Spiritual Conferences

Johann Tauler Rev. Fr.

Description

SPIRITUAL CONFERENCES of Johann Tauler, O.P. is one of the great classics of the Catholic Church. And like the writings of so many other profound and saintly minds, Tauler s works are both easy to read and rich with meaning. They do not dwell on subjects pertinent to only the few, but come to grips with the essential problems we all face in our struggle with the world, the flesh and the devil. If we would attain perfection ( Our Lord enjoined us, Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect. Mt.5:48 ), we must do battle with ourselves and with the subtle, little complacencies and pitfalls we are often content to live with. To this end, Johann Tauler is unparalleled in his ability to bare for our scrutiny all the devious tricks of the human heart in its effort to avoid chastising itself and really settling down to the work of spiritual perfection. Tauler influenced Ven. Louis of Granada, St. John of the Cross, St. Teresa of Avila, and many other saints with these seemingly humble sermons. Though brief and easily understood, they will exert a like influence on the Catholic saints of today. Excellent introduction. Impr. 283 pgs;

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Catholic Church

Informations

• Publié par: TAN Books
• Date de parution: 01 janvier 1978
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781505106794
• Langue: English

Extrait

Spiritual Conferences
John Tauler
A translation of selected sermons compiled from Die Predigten Taulers , published by Ferdinand Vetter, 1910, in the Series: Deutsche Texte des Mittelalters , Vol. XI.
NIHIL OBSTAT:
J.S. Considine, O.P., S.T.M.
Censor deputatus
IMPRIMATUR:
Albert Cardinal Meyer
Archbishop of Chicago
May 17, 1961
Copyright © 1961 by B. Herder Book Co.
Copyright © 1978 by TAN Books and Publishers, Inc.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 78-74568
ISBN: 0-89555-082-2
TAN Books Charlotte, North Carolina www.TANBooks.com
1978
FOR THE
Sixth Centenary
OF THE
Death of John Tauler, O.P.
1361—1961
Cross and Crown Series of Spirituality
LITERARY EDITOR
Reverend Jordan Aumann, O.P., S.T.D .
NUMBER 20
Contents
Preface
Bibliographical Note
Significant Dates
Introduction
1    The World, the Flesh and the Devil
2    Man's Search for God
3    Conversion and Affliction
4    The Soul, Its Powers and Depths
5    Worldly Images and the Image of God
6    The Birth of God in the Soul
7    The Soul's Union with God
8    True and False Mysticism
9    The Life of Prayer
10    The Blessed Sacrament
11    The Mystical Body of Christ
Preface
THE TRANSLATORS gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Miss Clare Kirchberger, who supplied literal translations of Vetter's text on which these modern English versions are based. Later, she and Fr. Conrad Pepler, O.P., read and commented upon the Introduction.
Professor Herbert Grundmann, Dr. J. Van Mierlo, S.J., "Fr. J.-B. P." and Fr. Otwin Spiess, O.P., and their publishers have kindly permitted the quotations of their works which are cited in the Introduction and listed in the Bibliographical Note.
Throughout the translations an attempt has been made to reproduce Tauler's thought as faithfully as possible in a form suitable for spiritual reading. Where Vetter or the modern French editors indicate discrepancies between different manuscripts, the reading has been preferred which seems to give the most satisfactory sense, and no mention has been made of any others. Where there was a choice between an inaccurate translation and awkward English, fidelity to Tauler's thought has been preserved. Although there was no hope of preserving all the vigor and crispness of his own language, as much of these qualities has been indicated as was possible, without being too blunt or em phatic. Often, however, modern English or American usage has been impossible. Much of Tauler's thought is as foreign to the present age as is his language. Certain anachronisms have thus been inevitable, but the alternative—the affectation throughout of a vaguely pseudo-archaic style—has been avoided.
Bibliographical Note
THE SERMONS TRANSLATED, and also the quotations from Tauler in the Introduction, are versions of the original Middle High German text of Tauler's works, Die Predigten Taulers , published by Ferdinand Vetter in 1910, in the series Deutsche Texte des Mittelalters , Vol. XI. In using the original German text, the editors have constantly consulted the modern French translation of Tauler's works, Sermons de Tauler , by E. Hugueney, O.P., G. Théry, O.P., and A. L. Corin (3 vols., Paris, 1927–35), with its valuable Introduction and notes.
Comparison with either the German or the French text will show that in this present anthology about one half of the sermons regarded as Tauler's authentic work have been translated. Sermons entirely omitted include XIII–XIV, XVI, XXXIV, XXXVI, XLI–XLII, XLV, XLVIII–L, LIII–LIV, LVII–LVIII, LX–LXV, LXVII–LXXII, LXXIV–LXXX. These numberings, and those used in the Introduction and anthology, correspond not with those of the German edition but with the ones followed by the French editors, who have restored the original liturgical sequence of the sermons.
In the Introduction the most important critical work which has been quoted is Professor Herbert Grundmann's analysis of the origins and developments of medieval German religious enthusiasm, Religiöse Bewegungen im Mittelalter (Berlin, 1935). A comparable, equally valuable study of medieval piety in the Netherlands, Geschiedenis van de Vroomheid in de Nederlanden , by S. Axters, O.P., (2 vols., Antwerp, 1950–3) has also been used. The works by the great Dominican historian of German mysticism, Denifle, have often been referred to: his edition of Das Buch von geistlicher Armut (Munich, 1877) and the most important edition of his notes for a general survey of the mystical teaching of Eckhart and his followers, which O. Spiess, O.P., has published: Die deutschen Mystiker des 14. Jahrhunderts (Freiburg, Switzerland, 1951).
The quotations from Hadewijch's works are taken from the editions of her letters and her poems by J. Van Mierlo, S.J. , ( Brieven , 2 vols., Antwerp, 1947, and Strophische Gedichten , Antwerp, 1924). For any study of medieval Dutch and German spirituality the modern French version of her poems by "Fr. J.-B. P." ( Hadewijch d'Anvers: écrits mystiques des Béguines , Paris, 1954), with its brilliant introduction and most learned notes, is now indispensable.
For Ruysbroek, readers may be referred to Eric Colledge's translation, The Spiritual Espousals (London, 1952), the Introduction to which contains an analysis of many of the theological terms and concepts common to Ruysbroek and Tauler.
An excellent work on Mechtild of Magdeburg is Lucy Menzies' translation, The Revelations of Mechtild of Magdeburg (London, 1953). The texts concerning Margaret Porette's trial and condemnation are in Fredericq's Corpus documentorum inquisitionis haereticae pravitatis neerlandicae ( 2 vols., Ghent and The Hague, 1889–97), a fundamental work of reference. Dr. Romana Guarnieri has announced her forthcoming edition of a Latin text of The Mirror of Simple Souls , which will defend her thesis that Margaret Porette was the author. (Cf. Lo "Specchio delle anime semplici" e Margherita Poirette , in the Osservatore Romano of June 16, 1946.) The only published version of The Mirror which hitherto has ever appeared is the modern English version of the medieval English translation, edited by Miss Clare Kirchberger (London, 1927).
For Henry Suso, a recent English work is Professor J.M. Clark's translation, The Little Book of Eternal Truth (London, 1953), and the same author has also written a short outline history, The Great German Mystics (Oxford, 1949). A work still of some value is W. Preger's Geschichte der deutschen Mystik im Mittelalter (3 vols., Leipzig, 1874–93).
The greatest single need of the modern student of medieval spirituality is that the editions of Eckhart's Latin and German works, now in progress, should be completed, and that a survey of them and of the enormous body of ancillary literature should then be made, comparable with Professor André Combes' erudite study of the Ruysbroek-Gerson controversy. Until this has been done, we are still in the dark concerning Eckhart, though the judgments on him by Denifle and of Rudolf Otto (in West-Östliche Mystik , Gotha, 1927, translated as Mysticism, East and West by Bertha L. Bracey and Richenda C. Payne, 1932), who approach him from different and contradictory premises and by entirely different ways, are of great value as provisional verdicts.
More recently, Mme. Jeanne Ancelet-Hustache has published a useful and well-informed popular modern French anthology of selections from Eckhart's writings: Maître Eckhart et la mystique rhenane (Paris, 1956), and Professor James M. Clark has published Meister Eckhart: An Introduction to the Study of his Works with an Anthology of his Sermons (London, 1957), which is an excellent critical study. Both writers have used many of the works listed here.
Significant Dates

c.1207
Mechtild of Magdeburg born.
1219
First Franciscan mission to Germany.
August 6, 1221
Death of St. Dominic; a Dominican province already established in Germany.
1221
Second Franciscan mission to Germany.
October 3, 1226
Death of St. Francis.
1235
Gregory IX enjoined the German hierarchy to protect the Beguines from persecution.
February 17, 1236
Alaydis, a Beguine famous for her piety, burned as a heretic at Cambrai.
1245
Innocent IV grants incorporation into the Dominican Order to many German women's communities.
c.1245
Hadewijch completed her Visions .
c.1260
Eckhart born at Hochheim near Gotha.
c.1265
Mechtild's Revelations edited by her Dominican confessor.
1270
Apprehension and interrogation of heretics in Swabia.
March 7, 1274
Death of St. Thomas Aquinas.
November 15, 1280
Death of St. Albert the Great.
1282
Death of Mechtild at Helfta.
c. 1293
Ruysbroek born in S. Brabant.
c. 1300
Eckhart sent to the university in Paris;

Tauler born in Strasbourg; Suso born in Constance.
c. 1305
Margaret Porette's writings condemned as heretical by the bishop of Cambrai.
May 31, 1310
Margaret Porette burned as a relapsed heretic in Paris.
1311–12
Eckhart lectured in Paris.
1312
Eckhart sent to Strasbourg, where he taught for about eight years.
c.1313
Suso entered the Dominican novitiate at Constance.
c.1315
Tauler entered the Dominican novitiate at Strasbourg.
1324
Walter, a leader of the "Brethren of the Free Spirit," burned as a heretic in Cologne.
c.1325
Tauler and Suso sent to the studium generale at Cologne.
1326
Eckhart, lecturing in the Cologne studium generale , formally accused of heresy.
1327
Eckhart died.
March 27, 1329
John XXII condemned some of Eckhart's teachings as heretical.
c.1329
Tauler returns to Strasbourg.
1339
The Dominicans of Constance and Strasbourg sent into exile. Tauler, at Basel, revisited Cologne.
c. 1344
Suso, while in exile, elected prior of Constance, an office he never returned to hold.
1346
Tauler in Basel.
June 16, 1361
Tauler died in Strasbourg.
January 25, 1366
Suso died in Ulm.
December 2, 1381
Ruysbroek died at Groenendael, near Brussels.
Introduction
THREE GREAT FIGURES dominated German spi