ARTICLE
TITLE

Aesthetics, mysticism and the art of living

SUMMARY

AbstractThis article analyses aesthetics and mysticism in the writings of Albert Geyser, the prominent South African theologian who is mostly known for his brave, uncompromising struggle against the apartheid system. In the first part of the article, brief introductory comments are made about Geyser’s theological and political role in South Africa in the light of his Protestan tcontext and his opposition to apartheid. It is then investigated how his reputation as a Biblical scholar and his protracted, much publicised stance against apartheid obfuscate his remarkable interest in aesthetics and mysticism and explains why his other theological interests and especially his interest in mysticism have not yet been researched. In the second part of the paper Geyser’s mystical interests are investigated by analysing his comments on church architecture, worship, music, liturgy and his pioneering translation of Thomas á Kempis’ Imitatio Christi.

 Articles related

Celia Kourie    

AbstractGiven the plethora of research conducted in the field of spirituality and mysticism over the last 30 years, it is almost a superhuman feat to keep up with the explosion of information. Of necessity, in a limited article of this nature, it is po... see more


Susan Rakoczy    

 Mysticism, understood as profound experience of the Divine, is not world-denying but has important implications for the ways persons respond to their social and political contexts. The meaning of mysticism is briefly traced from the patristic era t... see more

Revista: SCRIPTURA

Olav Hammer    

Esotericism and mysticism are two notoriously elusive concepts. Both are based on referential corpora of works that are so internally diverse as to defy any simple characterization. A definition of mysticism needs to encompass a range of empirical cases ... see more


Maarit Leskelä-Kärki, Tiina Mahlamäki    

The current 29th volume of Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis is based on a symposium arranged by the Donner Institute and the research project ‘Seekers of the New: Esotericism and the Transformation of Religiosity in the Modernising Finland’ at the U... see more


Felix Schmelzer    

The present article seeks to identify T.S. Eliot’s affinity to the tradition of Christian mysticism by analyzing the spatial paradox in the poem Burnt Norton, the first of the Four Quartets. Parting from a general reflection on the importance of the para... see more