De-Mystifying Mysticism: A Critical Realist Perspective on Ambivalences in the Study of Mysticism
Religions December 25, 2024 Ali Qadir, Tatiana Tiaynen-Qadir 2 citations
The study of mysticism has stalled between two opposing views: a naive realism that assumes a universal core to mystical experiences and a critical stance that questions whether the category of mysticism itself is valid. This review examines 20th-century scholarship to understand why the term was largely abandoned. Analyzing key literature from religious studies, history, philosophy, sociology, anthropology, and psychology through a critical realist lens, the authors identify two axes of debate. One axis concerns whether mysticism has a reified, fixed essence or a relativized, context-dependent substance. The other axis asks whether mystical knowledge is limited to rare elites or accessible to all.