Abstract

The problem raised by the question: ‘How Christian is Christian Mysticism?’ is contained in the combination of the adjective ‘Christian’ and the noun ‘mysticism’. By talking about ‘Christian mysticism’, one seems to be assuming that there is a general religious reality, called ‘mysticism’, and that ‘Christian mysticism’ is one variety of it.2 If that were so, what would become of the uniqueness of Christianity, in any strong sense? To be what it has always claimed to be, namely a final and unsurpassable revelation of God to the human race, Christianity cannot allow itself to be subsumed under any general rubric, such as ‘mysticism’.