Mystical Visions Research Articles

The Prophets

The Prophets Fred W. Guyette, Christopher T. Begg, and Thomas Hieke 857. [Prophets as Performers] Jeanette Mathews, Prophets as Performers: Biblical Performance Criticism and Israel's Prophets (Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2020). Pp. viii + 247. $31. ISBN 978-1-5326-8552-1. The prophetic performances described in this book include acts of truth-telling, direct challenge, behind-the-scenes civil disobedience, miraculous acts of compassion, disturbance of the peace, silent protest, creative and provocative artistic installments, confrontational street theater, and mystic visions. Three case studies are presented: Elijah, Ezekiel, and Jonah. M. has written a number of short scripts for each of them, with stage directions, prop suggestions, scenes with dialog and a narrator who provides biblical background for the audience. Elijah appears out of nowhere as a man called by Yhwh. He encounters a poor widow and her son who have been on the point of starving to death and performs a miracle that keeps them alive. It is a sign that God cares about the poor in the land, while Israel's monarchy clearly does not. Then we hear about Elijah's conflict with Jezebel on Mt. Carmel and his confrontation with Ahab in the matter of Naboth's vineyard. In the second case study, Ezekiel has suffered through the trauma of the Babylonian invasion, the fall of Jerusalem, and the destruction of the Temple. In the script M. has written for Ezekiel, he struggles to describe the visions of God he has seen while in exile. In the third case study, the actor who plays Jonah tries to explain to the sailors in the storm-tossed ship why God has sent this storm—it is because Jonah is trying to flee from the task God has given him. In the next scene Jonah prays from the belly of the fish that God has sent to swallow him up and take him all the way to Nineveh. After Jonah preaches the shortest sermon on record, [End Page 306] the audience hears from the king of that wicked city how they all repented and turned to the Lord. In the final scene, there is a dialog in which Jonah tells God how angry he is for God's showing mercy to his enemies. For more on this approach to Scripture, see Dwight Conquergood, "Performance Studies: Interventions and Radical Research," The Drama Review 46 (2002) 145-56, and Peter Perry, "Biblical Performance Criticism: Survey and Prospects," Religions 10 (2, 2019) 117-32.—F.W.G. 858. [Isaiah] James Charlesworth (ed.), The Unperceived Continuity of Isaiah (Jewish and Christian Texts 28; New York: Bloomsbury, 2019). Pp. xiv + 236. $100. ISBN 978-0-5676-8424-0. From August 23 to 26, 2015, scholars from China, Australia, the United States, Poland, and Israel met in Jerusalem to discuss the composition of Isaiah. They focused on the following questions: "Does the Book of Isaiah represent the thoughts of the eighth century b.c.e. or does it reflect additions and insertions that take us down to the third century b.c.e., and has Isaiah been exceptionally influential on the Dead Sea Scrolls, John the Baptizer, Jesus, Paul, the Evangelists, on through Jewish and Christian liturgies until today?" Is there an unperceived continuity of Isaiah or is Isaiah a seamless book that reflects the career of the eighth-century prophet? Any additions and expansions or divisions would not be apparent in the Isaiah Scrolls found in the Qumran Caves, since the evolution of the text would have been completed before 150 b.c.e. For abstracts of the individual essays see ##575, 577, 578, 584, 586, 594, 597, 735, 740. [Adapted from published abstract—F.W.G.] 859. [Isaiah; Advent; Jewish Neighbors] Tyler D. Mayfield (with a foreword by Walter Brueggemann), Unto Us a Child Is Born: Isaiah, Advent, and Our Jewish Neighbors (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2020). Pp. xvi + 192. Paper $19. ISBN 978-0-8026-7398-9. In the section entitled "How to Read This Book" of his introduction, M. provides (pp. 10-11) this statement about the book's content: "Part One of this book introduces a bifocal way of reading the Book of Isaiah...

Unity in multiplicity: The mystical unity of existence in Mulla Sadra's Al-Shawahid Al-Rububiyyah

Mystics from all religions have spoken about a unity in existence. They clearly state that there is really only one being that exists in this Universe, i.e. the Absolute. At the same time, they have not denied the multiplicity of creatures that appear to us. These two statements seem to be apparently contradictory to one another. Ontology is a discipline that is concerned with existence. For this reason, they take these mystical utterances seriously and often discuss them in their philosophical investigations from various points of view. The mystics have usually not attempted to prove their claims using rational proofs. Rather, they primarily claim to have directly witnessed the unity of existence in their mystical visions. As a purely rational discipline, philosophy has made attempts to prove this contention of the mystics and to reconcile any apparent contradictions that might exist in their statements. One of the philosophers who made great progress in this area was Mulla Sadra. Mulla Sadra was of the opinion that it is indeed possible to prove that it is only God that truly exists in the Universe without this contradicting the existence of His creatures. He was of the opinion that this unity manifests itself at two levels of being. At a higher level, there is a multiplicity in unity and a lower level there is a unity in multiplicity. Mulla Sadra proves the higher level of unity using a philosophical principle called the Principle of the Simple Reality. He affirms the lower level of unity using the idea that the existence of an effect is a copulative being with respect to its cause. At the same time, Mulla Sadra affirms that both of these levels of existence are levels of one individual being. This paper seeks to explain the second dimension of Mulla Sadra's theory of the unity of being (i.e. the station of unity in multiplicity) as he described it in his famous philosophical treatise, al-Shawahid al-Rububiyyah.

Multiplicity in unity: The mystical unity of existence in Mulla Sadra's al-Shawahid al-Rububiyyah

Mystics from all religions have spoken about a unity in existence. They clearly state that there is really only one being that exists in this Universe, i.e. God. At the same time, they have not denied the multiplicity of creatures that appear to us. These two apparently contradictory statements seem to be apparently contradictory to one another. Metaphysics is a discipline that is concerned with existence. For this reason, they take these mystical utterances seriously and often discuss them in their philosophical investigations from various points of view. The mystics have not attempted to prove their claims using rational proofs. Rather, they claim to have directly witnessed the unity of existence in their mystical visions. As a purely rational discipline, philosophy has made attempts to prove this claim of the mystics and to reconcile any apparent contradictions that might exist in their statements. One of the philosophers who made great progress in this area was Mulla Sadra. Mulla Sadra was of the opinion that it is indeed possible to prove that it is only God that truly exists in the Universe with this contradicting the existence of His creatures. He was of the opinion that this unity manifests itself at two levels of being. At a higher level, there is a multiplicity in unity and, at a lower one, there is a unity in multiplicity. Mulla Sadra proves the higher level of unity using a philosophical principle called the Principle of the Simple Reality. He proves the lower level of unity using the idea that the existence of an effect is a copulative being with respect to its cause. At the same time, Mulla Sadra affirms that both of these levels of existence are levels of one individual being. This paper seeks to explain Mulla Sadra's theory of the unity of being at the level of multiplicity in unity as he described it in his famous philosophical treatise, al-Shawahid al-Rububiyyah.

Człowiek-zbiorowy pospolitej rzeczy. Norwid a społeczeństwo obywatelskie

Burze intelektualne i polityczne, jakie towarzyszyły krystalizacji idei obywatelskiej w wieku XIX i XX widoczne są nie tylko w Europie, szczególnie Zachodniej, ale również w Ameryce Północnej i Środkowej, a z czasem – na całym globie. Intensywne poszukiwanie „ideału obywatelstwa” widać przede wszystkim w społecznościach dawnej Rzeczpospolitej, której ostateczny upadek pod koniec wieku XVIII i kolejne fazy coraz głębszej destrukcji nie tylko nie oznaczały zaniku tradycji republikańskiej, ale wręcz wzmogły autentyczną dysputę nad drogami do nowoczesnego społeczeństwa w przyszłym, niepodległym państwie. Przodowały w tym zasadniczym dialogu głosy reprezentantów ziemiaństwa i wyłaniającej się w ciągu XIX w. klasy („stanu”) inteligencji, nowej formacji społecznej, niemającej właściwie adekwatnej analogii w innych krajach. Z czasem do tego dialogu o przyszłej Polsce włączyli się również nieliczni przedstawiciele innych klas. Jakie znaczenia zawiera wyrażenie „społeczeństwo obywatelskie”? Dziś jest ono dość „naturalnie” obecne w języku publicystów i polityków różnych „odcieni”, ale w czasach Norwida w zasadzie nie było używane, choć sama „idea” zorganizowania życia zbiorowego na fundamencie „obywatelstwa” ma rodowód wręcz odwieczny. Artykuł jest próbą opisu myśli obywatelskiej Norwida głównie poprzez analizę jego wypowiedzi dyskursywnych, głównie publicystycznych. Norwid zdecydowanie przeciwstawił się doktrynerskiemu wynoszeniu „ludzkości”, którą nazywał „świętą abstrakcją”, ponad „naród” i „Kościół”, poprzez które jednostka może realnie uczestniczyć w „pracy dziejów”. Inne pole walki o Norwida o dopracowanie się jasnych kategorii obywatelskich stanowiły ówczesne, liczne wizje powszechnego szczęścia ludzkości i/lub apokaliptycznego jej schyłku. W tych polemikach z utopiami ostatecznego „wypełnienia się dziejów” słychać wyraźnie echa sporów ideologicznych epoki, a szczególnie tych mistyczno-politycznych wizji, w których różnych odmian „prorocy” formułowali finalne perspektywy rozwoju bieżących wypadków dziejowych, których podmiotem jest „ludzkość”, powstała w miejscu dotychczasowych „narodów” kończących właśnie swą „misję” historyczną; tak m.in. dostało się Mickiewiczowskiemu Składowi zasad – czyli manifestowi rewolucyjnych przekształceń praw obywatelskich, odziedziczonych po francuskiej Deklaracji Praw Człowieka i Obywatela; w liście do Józefa Bohdana Zaleskiego z 24 kwietnia 1848 r. dał Norwid wyraz swemu oburzeniu na większość tez zawartych w Składzie, które według niego podważają tradycyjne wartości, takie jak „ojczyzna”, „własność”, „ród”, „naród” i in.

Mulla Sadra Philosophy: An Alternative Paradigm on Issues of Science and Nature

Islamic philosophy as has been understood has introduced a theory of how knowledge works within the framework of divinity. It is not surprising that Islamic philosophy has religious nuances in the frame of <i>tawhīd</i>. Even so, it does not mean that Islamic philosophy only dwells in the theoretical-metaphysical realm. But also has a relationship with natural and social science theory both theoretically and practically. This is explained in the Mulla Sadra philosophy. Through the argument of substantial motion and soul, Sadra explains comprehensively that Islamic philosophy can become part of science as a whole as a new paradigm. This also does not mean looking for excuses and apologies that Islamic philosophy has never spoken about science explicitly. With this concept Sadra shows that nature is moving in every moment there is always a change in both accident and substance. Humans who consist of body and soul also experience changes at all times. These two things show the existence of impermanence in nature both materially and immaterially. In this case, Sadra includes a mystical vision that nature as a large series (macrocosm) and humans as a small series (microcosm) always undergo substantial changes towards perfection. The perfection of nature is manifested in the form of a state that is always updated. Human perfection is manifested in how humans become fully human. At least from Sadra thinking, it can be a meeting point in the context of integrating empirical-positivist science with metaphysical ratios, as well as becoming a new paradigm in initiating holistic scholarship. This research is a qualitative research based on library research using descriptive-analytical and exploratory methods. Then use a holistic approach to see a new, broader paradigm. In the end, the idea of Sadra can be used as an alternative paradigm in solving complex modern human crises.

IN-BETWEEN MIND, SPIRIT, AND BEING: A CRITICAL APPRECIATION OF GERDA WALTHER’S PHENOMENOLOGY OF MYSTICISM WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO CORRESPONDENCES TO POST-MATERIALIST NOTIONS OF REALITY

In her main work, Walther exposes the unio mystica as meta-transcendental constitution of (fundamental) spiritual being (the bracketing indicates that this demonstration can be read in a metaphysical, i.e., strong, as well as in a secular, i.e., weak, version). While reflecting her approach theoretically and methodologically by drawing on Husserl, Landmann, Stein, just as on Pfänder and Conrad-Martius, Walther proposes a genuine approach that pushes the transcendental idealistic paradigm further. Its crucial claim is (imperfect) perceptibility and experientiality of (fundamental) spiritual being (labeled “God” by Walther). It is based on a substantially and ontologically differentiating—though integrative—notion of the conditio humana: entanglement of ego-center (both belonging to the transcendental realm and transgressing it meta-transcendentally), self (belonging to psychophysical being), and soulspiritual implications of personal basic essence (belonging to spiritual being) with its “metaphysical-real core” (belonging to fundamental spiritual being). By the help of mystical vision, (fundamental) spiritual being is not only (though imperfectly) perceived and experienced; rather, according to Walther, human ego-consciousness also communicates with God as a spiritual person. However, the latter cannot be supported by Walther’s analysis. In other words, a critical distinction must be made between the—phenomenologically demonstrable—philosophical content of Walther’s investigation and its theologically motivated readings. Accordingly, the present article can appreciate the philosophical significance of her Phenomenology of Mysticism without thereby being committed to its theological interpretations. Walther’s main work, in summary, is a substantial—if not consistently concise—contribution to the philosophy of mind/spirit and being, which, moreover, is able to act as a bridge between philosophical phenomenology and theology. Additionally, in the weak reading, Walther’s integrative concept of mind/spirit and being is connectable to postmaterialist notions of reality.

Dreams of a Spirit-Seer and Kant’s Critical Method: Comments on Stephen R. Palmquist’s Kant and Mysticism

AbstractIn his new book, Kant and Mysticism, Stephen Palmquist argues that Kant had already formulated his critical method by the mid-1760s and that it emerged from his reflections on Swedenborg’s mystical visions. In order to evaluate these claims, I consider Kant’s correspondence with Charlotte von Knobloch and Moses Mendelssohn before and after the publication of Dreams of a Spirit-Seer; the context in which Kant published Dreams; and the method he employs when he discusses Swedenborg’s visions in that work. I conclude that Kant’s critical method was not well-formed during the 1760s and did not emerge from Kant’s reflections on Swedenborg.

Una mujer en el oído de Dios: la voz femenina del Cantar de los Cantares en el Cántico Espiritual, de San Juan de la Cruz

Este trabajo intenta mostrar la visión diferente de la mujer que se proyecta a través del Cantar de los Cantares y que conserva toda su fuerza transgresora en Cántico Espiritual. Una obra que pone en valor la relación tan importante que el poeta español San Juan de la Cruz (1542-1591) tuvo siempre con las mujeres y que destaca por el absoluto protagonismo de la voz lírica femenina. La alegoría mística va a servir en el Cántico para dar rienda suelta a una voz femenina que sorprende por la inusitada «libertad y fortaleza» con la que se expresa, las mismas cualidades que, a juicio de San Juan, debía poseer el alma humana para buscar a Dios y unirse a él. Una lectura religiosa que, no obstante, choca con la literalidad de un texto cuajado de imágenes y referencias de marcado contenido erótico, cuyo sentido eufemístico no deja lugar a dudas. Y que tampoco resulta fácil de conciliar con esa visión mística, ya de por sí subversiva. De ahí, el carácter doblemente transgresor de la poesía de San Juan. No solo habla directamente al oído de Dios, sino que además lo hace con una voz de mujer. Aunque, en este sentido, el autor del Cántico no se aparta de su modelo bíblico, que tanto le atrajo a él. Y es, tal vez, el carácter más universal de la poesía de San Juan y de su íntimo diálogo amoroso lo que hace aún más cautivadora si cabe esta obra cumbre de la literatura renacentista, que aún hoy nos sigue fascinando.

Scholarly Milton. Edited by Thomas Festa and Kevin J. Donovan. Clemson, SC: Clemson University Press in association with Liverpool University Press, 2019. Pp. vii+295.

<i>Scholarly Milton</i>. Edited by Thomas Festa and Kevin J. Donovan. Clemson, SC: Clemson University Press in association with Liverpool University Press, 2019. Pp. vii+295.

Kant and Mysticism: Critique as the Experience of Baring All in Reason's Light by Stephen R. PALMQUIST

Reviewed by: Kant and Mysticism: Critique as the Experience of Baring All in Reason's Light by Stephen R. PALMQUIST Brendan Kolb PALMQUIST, Stephen R. Kant and Mysticism: Critique as the Experience of Baring All in Reason's Light. Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books, 2019. xiv + 167 pp. Cloth, $90.00 One might have the following unfounded worry about Palmquist's Kant and Mysticism: "Of course Kant will have some features of his thought that can be construed as mystical. Are not all great philosophers mystics in a sense, who redirect a conversation by their seeming access to another realm? There are, of course, the literal mystical visions of a Plato or a Hildegard, but consider also the skeptical ascent in Hume's Treatise, or the otherworldly presence of David Lewis. Even Russell had his mathematical revelations. Is not Kant bound to come off as a bit of a mystic, as the one who saw the power of the 'moral law within,' as the voice of reason itself, to redirect metaphysics and rein in its speculative demands?" However, this worry is not a reason to avoid Kant and Mysticism. It is a reason why books like it need to be written, particularly for figures like Kant, whom we so often think of as dry and austere. To that end, Kant and Mysticism does a good job of capturing what is mystical in Kant, pushing some key Kantian themes toward the mystical while seemingly preserving their spirit: "'Reason' is Kant's name for the ultimately unknowable mystery that generates all our human capacities for knowledge and [End Page 854] goodness"; or: "Surely Kant's moral philosophy is grounded on what might well be called a mystical intuition of the unity of human personhood"; or again: "The core message of Kant's Critical mysticism is that anyone who experiences Critique, by allowing the light of reason to lay bare all of the dark recesses of human ignorance, will recognize that we cannot, and therefore should not, ask for more." Palmquist thus helps us to see a Kant whose concern with the limits of knowledge goes beyond developing a metaphysics, and whose concern with religion goes beyond grafting doctrines onto morality. Palmquist is quick to note that he is not offering a Kant who approves of schwärmerei—a term Kant associates with his criticism of many mystics, and which is often translated as "enthusiasm" but which Palmquist offers is best rendered in contemporary English as "delirium." For Palmquist, Kantian critical mysticism is (naturally) first negative—clearing out whatever goes beyond reason's limits or against the moral—and only within this cleared space does it take shape. In one of the most interesting parts of the book, Palmquist argues that even as Kant critiqued Swedenborg in his early Dreams of a Spirit Seer, he was beginning to develop a mystical idea of the moral community—literally, a corpus mysticum—out of the shell of Swedenborg's spirit-world (A808/B836). Palmquist may overstate his case here, in saying that Dreams of a Spirit Seer is where Kant finds the "seed" that "eventually matured into the tree of Critical philosophy," but the connections he draws are worth exploring nonetheless. Palmquist argues that once the tree of the critical philosophy was fully grown from the seed of Dreams of a Spirit Seer, it was finally able to bear long-intended fruit, its own "mystical seed," the unfortunately unfinished Opus postumum. One key textual question here arises due to Palmquist's basing his reading of the latter text on one account Kant gives of three transitions that will structure it. This is crucial because Kant also gives a different, seemingly irreconcilable account of these transitions elsewhere in the text; further, much of Palmquist's argument about Opus postumum's significance for Kant may ride on the claim that this passage, 21:17, in the "first" fascicle of Kant's papers was written early on in Opus postumum—and much of that fascicle was certainly not (see Opus postumum, ed. Eckart Förster, trans. Eckart Förster and Michael Rosen, p. xxviii). Does the book establish its ambitious main thesis, that Kant's goal in his corpus...

Sacramental Vision in Annie Dillard’s Holy the Firm

Abstract In this article I explore the central motif of vision in Annie Dillard’s short poetic narrative, Holy the Firm. Attention to the book’s tripartite structure reveals a movement through an aesthetic appreciation of creation, to an intellectual contemplation of the Fall, finally culminating in a mystical vision of wholeness in the redemptive descent of Christ. I turn to Julian of Norwich’s parable of the Lord and Servant in order to illuminate their shared attunement to the workings of divine love in the face of human suffering. For Dillard, Christ’s kenotic love is continually revealed in the Christian sacraments of baptism and communion. Finally, I suggest that through the artist, the thinker, and the nun, Dillard leads her reader toward a sacramental vision of the world, which locates the holy in the everyday.

A Mystic's Vision of Empire

A Mystic's Vision of Empire

Between Mysticism and Politics: The Continuity in and Basic Pattern of Vladimir Solov’ëv’s Thought

Abstract Vladimir Solov’ëv, informal “founder” of the current of Russian religious philosophy which gained some prominence in the early 20th C with thinkers like N. Berdyaev, S. Frank and S. Bulgakov, based his social and political philosophy as well as his program of “Christian politics” (an attempt to bring the world as close to the Kingdom of God as possible, while steering clear from any idea of “building” God’s Kingdom on Earth) on a series of personal mystical encounters with Sophia, understood by him as, simultaneously, Eternal Femininity, Divine Wisdom and World Soul. The paper argues that this vision remained the foundation of his entire world-view, despite the fact that he initially articulated a more “utopian” vision of a world-encompassing “free theocracy,” while later in his career he elaborated, in Opravdanie dobra [The Justification of the (Moral) Good], a more realistic, but still “ideal-theoretical” vision of a just Christian state. Highlighting the tension between Solov’ëv’s advocacy of a free and plural sphere of public debate and his own “prophetic” position based on privileged access to divine wisdom, the paper ends with a discussion of the intrinsic and unsolvable tension between religion and politics, and with the claim that there is a fundamental opposition between holistic mystical visions and a recognition of the political, understood as the ubiquitous possibility of both conflict and concord among humans.

God Speaks Within: From Mystical Vision to Devout Listening

ABSTRACT In the Bible, the human God-relationship is typically established through and by the phenomenon of “calling”. However, for much subsequent theology, this has been displaced by “vision”, “taste” or “feeling”. Referring to the notion of an inner word, the paper follows Kierkegaard's treatment of silence as, alternatively, a mode of inattention and attention to such an inner word. With Heidegger, the paper turns to the notion of vocation, both as in the discussion of the call of conscience in Being and Time and the poetic vocation exemplified in the figure and poetry of Hölderlin. Finally, it considers the possible difference between such a poetic vocation and a divine calling.

Death-Related and Mystical Visions Relevant to Consciousness Studies

Death-Related and Mystical Visions Relevant to Consciousness Studies

انزیاح الامتداد دراسة أسلوبیَّة فی شعر الإمام عبد الله بن أسعد الیافعیِّ (ت768ه)

ملخص انزياح الامتداد دراسة أسلوبية في شعر الإمام عبد الله بن أسعد اليافعي (ت768ه) يدرس هذا البحث أسلوب الشاعر عبد الله بن أسعد اليافعي أحد کبار متصوفة القرن الثامن الهجري، من زاوية الانزياح، وعلاقة هذا الانزياح برؤية الشاعر الصوفية. وکان المنهج الملائم للنهوض برصد هذه الانزياحات ودراستها، المنهج الأسلوبي الذي يرى أن الأسلوب عبارة عن انزياح عن معيار ما. وبتتبع الانزياحات الأسلوبية في شعر اليافعي، وجدنا نوعا من الانزياح أسميناه انزياح الامتداد، وقد لفت انتباهنا في شعر اليافعي نوعان من انزياح الامتداد، أولهما الاعتراض الذي يحدث انزياحا عن النموذج المثالي للبنية الترکيبية للجملة، وثانيهما التعلق الذي يحدث انزياحا عن النموذج المثالي للبيت الشعري في القصيدة العمودية الذي يتأسس على وحدة ترکيبية ودلالية مستقلة عما بعدها. وخرج البحث بمجموعة من النتائج أهمها أن الرؤية الصوفية کان لها أثر جلي في الانزياحات الأسلوبية على مستوى الامتداد. الکلمات المفتاحية : الانزياح ، امتداد الانزياح ، دراسة أسلوبية ، الأسلوبية ، شعر عبد الله ، اليافعي ، أسعد اليافعي ? إعداد / أحمد سعيد جمعان بلحاف طالب دکتوراه في جامعة الجزيرة بالسودان Abstract Extension displacement is a stylistic study In poetry of Imam Abdullah bin Asaad al-Yafii (d. 768 AH) This research examines style of poet Abdullah bin As'ad al-Yafi'i, a senior mystic of eighth century AH, from angle of deviation, and relationship between this deviation and mystical vision of poet. An appropriate approach to improving monitoring and study of these deviations was stylistic approach that saw style as a deviation from standard model. Following stylistic deviations in Yafi'i's poetry, we found a kind of deviation we called the extension deviation. Two types of stretching aberration have caught our attention in Yafi'i's poetry; first is parenthesis, which deviates from ideal model of sentence structure, and second is attachment that deviates from ideal model of verse in vertical poem, which is based on a syntactic and semantic unit independent of what follows. The research came out with a series of results, most important of which was that Sufi vision had a clear effect in guiding stylistic deviations at extension level. key words : Displacement, Stretching Displacement, Stylistic Study, Method, Poetry of Abdullah, Al-Yafei, As'ad Al-Yafei Prepared by Ahmed Saeed Jamaan Balhaf PhD student at Gezira University in Sudan

A Christ in curls: the contested charisma of Mary Ann Girling (1827–1886)

ABSTRACT In May 1871 Mary Ann Girling, an itinerant preacher of Suffolk, set her first firm step to public, charismatic leadership. Through apocalyptic prophecies, mystical visions, stigmata, and gospel events that encompassed ‘dancings, prophesyings and trance utterances’, and through fashioning a public persona with a complicated relationship with the media and an elaborate appearance—the curls in the title are part of that appearance—she gathered a flock of devotees and ensured constant media attention. Her exuberance, also fascinated curious and sceptical people. They mocked her appearance, challenged her charismatic authority, and on several occasions resorted to violence to show their discontent. By tracing the stages in the construction and development of Girling’s charisma and examining its reception, this article argues that charisma is the precarious result of constant renegotiation between the charismatic, her community, and wider society.

Spiritual Education in Islamic Tradition: Revisiting Ghazali’s “Deliverance”

Any religion has three aspects: moral–ritual orders, metaphysical–cosmological beliefs, and the feelings that are the foundations of “religious experience”; focusing on any of these particular aspects results in a different approach toward the concept of “religion” and “religious education.” This study will examine Ghazali’s version of Sufism as a significant way of spirituality in Islam. He thought that mystical vision was the sublime ideal of Islam and education. But he redefined the other two aspects in line with achieving religious experience. Thus, he achieved a special interpretation of spiritual education that could be called negative education.

Mounting the Poyto: An Image of Afro-Catholic Submission in the Mystical Visions of Colonial Peru's Úrsula de Jesús

Mounting the Poyto: An Image of Afro-Catholic Submission in the Mystical Visions of Colonial Peru's Úrsula de Jesús

Piekło jako wyraz gniewu Bożego w doświadczeniu mistycznym świętej Faustyny Kowalskiej

Sister Faustina Kowalska is one of the most famous saints of the Catholic Church. Her mystical experiences, written down in the “Diary”, became well known throughout the entire world, resulting in the proclamation of the message of divine mercy and in the promotion of its devotion. However, the message does not ignore the issue of God’s wrath and the so-called divine punishment connected with it, punishments which concern temporal reality as well as eternal life. The first kind of punishments appear in human life as various misfortunes which call or spur the individual to&nbsp; conversion. The other kind, however, involves eternal damnation in Hell. The present article is dedicated to this latter question of&nbsp; Hell as an expression of divine wrath, in the experiences of the Saint. We can note that her impressions in this matter are of three varieties: first, the “dark night” sensations, then the moments in which she accompanies the moribund into damnation’s danger, and finally her mystical vision of Hell itself. Analysis of all these experiences allows us to discern, through the Saint's eyes, the true purpose of Hell’s message: It is not merely to satisfy our curiosity about the fate and status of the damned, but rather should inform an intensive focus on one's own proper salvation, and on the salvation of other sinners. Moreover, a proper view of these things does not need to exclude the hope of salvation for everyone.