HIST-308 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Meister Eckhart, Johannes Tauler, Henry Suso
7 Mar 2020
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Marguerite"s mysticism led her to the doctrine of the soul"s self annihilation. That is, the mystic"s true path leads not to self-fulfillment, but rather to kenosis, the emptying out of the self: self annihilation. Only by overcoming one"s own self identity, said marguerite, can one make room for god"s divine will to enter in. And when that happens, the gap between god and humankind shrinks to an almost zero distance: marguerite"s controversy. The extremity of her position landed her amidst theological controversy. This was especially true of her claims that the annihilated soul, united with god, is freed from sin in a sense: free spirit controversy. Because of this claim, marguerite was accused by some authorities of being a free spirit. Or even an antinomian, someone who thinks christ has freed christians from any moral constraints whatsoever. In the end, she was burnt at the stake for refusing to recant her claims.
