Spiritual autobiographies as sources of the ecumenism: Dag Hammarskjöld’s case

Iuliu-Marius Morariu

doi:10.4102/hts.v77i4.6272

Abstract

An important genre of the theological area, spiritual autobiography is currently undergoing a rediscovery process, because of recent research on this topic. Written by important mystical personalities belonging to different Christian traditions (such as Saint Silouane the Athonite or Saint John of Kronstadt for the Orthodox area, Saint Teresa of Avila for the Catholic one and Dag Hammarskjold for the Lutheran one), spiritual autobiographies can constitute a valuable source for the understanding of their authors’ thinking and perception of fundamental topics such as ecumenism. Being aware of this aspect, we will start from a case study, namely that of Dag Hammarskjold, and we will try to see how this category of texts can be used in order to understand the attitude of the authors of spiritual autobiographies and their motivation in the ecumenical space. Contribution: The research helps the reader to see how the spiritual autobiographies can be a source of understanding the ecumenism of mystical vocations, using as example Dag Hammarskjold’s Markings .

Highlights

Spiritual autobiography is an important inter-disciplinary genre that can be used in multiple ways and can create important bridges between spiritualities, theological research has not yet studied it enough (Morariu 2019:12)
After seeing the main aspects that define the life and activity of the Swedish diplomat, we will try to present his spiritual autobiography, Markings (Erling 2010; Hammarskjöld 1972), because of which he is considered amongst the ‘great mystics of the 20th century’ (Beyschlag 2003:509–512), whilst important voices from different Christian backgrounds often make reference to his ideas (Possenti 2013:12) and the Lutheran book of worship considers him relevant enough to be included in the commemoration calendar (Redaction 1978:11)
In the foreword of one of the most recent annotated editions of his spiritual autobiography, Bernhard Erling counts how many times their ideas appear in the notes of the Swedish diplomat and insists on the way in which Dag Hammarskjöld saw them or used them in his context

Summary

Introduction

Spiritual autobiography is an important inter-disciplinary genre (ed. Dinzelbacher 1993:82–85; Morariu 2018b:145) that can be used in multiple ways and can create important bridges between spiritualities, theological research has not yet studied it enough (Morariu 2019:12). After seeing the main aspects that define the life and activity of the Swedish diplomat, we will try to present his spiritual autobiography, Markings (Erling 2010; Hammarskjöld 1972), because of which he is considered amongst the ‘great mystics of the 20th century’ (Beyschlag 2003:509–512), whilst important voices from different Christian backgrounds often make reference to his ideas (Possenti 2013:12) and the Lutheran book of worship considers him relevant enough to be included in the commemoration calendar (Redaction 1978:11). In the foreword of one of the most recent annotated editions of his spiritual autobiography, Bernhard Erling counts how many times their ideas appear in the notes of the Swedish diplomat and insists on the way in which Dag Hammarskjöld saw them or used them in his context He shows how they motivate the investigated mystic in his approaches (Erling 2010): The importance of the medieval mystics for DH has become apparent as the sources of DH’s citations in Waymarks have been determined. The engine that puts into work the Holy Trinity was a guiding virtue for him too and transformed him into an example for the ecumenical area

Conclusion

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