Martin Luther's 1520 treatise Freedom of a Christian preserves a tension from medieval mysticism: human agency coexists with divine operation. While Luther rejects external good works, he reintroduces internal human agency within faith. This challenges standard views of Lutheran doctrine by retaining some bidirectionality between God and the believer. A comparison with the mystic Johannes Tauler shows both Luther's debt to medieval mysticism and his radical simplification of its framework.
The Virgin Mary appears as a spiritual teacher in Mechthild of Magdeburg's thirteenth-century mystical text The Flowing Light of the Godhead, actively guiding the narrator into higher forms of mystical life. While Mary was a common figure in late medieval religious writing, Mechthild adapts traditional Marian roles to support her own contemplative ideals, making Mary a model for religious experience that authorizes and sanctions Mechthild's vision of the mystical life.