CURRENT Thematic Reading Pathway: Divine Union in the Christian Tradition

(Note: The image on the right is Hildegard de Bingen’s own first illustrated vision of Divine Love,  called: “Theophany of Divine Love” from The Book of Divine Works.

Day and Time: Mondays 8-9:30 pm EST, 7-8:30 Central, 6-7:30 Mountain, 5-6:30 Pacific

Course duration: February 13-July 30, 2023

Duration: 1.5 Hours 

Average Weekly Reading: 5-10 pages. Shorter readings promotes a higher quality level of attention to the content of the text during each session.   

Nature of Course: Thematic Reading Survey Course. This course offers selections of many authors on the topic of divine union in the Christian tradition. See list below.  (Note: this course is a slow reading study of selections of the works of more than one author.)   

Mode of Instruction: Purposive conversational reading or Socratic seminar, not lecture. Allows participants to meet the material where they are, according to their own questions and experience.  

**Please note: The aim of this conversational reading pathway is to provide the best conditions possible for developing an understanding of the diverse thought and experience in this tradition around the question of divine union. We take the  understanding that grows out of this experience as one that will serve all serious readers, whether devotional or not.** 

Who this Course is for: Anyone interested in reading and talking about works along the theme of “divine union” in the Christian tradition. All those who want to get the “lay of the land” of the whole territory of this tradition, before possibly delving more deeply into a single work. No prior knowledge of the “divine union,” or the Christian tradition, is required to join. 

Course Description:

“How is the human person united to God?” For millennia, theologians, philosophers, and contemplatives have written on this important question.

The notion of divine union and related terms, such as mystical union, communion, divinization, and deification are found throughout Christian mystical literature. In addition, a long tradition dealing with speculative mysticism, that is, philosophical speculation regarding mystical experience has given us a canon of works by great thinkers attempting to explore these mysteries.

In this Reading Pathway, we’ll be begin our journey with selections taken from foundational Hebrew and pre-Christian sources, moving forward through the New Testament and Early Fathers, various early and medieval sources, as well as Reformation and Counter Reformation texts, and on to such thinkers as Hegel and de Chardin. This course does not focus on the study of single work, as in our current slow reading program, but will involve close reading of a number of short selections of texts from the Christian canon of mystical literature. Approaching these works together, participants will gain an appreciation of the breadth and depth of the Christian notions surrounding the union of the human person with God.

• Hebrew Scriptures
• Plato [c. 427-c. 348 BCE], Symposium, Parmenides
• Aristotle [384-322 BCE], Phaedrus
• Philo of Alexandria [c. 20 BC-c. 50 CE], selections
• Plotinus [c. 204-270 CE], The Six Enneads
• New Testament, selections 
• “The Gospel of Philip” [c. 3^rd century]
• “The Gospel of Thomas” [c. 250]
• Irenaeus of Lyons [c. 130-c. 200], Against Heresies
• Clement of Alexandria [150-c. 215], Discourse, Stromateis 4 
• Origen of Alexandria [c. 185-254], Against Celsus, Panegyric
• Macarius of Egypt [300-391], Homily 10 
• Athanasius of Alexandria [c. 300-373], Discourses Against the Arians
• Ambrose [c. 339-c. 397], Exposition of Psalm 118
• Evagrius Ponticus [345-399], Letter to Melania 
• Augustine [354-430], Confessions, Sermon 166
• Dionysius [late 5^th c.-early 6^th c.], selections
• Gregory the Great [c. 540-604], selections
• Duns Scottus Eriugena [c. 800-c. 877], Periphyseon, 5
• Symeon the New Theologian [949-1022], “Hymn 18”      
• William of St. Thierry [c. 1085-1148], Mirror of Faith, Exposition on the Song of Songs
•  Bernard of Clairvaux [1090-1153], On Loving God, Sermons on the Song of Songs
• Hildegard of Bingen [1098-1179], selections
• Mechthild of Madgeburg [1207-1282], The Flowing Light of the Godhead
• Bonaventure, [1221-1274], The Mystical Vine
• Thomas Aquinas [1225-1274], selections
• Hadewijch of Antwerp [13^th c.], Book of Visions, Letters
• Jacopone [c. 1236-1306], Lauds
• David of Augsburg [d. 1272], The Composition of the Interior and Exterior Man
• Mechthild of Hackeborn [1241-1299], The Book of Special Grace
• Ubertino of Casale [c. 1259-c. 1330], Tree of the Crucified Life of Jesus
• Gertrude [1256-1301], Exercises
• Christina of Hane [1269-1292], Description of Her Life   
• Sophie of Klingenow [?], The Engenthal Sisters’ Little Book of the Excess of Grace
• Meister Eckhart [1260-c. 1328], Sermon 52 and Sermon 101, selections 
• Jan van Ruusbroec [c. 1293-1381], Spiritual Espousals  
• Marguerite of Porete, [d. 1310], Mirror of Simple Souls
• Richard Rolle [c 1300-1399], selections
• Catherine of Siena [1347-1380], The Dialogue of Divine Presence
• Julian of Norwich [c. 1342-1373], A Revelation of Love
• Anonymous [latter 14^th c.], Cloud of Unknowing, Privy Counseling
• Anonymous [late 14^th c.], Theologia Deutsch, 53
• Hendrik Herp [c. 1400-1477], The Mirror 
  Juana de la Cruz [1481-1534], The Life
• Bernardino de Laredo [1482-1540], Ascent of Mount Sion,  
• Francisco de Osuna [c. 1492-c. 1540], Third Spiritual Alphabet 
• Martin Luther [1483-1546], Preface to Latin Writings
• Andreas Karlstadt [1486-1541], Meaning of the Term Gelassenheit
• John Calvin [1509-1564], Institutes 
• Anonymous [d. 1540], The Evangelical Pearl, The Temple of Our Soul
• Johann Arndt [1555-1621], “True Christianity”
  John Donne [1572-1631], Holy Sonnets                 
• Jakob Böhme [1575-1624], Aurora, The Way to Christ, The Confessions
• Francis Rous [c. 1580-1659], “The Mystical Marriage”
• Teresa of Avila [1515-1582], The Interior Castle, 7
• John of the Cross [1542-1591], The Spiritual Canticle, The Living Flame of Love
• Luis de Leon [1527- 1591], The Names of Christ, poetry selections
• John Amos Komensky [1592-1670], The Labyrinth of the World, Paradise of the Heart
• George Herbert [1593-1633], “Affliction”
• Francis de Sales [1567-1622], The Treatise on the Love of God
• Jeremy Taylor [1613-1667], Holy Living
• Thomas Treherne [1637-1674], “My Spirit”
• George Fox [1624-1691], A Journal
• Jonathan Edwards [1703-1758], The Life and Character of Mr. Jonathan Edwards    
• Georg Hegel [1770-1831], The Philosophy of History
• Theophanes the Recluse [1815-1894], “The Path to Salvation”
• Elizabeth of the Trinity [1880-1906], Complete Works
• Luisa Piccarreta [1865-1947], Diary
• Teilhard de Chardin [1881-1955] , Hymn of the Universe
• Katharine Trevelyan [1909-?], Through Mine Own Eyes
• Anonymous [20^th c.], The Prodigal Returns
• John Zizioulas [1931-   ], Communion and Otherness
  

On the instructor:

Clare McGrath-Merkle is a graduate of St. John’s College Graduate Institute, with an MTS in theology, and a graduate certificate in Carmelite studies from the Washington Theological Union. She later received PhD ABD status in spirituality studies from The Catholic University of America, and a DPhil degree in philosophy from the University in Augsburg, Germany, specializing in the speculative mysticism and applied metaphysics of the spiritual theology of priesthood. Dr. Merkle currently serves as an adjunct instructor at Benedictine College, where she has taught a course in spiritual theology. She will also be teaching a Great Thinkers course on St. Teresa of Avila in the Spring. She is also a moderator with the Great Books Academy online, where she has led discussions since 2020. Her articles have appeared in such publications as The Journal of Religion and Health, The New Oxford Review, and The Regensburg Forum. Her book entitled Bérulle’s Spiritual Theology of Priesthood was published with Aschendorff Verlag in 2018. She has been a professed secular discalced Carmelite since 2005.

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St. John of the Cross, THE SPIRITUAL CANTICLE, STANZAS 38–39