All Topics  
Johannes Tauler

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Johannes Tauler
 
 
  Topics Johannes Tauler Topic Home

Johannes Tauler (c. 1300 – 15 June 1361) was a German mystic
German mysticism

German mysticism, sometimes called Dominican mysticism or Rhineland mysticism, was a Late Middle Ages Christian mysticism movement, that was especially prominent within the Dominican order and in Germany....
 theologian
Theology

Theology is the study of the existence or attributes of a deity or gods, or more generally the study of religion or spirituality. It is sometimes contrasted with religious studies: theology is understood as the study of religion from an internal perspective , and religious studies as the study of religion from an external perspective....
.

Life
He was born about the year 1300 in Strasbourg
Strasbourg

Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace Regions of France in northeastern France. With 702,412 inhabitants in 2007, its metropolitan area is the Aire urbaine....
, and was educated at the Dominican
Dominican Order

The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Roman Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic in the early 13th century in France....
 convent in that city, where Meister Eckhart
Meister Eckhart

Meister Eckhart Dominican order , is the most common formula used to refer to Eckhart von Hochheim, a Germany theology, philosopher and German mysticism, born near Erfurt, in Thuringia....
, who greatly influenced him, was professor of theology (1312-1320) in the monastery school. From Strasbourg he went to the Dominican college of Cologne
Cologne

Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants....
, and perhaps to St James's College, Paris
Paris

Paris is the Capital of France and the country's largest city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the ?le-de-France Regions of France ....
, ultimately returning to Strasbourg.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Johannes Tauler'
Start a new discussion about 'Johannes Tauler'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Johannes Tauler (c. 1300 – 15 June 1361) was a German mystic
German mysticism

German mysticism, sometimes called Dominican mysticism or Rhineland mysticism, was a Late Middle Ages Christian mysticism movement, that was especially prominent within the Dominican order and in Germany....
 theologian
Theology

Theology is the study of the existence or attributes of a deity or gods, or more generally the study of religion or spirituality. It is sometimes contrasted with religious studies: theology is understood as the study of religion from an internal perspective , and religious studies as the study of religion from an external perspective....
.

Life


He was born about the year 1300 in Strasbourg
Strasbourg

Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace Regions of France in northeastern France. With 702,412 inhabitants in 2007, its metropolitan area is the Aire urbaine....
, and was educated at the Dominican
Dominican Order

The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Roman Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic in the early 13th century in France....
 convent in that city, where Meister Eckhart
Meister Eckhart

Meister Eckhart Dominican order , is the most common formula used to refer to Eckhart von Hochheim, a Germany theology, philosopher and German mysticism, born near Erfurt, in Thuringia....
, who greatly influenced him, was professor of theology (1312-1320) in the monastery school. From Strasbourg he went to the Dominican college of Cologne
Cologne

Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants....
, and perhaps to St James's College, Paris
Paris

Paris is the Capital of France and the country's largest city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the ?le-de-France Regions of France ....
, ultimately returning to Strasbourg. In 1324 Strasbourg, along with other cities, was placed under a papal interdict
Interdict (Roman Catholic Church)

In the Roman Catholic Church, the word interdict usually refers to an ecclesiastical penalty. Interdicts may be real, local or personal....
, and so all Dominican friars left the city. Tauler went to Basel. The legend that he stayed in Strasbourg and continued to perform religious services for the people is probably due to the desire of the Sixteenth century Reformers to enroll the famous preachers of the Middle Ages
Middle Ages

File:Karl 1 mit papst gelasius gregor1 sacramentar v karl d kahlen.jpgThe Middle Ages of European history are a period in history which lasted for roughly a millennium, commonly dated from the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century to the beginning of the Early Modern Period in the 16th century, marked by the division of Western Christi...
 among their forerunners.

From 1338 to 1339 Tauler was in Basel
Basel

Basel is Switzerland's third most populous city . With 731,000 inhabitants in the tri-national metropolitan area , Basel is Switzerland's third-largest urban area....
, then the headquarters of the "Friends of God
Friends of God

The Friends of God was a Middle Age lay mystical group and a center of German mysticism. It was founded between 1339 and 1343 in Basel, Switzerland, and was also fairly important in Strasbourg and Cologne, because around those times, some of the area was placed under a Interdict ....
", and was brought into intimate relations with the members of that pious mystical fellowship. Tauler worked with the Friends of God, and it was with them that he taught his belief that the state of the soul was affected more by a personal relationship with God than by external practices. (Cairns 243) In this way, he was more of a proselytizer than his counterpart, Eckhart. Yet Strasbourg still remained his headquarters. The Black Death
Black Death

The Black Death, was one of the deadliest pandemics in human history, widely thought to have been caused by a bacterium named Yersinia pestis , but recently attributed by some factors to other diseases....
 came there in 1348, and it is said that when the city was deserted by all who could leave it, Tauler remained at his post, encouraging his terror-stricken fellow-citizens with sermons and personal visits. His correspondence with distinguished members of the Gottesfreunde, especially with Margaretha Ebner, and the fame of his preaching and other work in Strasbourg, made him known throughout a wide circle. He died in 1361.

Tauler was one of several notable Christian universalists
Universal reconciliation

Universal reconciliation, also called universal salvation or sometimes simply universalism, is the Christian doctrine or belief that all can receive salvation, regardless of belief, due to the love of God....
 in the Middle Ages, along with Amalric of Bena
Amalric of Bena

Amalric of Bena was a France theology, after whom the Amalricians are named....
, John of Ruysbroeck
John of Ruysbroeck

The beatification John of Ruysbroeck was one of the Flanders mysticism....
, and Julian of Norwich
Julian of Norwich

Julian of Norwich was considered one of the greatest England mysticisms. Little is known of her life aside from her writings. Even her name is uncertain, the name "Julian" coming from the Church of St Julian in Norwich, where she was an anchorite, meaning that she was a type of hermit, who lived in a cell attached to the church and spent t...
. He taught that "All beings exist through the same birth as the Son, and therefore shall they all come again to their original, that is, God the Father."

The well-known story of Tauler's conversion and discipline by "The Friend of God from the Oberland
The Friend of God from the Oberland

The Friend of God from the Oberland was the name of a figure in Middle Age German mysticism, associated with the Friends of God and the conversion of Johannes Tauler....
" cannot be regarded as historical. Tauler was famous for his sermons, which were considered among the noblest in the German language
German language

German is a West Germanic languages, thus related to and classified alongside English language and Dutch language. It is one of the world's world language and the most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union....
 -- not as emotional as Henry Suso
Henry Suso

Henry Suso was a German mystic, born at ?berlingen on Lake Constance on March 21, c. 1300; he died at Ulm, January 25, 1366; declared Beatification in 1831 by Gregory XVI, who assigned his feast in the Dominican Order to March 2....
's, nor as speculative as Eckhart's, but rather intensely practical, and touching on all sides the deeper problems of the moral and spiritual life.

Work

Tauler's sermons were printed first in Leipzig
Leipzig

Leipzig is, with a population of over 511,252, the largest city in the States of Germany of Saxony, Germany....
 in 1498, reprinted in 1508 at Augsburg, and then again with additions from Eckhart and others at Basel (1521 and 1522), at Halberstadt (1523), at Cologne
Cologne

Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants....
 (1543), and in Lisbon
Lisbon

Lisbon is the Capital and largest city of Portugal. It is also the seat of the Lisbon and capital of the Lisbon region. Its municipalities of Portugal, which matches the city proper excluding the larger continuous conurbation, has a municipal population of 564,477 in , while the Lisbon Metropolitan Area in total has around 2.8 million inha...
 (1551).

A Latin translation was printed first at Cologne in 1548 and 1553. There are modern editions by Julius Hamberger (Frankfurt
Frankfurt

is the largest city in the German States of Germany of Hesse and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants in Germany, with a 2008 population of 670,000....
, 1864) and Ferdinand Vetter (Berlin, 1910, reprinted Dublin/Zürich, 1968;). R. H. Hutton published Tauler's Sermons for Festivals under the title of The Inner Way.

  • Denifle, Dis Buck von geistlicher Armuth (Strassburg, 1877);
  • Carl Schmidt
    Carl Schmidt

    Carl Schmidt or Karl Schmidt many refer to:*Carl Schmidt *Carl Wilhelm Schmidt, German missionary in Queensland during the 19th century...
    , Johann Tauler von Strassburg (Hamburg
    Hamburg

    Hamburg is the second-largest city in Germany , and is the Largest cities of the European Union by population within city limits. The city is home to approximately 1.8 million people, while the Hamburg metropolitan area has more than 4.3 million inhabitants....
    , 1841);
  • S. Winkworth, Tauler's Life and Sermons (London
    London

    London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
    , 1857);
  • R. A. Vaughan, Hours with the Mystics, 3rd ed., vol. i. pp. 214-307;
  • Wilhelm Preger's Gesch. der deutschen Mystik im Mittelalter, vol. iii;
  • W. R. Inge, Christian Mysticism;
  • R. M. Jones, Studies in Mystical Religion (1909).
  • Gnädinger, Louise: Johannes Tauler. Lebenswelt und mystische Lehre. München, 1993.


Literature

  • Eck, Suzanne: Gott in uns. Hinführung zu Johannes Tauler. Übersetzt von Viktor Hofstetter OP und Hildegard Stoffels (Dominikanische Quellen und Zeugnisse Bd. 8). Leipzig 2006.
  • Gnädinger, Louise: Johannes Tauler. Lebenswelt und mystische Lehre. München 1993.
  • Hamburger, Jeffrey F.: D.Verschiedenartigen Bücher der Menschheit. Johannes Tauler über d. "Scivias" H.s v.B. Trier 2005 (=Mitt. u. Verz. aus d. Bibl. d. Bischöfl. Priesterseminars zu Trier; 20).
  • Leppin, Volker: Artikel „Tauler Johannes“ , in: Theologische Realenzyklopädie, Bd. 32, Berlin/ New York 2001, S. 745-748.
  • Mayer, Johannes G.: Die "Vulgata"-Fassung der Predigten Johannes Taulers. Würzburg 1999 (Texte und Wissen. 1).
  • Mösch, Caroline F.: "Daz disiu geburt geschehe". Meister Eckharts Predigtzyklus von d. ewigen Geburt u. Johannes Taulers Predigten zum Weihnachtsfestkreis. Fribourg 2006.
  • Otto, Henrik: Vor- und frühreformatorische Tauler-Rezeption. Quellen und Forschungen zur Reformationsgeschichte Bd. 75 Gütersloh 2003.
  • Sturlese, Loris: Tauler im Kontext. Die philosophischen Voraussetzungen des "Seelengrundes" in der Lehre des deutschen Neuplatonikers Berthold von Moosburg. In: PBB 109 (1987), S. 390-426.
  • Theißen, J.: Tauler und die Liturgie. In: Deutsche Mystik im abendländischen Zusammenhang. Hg. v. W. Haug und W. Schneider-Lastin, Tübingen 2000, S. 409-423.
  • Weigand, Rudolf Kilian: Predigen und Sammeln. Die Predigtanordnung in frühen Tauler-Handschriften. In: Studien zur deutschen Sprache und Literatur. FS Konrad Kunze. Hg. von Werner Williams-Krapp. Hamburg 2004, S. 114-155.

External links