Expert: A. Abraham - 5/1/2005

Question
What is the role of Mysticism in Islam and Christianity, and the validity of a mystical experience?

Answer
Dear Tyler,

Peace be with you!

Thank you for your good question. Since my expertise is only in questions Muslims ask regarding Christianity I will answer with the Christian view only:

The two main elements in mysticism are indicated by the twofold derivation from meyeõ (“initiate” or “consecrate”) and myõ (“close to eyes or mouth”). Mysticism is thus “ the higher consecreation of man, which he secures by exercising towards the external world, both passively and active, the greatest possible reserve . Or it is the passive and active reserve towards the external world, which is at the same time dedicated to a higher consecration of man (K. Barth, Church Dogmatics, 1, 1, p.319). In accordance with this definition, mysticism presses beyond the external forms of religion to an attempted direct knowledge of God, more especially in prayer and meditation, although sometimes too in trance-like conditions.

There are three considerations which suggest that in mysticism, for all the sincerity of faith which may be ascribed to individual mystics, we really have an expression of human religion rather than a true response to the divine revelation.

1. Exegetically, it is begging the questions to speak e.g., of the Christ-mysticism of St. Paul when the Bible itself does not use this terminology. Interpreted from within itself, a Pauline statement like Gal. 2:20 has no inherent mystical orientation, though it can obviously be pushed in a mystical direction. There is no direct biblical support for mysticism as distinct from the mystical interpretation of biblical data.
2. Dogmatically, mysticism rests on false assumption in its search for directness or immediacy of union or communion between the soul and God. The whole point of God 's coming and work in Christ, and the present ministry of word and sacrament, is that “no man hath seen God at any time” (John 1:18), and that the eyes of the inward understanding can now be opened by the Holy Spirit only as we look on the incarnate, crucified and risen Son presented to us in the gospel.
3. Practically, mysticism entails an inevitable, if often unwitting and unwilling subjectivization. Even the imitation of Christ is a repetition rather than an entry, and the emphasis falls upon what I do rather than on what Christ has already done wholly and allsufficiently for me. An ultimate preoccupation with self is the mark even of the denial of self, and it is in the self that truth and salvation are eventually found even though self and God may not ultimately be confused as they may well be even in Christian mysticism. Mysticism has made its contribution to Christianity, and there is much instruction and inspiration to be gained from its literature. But quite apart from its obvious extravagances it is not a genuine form of biblical and evangelical Christianity. Faith alone is necessary for true initiation into Jesus Christ.

Kind regards,

A. Abraham