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The implications of process metaphysics for Christian mysticism

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dc.contributor.authorBreeding, Marshall M., author
dc.contributor.authorCrosby, Donald A., advisor
dc.date.accessioned2007-01-03T05:43:49Z
dc.date.available2007-01-03T05:43:49Z
dc.date.issued1982
dc.descriptionDepartment Head: P. L. McKee.
dc.description.abstractThis study gives a metaphysical discussion of mystical Christianity, comparing and contrasting the traditional static metaphysics with a metaphysical scheme where process is fundamental. Two Christian mystics, Meister Eckhart and St. John of the Cross, are used to exemplify the pattern of life and traditional metaphysical outlook of Christian mysticism. Alfred North Whitehead’s metaphysical scheme, as presented in his Process and Reality, serves as the process alternative. For all three persons the doctrine of God provides the focus for metaphysical discussion. The principal aim of the metaphysical discussion is to argue that process metaphysics provides a more adequate interpretation for the experiences of the Christian mystics than the static, non-process metaphysics the mystics themselves used. The main characteristic of the mystics' experience which metaphysics must take into account is the intimacy the mystic feels with God. Eckhart interprets the intimacy through an ontological union which occurs on God's transcendent level of existence. St. John suggests that no ontological union occurs but that mystical experience is a volitional transformation. Whitehead's metaphysical categories do not allow for an ontological union but do provide a conception of God and a model of human experience where a very intimate relation is possible between the mystic and God. I argue that Whitehead's view of God as relative, changing, and interacting with the world, more adequately represents what the mystics experience than the view of God as non-relative, static, and metaphysically distinct from the world, which characterizes the theologies of the mystics themselves.
dc.format.mediummasters theses
dc.identifier1982_fall_Breeding.pdf
dc.identifierETDF1982100001PHIL
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10217/3148
dc.languageEnglish
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisherColorado State University. Libraries
dc.relationCatalog record number (MMS ID): 991005096019703361
dc.relationBV5082.2.B74
dc.relation.ispartof1980-1999
dc.rightsCopyright and other restrictions may apply. User is responsible for compliance with all applicable laws. For information about copyright law, please see https://libguides.colostate.edu/copyright.
dc.subjectSt. John of the Cross
dc.subjectMeister Eckhart
dc.subjectprocess metaphysics
dc.subjectWhitehead, Alfred North
dc.subjectmystical Christianity
dc.subjectChristian mysticism
dc.subject.lcshMysticism
dc.subject.lcshMetaphysics
dc.titleThe implications of process metaphysics for Christian mysticism
dc.typeText
dcterms.rights.dplaThis Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights (https://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/). You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
thesis.degree.disciplinePhilosophy
thesis.degree.grantorColorado State University
thesis.degree.levelMasters
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Arts (M.A.)

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