Rethinking the Unio Mystica: From McGinn to Ibn ʿArabī
Religions January 19, 2025 Arjun Nair
Scholars of Jewish, Christian, and Islamic mysticism have found common ground in studying the unio mystica, but the concept is expressed in irreducibly diverse ways across traditions, raising questions about the usefulness of generic cross-cultural categories. Translating mystical texts risks misrepresentation, especially in a post-colonial context. The author argues that specialists of non-Western traditions should approach mysticism from within their own conceptual horizons. This work models that approach by reformulating the unio mystica using the theoretical framework of the 12th/13th-century Muslim mystic Ibn ʿArabī and his early school, unpacking terms like “God,” “the human being/self,” and “union” to challenge prevailing Christian-derived understandings and show the benefits of tradition-specific theoretical development.