Creation and Revelation

The Christian mystical tradition holds a complex and shifting view of creation, caught between two poles. On one side, mystics affirm creation as a sacrament that reveals God, especially through the logos, the principle of creation that enables spiritual experience. On the other, they emphasize the limits of knowledge, respecting what remains hidden, particularly in suffering and loss. The image of Christ crucified and dead in the tomb calls for humility before the unknowable aspects of God. Thus, creation both reveals and conceals the divine.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The Christian mystical tradition gives expression to a varied, ambiguous, and shifting understanding of creation. The dialectical tension between kataphatic and apophatic mysticism frames this complex attitude towards creation. On the one hand, mystics regularly affirm the sacramental character of the created world, its capacity to reveal and make present the reality of God. Central to this theological intuition is the presence of the logos, the very principle of creation that also becomes the deep source of sacramental spiritual experience. On the other hand, mystics show deep respect for all that cannot be known, especially all that remains hidden under the shroud of loss and suffering. The image of the crucified Christ and Christ dead in the tomb is not only an emblem of salvation, but also a call to pause, in humility, before all that can never be known or understood of God. Creation reveals. But it also conceals.