The Comparative Study of Mysticism
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion September 3, 2015 Michael Stoeber 6 citations
The comparative study of mysticism began in the mid-19th century as the word 'mysticism' took on a modern substantive meaning, shifting from the traditional Greek Christian adjective 'mystikos'—which qualified rituals, scriptures, and theology as contexts for encountering the Divine—to an emphasis on personal experience of ultimate Reality. Early 20th-century scholarship focused on psychology and phenomenology, describing mystical experience as an altered state of consciousness with common features, influencing perennialist and essentialist views. These views argued that a pure consciousness-experience of undifferentiated unity is core to all mysticism, but faced reaction from contextualist or constructivist perspectives stressing sociocultural determination. Later scholarship qualified contextualism, broadened the field beyond epistemology and neuroscience to include feminist concerns, erotic elements, transpersonal psychology, and new comparative theology.