Geometry of Christian Contemplation - Measure Without Measure

The writings of ancient and medieval Christian mystics were rediscovered in the twentieth century, and today they are read more widely than ever before. But do modern assumptions about religious experience influence how we hear those premodern voices? Do we do them justice by thinking of mysticism as interior and ineffable?

List of contents

• Introduction


• Part I. An Archaeology of the Formless


• Chapter 1: The Silence of the World


• Chapter 2: Guarding the One


• Chapter 3: The Aneidetic Condition


• Part II. A Genealogy of Form


• Chapter 4: The Limits of Negation


• Chapter 5: The Extension of Desire


• Chapter 6: Kenosis into Magnitude


• Chapter 7: The Icon as Figure


• Chapter 8: Trinity and Form


• Chapter 9: The Figure as Icon


• Epilogue

About the author

David Albertson is Associate Professor of Religion at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where he studies medieval Christianity and philosophy of religion and serves as Executive Director of the Nova Forum for Catholic Thought. He is the author of Cusanus Today: Thinking with Nicholas of Cusa Between Philosophy and Theology (CUA, 2024), Mathematical Theologies: Nicholas of Cusa and the Legacy of Thierry of Chartres (Oxford, 2014), and Without Nature? A New Condition for Theology (Fordham, 2009). His research is supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

Summary

The writings of ancient and medieval Christian mystics were rediscovered in the twentieth century, and today they are read more widely than ever before. But do modern assumptions about religious experience influence how we hear those premodern voices? Do we do them justice by thinking of mysticism as interior and ineffable?

Product details

• Authors: David Albertson, David (Associate Professor of Religion Albertson, Albertson David
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 26.06.2025
• EAN: 9780198946977
• ISBN: 978-0-19-894697-7
• No. of pages: 320
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Religion/theology > Christianity; PHILOSOPHY / History & Surveys / Medieval, PHILOSOPHY / History & Surveys / Ancient & Classical, RELIGION / Christian Theology / General, RELIGION / Christianity / General, RELIGION / Mysticism, Theology, Christianity, Christian theology, mysticism, Ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, Western philosophy: Ancient, to c 500, Western philosophy: Medieval & Renaissance, c 500 to c 1600, Christian Mysticism, Medieval Western philosophy