Depth, Ground, Abyss
The Oxford Handbook of Mystical Theology February 25, 2020 Charlotte Radler
Christian mystics use the topographical metaphors of depth, ground, and abyss to describe the continuity between God and creation. This chapter surveys biblical and early Christian uses of these metaphors, then explores them in the writings of Meister Eckhart (c.1260-1328), Thomas Merton (1915–68), and Dorothee Sölle (1929–2003). In their work, these metaphors depict an ever-expanding continuum of God and human, time and eternity, immanence and transcendence, challenging static identities and relationships. The spiritual and political implications of Eckhart's conceptual expansion continue to be appropriated and reworked in contemporary mysticism, as illustrated by Merton and Sölle.