Roots of Western Mysticism Resources

This page is designed to collect resources for the philosophical study of mysticism. Of course, it is difficult to determine what exactly is philosophical in this area, but I will do my best. The resources on this page do not pretend to be a comprehensive list of what is on the Internet. Instead, I have collected some of the more useful sites for teaching and research. Many of these pages are quite comprehensive, and will lead to many other resources. Feel free to contact me for further additions.

“Western” in this case includes Christian, Jewish, and Islamic mysticism, as well as non-religious mysticism from sources in modern Europea and North America. I have not included links to the extensive resources on non-Western traditions of mysticism. This is mostly because the course that this page is a resource for is limited to Western mysticism. It also reflects my own lack of experience with non-Western mysticism. In no way does it suggest that Western mysticism is somehow better, more worthy of study, or anything like that.

General Western Mysticism Resources

Secondary Sources and Resource Pages

Bibliographies

Primary Text Sources

The Academic Study of Western Mysticism

What is Mysticism? Definitions and Descriptions

Contextual vs. Perennial Philosophy

Mysticism and the Human Sciences

Science and Mysticism

Literature and Mysticism

The Roots of Western Mysticism

Greek Mysticism

Neo Platonism

Gnosticism

Esoterica: Alchemy, Hermeticism
The online resources for esoterica are immense. I will only list a few entries here. Note: I do not include paranormal phenomena under the heading “esoterica”, unlike some other sites.

Christian Mysticism in History

This section contains key texts for understanding various times, people, and movements in the history of mysticism.

Ancient & Early Christian Mysticism (up to 400 CE)

Early Mediaeval Mysticism (354 – 1000 CE)

General

Augustine

Boethius

Dionysius the Areopagite

The Cappadocians: Gregory of Nyssa, Gregory of Nazianzus,
Basil the Great

Eriugena, John Scotus

Later Mediaeval Mysticism (1000-1500 CE)

General & Uncategorized

Beatrice of Nazareth

Beguines and Beghards

Bernard of Clairveax

Bonaventure

Cloud of Unknowing author

Cusa, Nicholas

Eckhart, Meister

English Mysticism (mediaeval)

Francis of Assisi & Various Franciscans

Hildegaard of Bingen

Hilton, Walter

Julian of Norwich

Kempe, Margorie

Mechthild of Magdeburg

Porete, Marguerite

Rolle, Richard

Ruysbroeck, Jan van

Silesius, Angelus

Suso, Henry

Tauler, Johann

Victorines

Early Modern Mysticism (1500-1700 CE)

General Resources on Religion, Society, etc.

English Mysticism

French Mysticism

German Mysticism

Spanish Mysticism: Carmelites, etc.

Modern Mysticism (1700-)

General Resources

Buber, Martin

James, William

Kant, Emmanuel

Merton, Thomas

Eastern Christian / Orthodox Mysticism

Jewish and Islamic Mysticism

Jewish Mysticism (includes Hekhalot, Merkabah, Zoharic and Lurianic Kabbalah, and Chassidism)

Hekhalot & Merkavah Mysticism

Maimonides

Kabbalah: Sites

Kabbalah: Documents

Islamic Mysticism

Comparative Mysticism

Websites

Documents

Courses

Resources on Western Mysticism

Papers & Books on Mysticism

Related Courses

Related Journals

Institutes. Programmes & Activities

Contemporary Mystics, Mystical & Esoteric Writing

“Mysticism” Broadly

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