Meister Eckhart: Philosopher of Christianity

Meister Eckhart Flasch.indd i 24/07/15 9:36 PM Flasch.indd ii 24/07/15 9:36 PM ! Meister Eckhart Philosopher of Christianity Kurt Flasch Translated by Anne Schindel and Aaron Vanides     Flasch.indd iii 24/07/15 9:36 PM The translation of this work was funded by Geisteswissenschaften International—Translation Funding for Humanities and Social Sciences from Germany, a joint initiative of the Fritz Thyssen Foundation, the German Federal Foreign Office, the collecting society VG WORT, and the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels (German Publishers & Booksellers Association). Published with assistance from the Ronald and Betty Miller Turner Publication Fund. English translation copyright ©  by Yale University. Translated  by Anne Schindel and Aaron Vanides. All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections  and  of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publishers. Originally published as Meister Eckhart: Philosoph des Christentums, rd ed. Copyright © Verlag C.H. Beck oHG, München . Yale University Press books may be purchased in quantity for educational, business, or promotional use. For information, please e-mail sales.press@yale.edu (U.S. office) or sales@yaleup.co.uk (U.K. office). Set in Fournier type by IDS Infotech, Ltd. Printed in the United States of America. ISBN: 978-0-300-20486-5 (cloth; alk. paper) Library of Congress Control Number: 2015943082 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z.– (Permanence of Paper).           Flasch.indd iv 24/07/15 9:36 PM For Maria Antonietta Terzoli November ,  Flasch.indd v 24/07/15 9:36 PM Flasch.indd vi 24/07/15 9:36 PM One must speak wholly diferently of the grounds of being of things and the knowledge of them, diferently also of the things outside in nature. Likewise, it is to be spoken diferently of substance and diferently of accident. Those who fail to consider this will often fall into error. —Meister Eckhart, In Ioh., LW , n. ,  All things, or almost all, that we ask about God are easily solved. And what is written about God—often also the obscure and diicult things—is explained clearly through natural reason. —Meister Eckhart, Prologus generalis, LW , n. , .– Everything that is written or taught about the blessed Trinity is not necessarily so or true. —Meister Eckhart, Latin sermon , LW , n. ,  It is a kinship of the divine kind. It is one within itself. It does not have anything in common with anything. In this matter, many a great scholar stumbles. —Meister Eckhart, German sermon , DW , n. , – If only they understood what mind is. —Meister Eckhart, DW , n. , ., stating his reason for rejecting all the theologians of his time We are concerned here with a thinker who presents—granted, at times more casually than we are accustomed to demand— thoughts, not impressions, and strives to prove them by a strict method. He would believe that he was merely treading water if he were to keep his sentences unexplained and unproven. —Adolf Lasson, Meister Eckhart: Der Mystiker (Berlin, ),  Flasch.indd vii 24/07/15 9:36 PM Flasch.indd viii 24/07/15 9:36 PM Contents Translators’ Preface Preface xi xiii   . Life and Works around  Flasch.indd ix  . A Forgotten Concept: Philosophy of Christianity  . Self-Portrayals  . Beginnings: Paris and Erfurt, –  . The Sermon Cycle on Eternal Birth  . Too Grand a Plan: Prologues to the Opus tripartitum  . Parisian Debates, –  . Programmatic Speeches  . Golden Apples in Silver Peels: The Origin of the World—An Explanation of Genesis  . Wisdom: In Sapientiam  . Departure: In Exodum  24/07/15 9:36 PM x     Flasch.indd x . Interlude: Writing about Eckhart Today  . Eckhart’s Intention: Commentary on John, Part   . Unity according to Kind: Commentary on John, Part   . A New Christianity for the People: German Sermons, Part   . Spicy Nutmegs: German Sermons, Part   . A New Consolation of Philosophy  . Eckhart’s Trial: The Charges  . Eckhart’s Trial: The Defense  . The End in Avignon: “Devil’s Seed”  . Epilogue  Notes  Bibliography  Timeline  List of Abbreviations  Index  24/07/15 9:36 PM Translators’ Preface Every act of translation requires negotiation and compromise, especially with two translators collaborating on the same text. We agreed from the outset that we wanted to re-create as closely as possible the experience of reading the German original. Both of us are fluent in English and German, but both of us are also native speakers of just one language. We naturally disagreed about nuances of tone and style in the original and the translation, though we were in agreement about the content and the direction of the argument. Kurt Flasch’s style is unique, subtle, and careful: how he says something is nearly as important as what he says. It is in terms of the “how” that we had to make compromises. A subtlety in the German that one of us found important could not always be re-created without introducing alienating diction into the English version, and we therefore decided to retain Flasch’s idiosyncrasies only where the German is equally peculiar. A few of these idiosyncrasies merit special mention. Flasch’s style oscillates between the formal and the conversational and is aimed at a learned and curious general audience, not just specialists. At times his tone may border on the irreverent, and Flasch delights in wordplay and vivid images, some of them taken from German daily life. In our translation we have attempted to keep the text equally whimsical. Flasch’s style also relies on a flexible terminology: the same philosophical concepts are often presented with German synonyms. We have collapsed some of these synonyms to make the text more readable in English, but without sacrificing variation completely. In this context our use term “being” deserves a special note. It represents the German terms Wesen, Sein, and Seiendes to avoid unnecessary complications. We have followed Flasch more closely in his use of compounds by breaking them apart and translating each part literally wherever possible. Flasch often eschews Latinisms in favor of  Flasch.indd xi 24/07/15 9:36 PM                     words with Germanic roots to avoid the impression of loftiness and mysticism attached to many modern interpretations of Eckhart. Latinate words have a more elevated sense in German than they do in English, but we have also tended to avoid Latinisms where possible—with the caveat that they were sometimes inevitable. Readers familiar with Eckhart scholarship will therefore encounter certain terms that seem new or different from those to which they are accustomed. Finally, two typographical decisions deserve mention. First, Kurt Flasch repeatedly uses colons to connect main clauses. We have kept this important facet of his style to preserve the author’s unique voice. Second, we have chosen to capitalize certain nouns, such as Oneness, Wisdom, and Justice, when they refer to the primary determinations. The precise relationship between these primary determinations and their existence in specific entities is developed throughout Flasch’s reading of Eckhart, but those who wish to acquaint themselves with the distinction between “Wisdom” and “wisdom,” for example, can refer to Flasch’s discussion of the prologues to the Opus Tripartitum on pages 77 to 82 for a preliminary explanation. We are indebted to our copyeditor Kip Keller and the anonymous reader for their attentive reading of the manuscript. They offered many suggestions for improvement, prevented us from introducing inconsistencies, and caught various typos. Their invaluable comments helped us wade through and rethink many thorny issues, and both their eye for detail and their deep understanding of the content helped us improve the text at several stages. Flasch.indd xii 24/07/15 9:36 PM