ECKHART

I. Life.

Various Appointments (� 1).
Heresy Charges (� 2).

II. Eckhart as Author, Schoolman, Mystic, and Preacher.

His Works (� 1).
Schoolman and Mystic (� 2).
As a Preacher (� 3).

III. System.

His Fundamental View of Deity (� 1).
The Trinitarian Process (� 2).
God in Creation (� 3).
The Relation of the Soul to God (� 4).
Sin and Redemption (� 5).
The Place of Christ (� 6).
Eckhart's Ethics (� 7).

Meister Eckhart, as he is generally called, Dominican and mystic, was a man almost forgotten after the middle of the fifteenth century until Franz von Baader in the first half of the nineteenth century revived his memory. Since then he has been highly praised. But Denifle again passed a somewhat derogatory judgment upon him on the basis of newly discovered Latin writings; inasmuch as Denifle has published but a small part of these writings his opinion can not be too implicitly accepted. This article will attempt merely to give accredited facts and indicate the present state of the questions.

I. Life: The long controverted question concerning the locality of Eckhart's origin has been settled by Denifle. who states that he was born at Hochheim, a village 8 miles north of Goths. The year of his birth was probably 1260, and he joined the Dominicans at Erfurt. The lighter studies he no doubt followed at Cologne. Later he was prior at Erfurt and provincial of Thuringia.

r. Various In 1300 he was sent to Paris to lecture Appoint- and take the academical degrees, and

meats. remained there till 1303. In the latter year he returned to Erfurt, and was made provincial for Saxony, a province which reached at that time from the Netherlands to Livonia. Complaints made against him and the provincial of Teutonia at the general chapter held in Paris in 1306 concerning irregularities among the ternaries, must have been trivial, because the gen eral, Aymeric, appointed him in the following year his vicar-general for Bohemia with full power to set the demoralized monasteries there in order. In 1311 Eckhart was appointed by the general chapter of Naples as teacher at Paris. Then follows a long period of which it is known only that he spent part of the time at Strasburg (cf. Urkundenbuch. der Stadt Strassburg, iii. 236). A passage in a chronicle of the year 1320, extant in manuscript (cf. Preger, i. 352-399), speaks of a prior Eckhart at Frankfort who was suspected of heresy, and some have re ferred this to Meister Eckhart; but it is highly improbable that a man under suspicion of heresy would have been appointed teacher in one of the most famous schools of the order.

Eckhart next appears as teacher at Cologne, and the archbishop, Hermann von Virneburg, accused him of heresy before the pope. But

2. Heresy Nicholas of Strasburg (q.v.), to whom Charges. the pope had given the temporary charge of the Dominican monasteries in Germany, exonerated him. The archbishop, however, pressed his charges against Eckhart and against Nicholas before his own court. The former now denied the competency of the archiepiscopal inquisition and demanded litterce dimissorice (aioos toli) for an appeal to the pope (cf. the document in Preger, i. 471; more accurately in ALKG, ii. 627 sqq.). On Feb. 13, 1327, he stated in his protest, which was read publicly, that he had always detested everything wrong, and should anything of the kind be found In his writings, he now retracts. Of the further progress of the case there is no information, except that John XXII. issued a bull (In agro dominico), Mar. 27, 1329, in which a series of statements from Eckhart is characterized as heretical, another as suspected of heresy (the bull is given complete in ALKG, ii. 636-640). At the close it is stated that Eckhart recanted before his death everything which he had falsely taught, by subjecting himself and his writings to the decision of the apostolic see. By this is no doubt meant the statement of Feb. 13, 1327; and it may be inferred that Eckhart's death, concerning which no information exists, took- place shortly after that event. In 1328 the general chapter of the order at Toulouse decided to proceed against preachers who " endeavor to preach subtle things which not only do (not) advance morals, but easily lead the people into error." Eckhart's disciples were admonished to be more cautious, but nevertheless they cherished the memory of their master.

II. Eckhart as Author, Schoohaaa, Mystic, and Preacher: For centuries none of Eckhart's writings were known except a number of sermons, found in the old editions of Tauler's sermons, published by Kachelouen (Leipsic, 1498) and by Adam

Petri (Basel, 1521 and 1520. In r. His 1857 Franz Pfeiffer in the second Works. volume of his Deutsche Mystiker

(Stuttgart), which is wholly devoted to Eckhart, added considerable .manuscript material. Pfeiffer was followed by others, especially Franz Joetes, Meister Eckhart und seine J�nger, ungedrz, iv., Freiburg, 1895). But some pieces are of doubtful genuineness, and the tradition concerning others is very unsatisfactory. It was a great surprise when in 1880 and 1886 H. Denifle discovered at Erfurt'and Cues two manuscripts with Latin works of Eckhart, the existence of which Nicholas of Cuss. and Trittenheim had indeed mentioned, but which had since then been considered lost. There can be no doubt as to their genuineness, but thus far only the (comparatively extensive) specimens which Denifle had published (in ALKG, ii.) are known. The extant writings appear to be only parts of a very large work, the Opus tripartitum, which, to judge from the prologue in the first part treated of more than 1,000 propositions, in the second part debated a number of special questions, and in the third part, first expounded Biblical texts (opus aermonunx) and afterward explained the books of the Bible in their order with special reference to the important passages. Entirely unknown at present are the contents of the more important manuscript of Cues,

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especially the exposition of the Gospel of John, which may contain information on many things.
Some deductions, however, can be made. In the first place, it appears that Eckhart was a true scholastic, who reflected upon and treated all the numerous questions which interested scholasticism in general. That there existed an opposition in principle between mysticism and scholasticism is in his case out of the question, because at that time it did not exist at all, as was z. School- long ago proved by Engelhardt (Rir man and chard von St. Victor and Johannes Ruys- Mystic. broek, Erlangen, 1838, preface). As a scholastic, as far as sentences and elegance of description are concerned, Eckhart seems to be inferior to Thomas Aquinas, whom he follows for the most part. For the rest it is worthy of notice that the sphere of subjects, which espe cially engaged Eckhart's mind, is limited in his Latin writings. His thoughts are concentrated on the divine being in its unity and trinity; on the relation between God and the creature, especially between God and the human soul; on the nature of the soul; on regeneration and union with God, to which he recurs again and again. But these objects are the very ones with which mysticism especially used to concern itself. Even as a scho lastic Eckhart shows a predominant leaningtoward mysticism. Eckhart's sermons are primarily for monks or nuns, and, indeed, according to Denifle (ALKG, ii. 641, 652), the German sermon of the Dominicans in general originated from the care of the nunneries. But when the sermon was deliv ered in the church, other hearers were not ex cluded, and Eckhart sometimes refers to them (Pfeiffer, 287, 26). Indeed, his sermons presuppose a religiously educated and interested congregation.
It is possible that no preacher ever propounded to his hearers more lofty and profound speculations on the Deity and the world, on the soul and its life. But he does it not for the sake of ostentation nor because of mere pleasure in these speculations, but because he is convinced that thus he will best serve his hearers. He knew that not all could follow him (Pfeiffer, 209, 29; 242, 35), and such he exhorted to piety (310, 1; 498, 18).
3. As a For him these thoughts were most Preacher. intimately connected with his spiri tual life and they are therefore expressed with a fervor and ardor which could not fail to im press the more intelligent of his hearers. He is convinced that the thoughts which he presents are found in the Scripture in which he has more faith than in himself (4, 17). The present custom of taking a text for the sermon did not restrict him and in accordance with the use of his time he selects only a phrase, a "word" from a larger section. This mode of exposition is such that he can easily deduce any thought from any text. To us his method appears like an incredible abuse of Holy Writ, but Eckhart practised it in good faith; he followed the custom of his time, and no one took offense. On the other hand Eckhart is truly great in the way and manner in which he gave form and expression to his thoughts. This is clearly to be seen in spite of the faults of the copies, to which
must be ascribed the disproportion of the execution and the want of connection. One might say that truth and purity of sentiment, to which he everywhere attaches the greatest value, also shapes his sermon. He avoids all tinsel, every artificial adornment. He speaks in an artless, pleasing and touching manner. Powerful seriousness and humor are at his command. He often uses parables, but briefly, without detail, and this brevity he also applies where the narrative elements prevail (13, 25; 108; 168, 12; 285, 24). While he often enlivens his discourse by introducing thesis and antithesis, his manner is truly German, his sentences are devoid of the influence of Latin phraseology. Not a few passages of his sermons have a beauty of language which to this day makes them worthy of commendation as models of German style.

III. System: As has already been stated it is impossible to give at present a final decision on Eckhart's world of ideas. Nevertheless an attempt may be made to delineate his fundamental thoughts, based upon the material at hand. The great need of man is that his soul be united with God; for this a knowledge of God and his relation to the world, a knowledge of the soul z. His Fun- and the way which it must go, are
damental necessary. Eckhart does not doubt View of that such knowledge is given in the Deity. traditional faith of the Church, but it is not sufficient for one who is longing for salvation. He must attain to it with his own understanding. Eckhart accordingly does not move and live in ecclesiastical tradition after the man ner of Bernard of Clairvaux or Hugo of St. Victor; in his thinking on the highest questions he is inde pendent and in this way he arrives at views which do not harmonize with the teaching of the Church, without, however, as far as can be seen, being con scious of any opposition. The last and highest object of thinking is the Deity, i.e. the divine entity as distinguished from the persons, yet Eckhart often uses " God " in the sense of " Deity," where his thought does not call for accurate definitions (but cf., on the other hand, 180, 14; 181, 7). The Deity is absolute being without distinction of place or manner (ALKG, ii. 439-440). No predicate de rived fromfinitebeingisapplicabletotheDeity; but this is therefore not mere negation or emptiness. Rather is finite being, as such, negation; and the Deity, as the negation of finite being, is the negation of negation, i.e. the absolute fulness of being (322, 13; 539, 10-27). Dionysius wrongly states: God is not, he is rather a nonentity. When in other passages (82, 26; 182, 31; 500, 27) Eckhart himself designates God as non-existent, he only means that he has none of the characteristics of finite existence. The same apparent contradiction is found, where Eckhart on the one hand calls God absolute being, and on the other denies that he is a being (319, 4; 659, 1); but he reconciles the two views (268-2fi9). The same is the case with occasional seemingly paradoxical expressions, e.g. that God is not good, etc. (269, 18; 318, 35-319, 3). The essential elements of finite things are present in God, but in an exalted degree and in a manner that can not be comprehended by man (322, 20; 540, 2-7).

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Eckhart
The absolute, unqualified being of the Deity Eckhart also calls unnatured nature. This unnatured nature, however, manifests itself in the natured nature, the three persona. The Trinity is the self-revelation of the Deity (540, 31; 390,12-22). In it God comprises himself. Accordingly, Eckhart attributes to the Father a sort of genesis; only the Deity is absolutely without any progression and reposes everlastingly in itself. The Father was made through himself (534, 17). This self-revelation of God Eckhart designates as a cognition, a speaking, or a demeanor. The Father perceives the wkole fulness of the Deity (6,8); or, what is the same, he speaks a single word, which comprises everything (76, 25). He procreates s. The the Son (284, 12); for the Father is Trinitarian father only through the Son. The
Process. Son, however, is in everything like the Father, only that he procreates not (337, 3). The essence of the Father is also that of the Son, and the essence in both is no other than that of the Deity. From the pleasure and love which both have for each other springs the Holy Ghost (497, 26). Eckhart leaves no doubt that the entire trinitarian process must not be con ceived of as a temporal one, but as a process ex tending throughout eternity (154, 10). Preger thought that Eckhart's distinction between Deity and God should be interpreted as a distinction be tween potentiality and actuality. To this inter pretation Denifle (ALKG, ii. 453 sqq.) has strongly objected and cited Eckhart's Latin writings, in which he, with Thomas Aquinas and others, desig nates God as actus purazs, thus excluding all poten tiality. Denifle is right, in that Eckhart does not consciously and deliberately make any such dis tinction; but it can not be denied that his concep tion leads to it. Especially significant is Eckhart's explanation in 175, 7 sqq. where he tries to illus trate the relation between the fatherhood as it is determined in the Deity and the paternity of the person of the Father by the relation between the maternity peculiar to the Virgin as such, and the maternity which she acquires by bearing. But this is exactly the relation of potentiality and ac tuality (cf. also the peculiar passage 193, 33). It must be admitted that Eckhart here expresses two views which can not be harmonized with one another, though the second is not fully developed. Eckhart had a wealth of ingenious ideas, but he was unable to systematize them. The self-manifestation of God in the Trinity is followed by his manifestation in his creatures. Everything in them that is truly real is God's eternal being; but God's being does not manifest itself thus in its entire fulness (101, 34; 173, 26; 503, 26). In this antithesis may be expressed the relation of Eckhart's philosophy to pantheism, both as regards similarities and differences. Accord ing to Eckhart God's creatures have 3. God in not, as Thomas Aquinas held, merely Creation. ideal preexistence in God, i.e. their conceptual essence (essentia, quidditos) coming from the divine intelligence, but their ex istence (esse) being foreign to the divine being. Rather is the true being of the creatures immanent
in the divine being. On the other hand, every peculiarity distinguishing creatures from each other is something negative; and in this sense it is said that the creatures are a mere nothing. Should God withdraw from his creatures his being, they would disappear as the shadow on the wall disappears when the wall is removed (31, 2). This perishable being is the creature confined within the limits of space and time (87, 49). On the other hand, every creature, considered according to its true entity, is eternal. It is obvious that this necessarily involves a modification of the idea of creation. Even Augustine and the Schoolmen felt this difficulty. While they did not, like Eckhart connect the existence of the world with the being of God they did consider it unallowable to attribute to God any temporary activity. Albert the Great tried to avoid the difficulty with the sentence, " God created all things from eternity, but things were not created from eternity "; but this is more easily said than conceived. According to the bull of 1329 (p. 2), Eckhart asserted that " it may be conceded that the world was from eternity." It is impossible here to investigate this view further; but reference must be made to the close relation into which Eckhart brings the process of the Trinity and the genesis, or progress, of the world, both of the real and the ideal world (76, 52; 254, 16; 284, 12; cf. Com. in Genes., ALKG, ii. 553, 13-17).

The unqualified Deity, the Trinity (birth of the Son or of the Eternal Word), and the creation of the world are to him three immediate moments, which follow each other in conceptual, not temporal sequence. All creatures have part in the divine essence; but this is true of the soul in a higher degree. In the irrational creature there is something of God; but in the soul God is divine (230, 26; 231, 4). Though God speaks his word in all creatures, only rational creatures can preserve it (479, 19). In other words, in the soul, where he has his resting-place, God is subjective, while in the rest of creation he is merely objective. The

soul is an image of God, in so far as 4. The Re- its chief powers, memory, reason, and lation of will, answer to the divine persons the Soul (319, 1). This accords with the view to God. of Augustine. Just as there is the

absolute Deity, which is superior to the persons of the Godhead, so in the soul there is something that is superior to its own powers. This is the innermost background of the soul, which Eckhart frequently calls a " spark," or " little spark." In its real nature this basis of the soul is one with the Deity (66, 2). When Eckhart sometimes speaks of it as uncreated (286, 16; 311, 6), and then again as created, this does not involve a contradiction. While, on the one hand, it rests eternally in the Deity, on the other it entered into the temporal existence of the soul, i.e. was made or created through grace. But it is not in this original unity with God that the soul finds its perfection and bliss. As it has a subjective being, it must turn to God, in order that the essential principle implanted in it may be truly realized. It is not enough that it was made by God; God must come and be in it. But this has taken place without

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hindrance only in the human soul of Christ (67, 12). For all other souls sin is an obstacle.

But wherein does sin consist? Not in the finitenesa, which is never removed from the soul (387, 3; 500, 11), but in the direction of the will toward the finite and its pleasure therein (476, 19; 674, 17). The possibility of sin, however, is based in finiteness, taken together with the free will of the creature. If it is the destiny of the soul to be the resting-place of God, then the direction of the will toward the finite makes this impossible; and it is this that constitutes sin. Redemption, therefore,

can take place only when the creature Sin and makes room in his soul for the work Redemption. of God; and the condition for that is the turning away from the finite. For God is ever ready to work in the soul, pro vided he is not hindered and the soul is sus ceptible to his influence (27, 25; 283, 23; 33, 29; 479, 31). The inner separation from everything casual, sensual, earthly and the yielding to the work of God in the heart, that is the seclusion or tran quillity of which Eckhart speaks again and again. For him this is the basis of all piety. But what is it that God accomplishes in the soul? This can be stated in a word: the birth of the son. As the soul is an image of the Deity, if it is to fulfil its des tiny, then that process by which the deity develops into the three persona must take place in it. The father procreates in the soul the son (44, 28; 175, 15-20; 479, 10; 13, 12). This takes place during the life of the soul in time; and, too, not merely at a particular moment, but rather continuously and repeatedly. This is not merely a copy or analogon of that inner divine process, but is in truth that very process itself, by which it becomes, through grace, what the Son of God is by nature (433, 32; 382, 7; 377, 17). From this view of Eckhart's follow a number of the most striking statements in which the soul is made to share in the attributes and works of God, including the creation (119, 28-40; 267, 4; 283, 37-284, 7). However, according to Eckhart, a complete fusion of the soul with the Deity never takes place (387, 3). He also opposes the doctrine of Apocatastaeis (65, 20; 402, 34; 470, 22).
According to Eckhart sin is not the real cause of the incarnation (591, 34). God wished rather to receive the nature of things through grace in time just as he had them by nature in eternity in himself

(574, 34). Just as a man occupies a 6. The central position in the world, since he
Place of leads all creatures back to God, so Christ. Christ stands in the center of humanity
(180, 7; 390, 37.) The same thought is found in Maximus the Confessor and Erigena, but whence did Eckhart get it? Even at the creation of the first man Christ was already the end in view (250, 23); and now after the fact of sin, Christ stands likewise in the center of redemption. After the fall all creatures worked together to produce a man who should restore the harmony (497, 11). This took place when Mary resigned herself so completely to the divine word that the eternal word could assume human nature in her. However, this temporal birth of the son is again included
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in his eternal birth as a moment of the same (391, 20). And now God is to be born in us. In his human life Jesus becomes a pattern for man; and in all that he did and experienced, above all in his passion and death there is an overwhelming power that draws man to God (218-219) and brings about in us that which first took place in Christ, who alone is the way to the father (241, 17).

Whatever one may think of Eckhart's philosophical and dogmatic speculations, his ethical view, at any rate, is of rare purity and sublimity. The inner position of man, the disposition of the heart,
is for him the main thing (56, 39.; 297,
7. Eckhart
11; 444, 8; 560, 43) and with him 's this is not a result of reflection. One Ethics. feels that it comes from the core of his personality; and no doubt this was the principal reason for the deep impression his sermons made. He speaks little of church ceremo nies. For him outward penances have only a limited value. That man inwardly turn to God and be led by him, that is the main purpose of Eckhart's exhortations. Let no one think because this or that great saint has done and suffered many things, that he should imitate him. God gives to each his task, and leaves every one on his way (560 sqq. 177, 26-35). No one can express the fact more definitely than does Eckhart, that it is not works that justify man, but that man must first be righteous in order to do righteous works. Nor does he recom mend that one flee from the world, but flee from oneself, from selfishness, and self-will. Otherwise one finds as little peace in the cell as outside of it. Though he sees in suffering the most effective and most valuable means of inner purification, still he does not mean that one should seek sufferings of his own choosing, but only bear patiently whatever God imposes. He recognizes that it is natural for one to be affected either pleasantly or unpleas antly by the various sense-impressions; but in the innermost depths of the soul one must hold fast to God and allow himself to be moved by nothing (52, 1; 427, 22). It need hardly be added that he regards highly works of charity. Even supreme rapture should not prevent one from rendering a service to the poor. It is noteworthy that, in the ninth sermon, he puts Martha higher than Mary, though by a strange misinterpretation of the text. While Mary enjoyed only the sweetness of the Lord, being yet a learner, Martha had passed this stage. She stood firm in the substance, and no work hin dered her, but every work helped her to blessedness. Future investigations will presumably make pos sible a more accurate estimate of the importance of Eckhart; but it is hardly possible that they will' overthrow the verdict of Suso and Tauter concerning him.

S. M. Deutsch.

Bibliography: J. Trittenheim, De acrviptordvua eccleaiae ticis, ch. 537, Basel, 1494; Franz von Baader, Werke, Leipsic, 1851-60, cf. Index; K. Schmidt, Meister Eckart in TSIf, xi (1839), 683 sqq.; H. Martensen, Meister Eckart, Hamburg, 1842; F. Pfeiffer, Deutsche Mystiker, Vol. ii., Meister Eckart, Stuttgart, 1857; Max Müller, Theoeophie oiler Peychologische Religion, pp. 503-518, Leipsic, 1859; C. Greith, Die deutsche Myatik irn Pre diperorde», Freiburg, 1881; J. Bach, Meister Eckhart, der Vater der deutschen Speculation, Vienna, 1884 ; W. Preger, Bin neuar Traktat Meister Eckarte, in ZHT, ,1844, 1B3-

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204; A. Lesson, Meister Eckart der Mystiksr, Berlin, 1888 (still important); W. Preger, Meister Eckart und die Inquisition, Munich, 1868; A. Jundt, Easai our to myatieisme ap_culatif de Maitre Eckhart, Strasburg, 1871 (to be consulted with Laseon); W. Preger, Geschichte der deutschen Myatik im Miftedalter, i. 309-458. Leipsic. 1874 (to be used with caution); A. Jundt, Histoire du pantleeieme populaire au moyen dge, pp. 57-93, Paris, 1875; M. Rider, in W. Waekernagel'a Altdeutsche Prediptan and Gebete. PP. 398-429. Basel, 1878; R. Ullmann, Reformers be/ore the Reformation, ii. 23-31, Edinburgh, 1877; R. C. Eucken, Geschichte der Philosophischen Term4nologie, pp. 118-122, Leipsic, 1879; H. Denifle, Meister Eckarta lateinische 3chritten und die Grundanachauung seiner Lehre in ALFCG, ii (1888), 41715, and supplement, 81840; idem, Des cuaanische Exemplar Tateinischer Schriften Eckarta, ib. 67378; idem, Die Heimat Meister art@, ib. v (1889), 349-384; R. A. Vaughan, Hours oath the Mystics, pp. 188-213, 8th ed., London, n.d.; Neander, limn Church, v. 393-39i.