of the Cross (Juan de Yepes) (1542–1591)
Joseph of Cupertino (1603-1663)
Madame Guyon (1647-1717)
Teresa of Ávila (1515–1582)
Theophan the Recluse (1815-1894)
William Law (1686–1761)
Modern Era (19th—20th Century)
Alexandrina Maria da Costa (1904–1955)
Bernadette Roberts (1931–)
Berthe Petit (1870–1943)
Carmela Carabelli (1910–1978)
Domenico da Cese (1905-1978
Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941)
Flower A. Newhouse (1909-1994)
Frank Laubach (1884–1970)
Frederick Buechner (1926-)
Karl Rahner (1904-1984)
Lúcia Santos (1907-2005)
Maria Pierina de Micheli (1890–1945)
Maria Valtorta (1898-1963)
Marie Lataste (1822–1899)
Marie Martha Chambon (1841–1907)
Martin Buber (1868-1965)
Mary Faustina Kowalska (1905–1938)
Mary of Saint Peter (1816–1848)
Mary of the Divine Heart (1863–1899)
Padre Pio of Pietrelcina (1887–1968)
Pierina Gilli (1911–1991)
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881- 1955)
Simone Weil (1909-1943)
Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)
Thomas Merton (1915–1968)
Thomas Raymond Kelly (1893–1941)
This list was compiled by Chris Lawson and published by the Lighthouse Trails Research Project. Our thanks to them both for their untiring and tedious labors in researching these matters and making this list available to us to republish.
Here are a few of the other articles relative to this topic posted by SLM:
INCURSION OF MYSTICISM INTO THE PENTECOSTAL-CHARISMATIC STREAM
RICK WARREN PIED PIPER TO END-TIMES BABYLONIAN CHURCH
A BRIEF PRIMER ON THE CONTEMPLATIVE PRAYER DECEPTION
THE JESUIT AGENDA BEHIND FALSE ECUMENCISM
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