Organisiert von Prof. Dr. Anne Eusterschulte (Freie Universität Berlin), Dr. Cecilia Muratori (Università di Pavia) und Dr. Antje Wittstock (Freie Universität Berlin)

‘Mystics’ rarely defined themselves as such. Yet, the label of ‘mystic’ became very popular in the 19th century, when it was broadly used in the new genre of the ‘history of philosophy’. For instance, Hegel famously classified mysticism as a branch of scholasticism which daringly combined Church dogmas with philosophical speculation. Sometimes treated with suspicion (e.g. by W.G. Tennemann), and sometimes with appreciation (e.g. Franz von Baader), the concept of mysticism became an established historiographical category. At least since Karl Rosenkranz, who was the first to use the expression ‘German Mysticism’, mystics have also been grouped according to an alleged national and religious character.

This conference is devoted to exploring understandings of mysticism, starting from issues of historiography and categorisation, including from an international perspective. We ask: How do ‘mystics’ feature in histories of philosophy, and in accounts of intellectual and religious developments? Why have some thinkers been grouped together and labeled as ‘mystics’? How did national ‘mystical’ traditions crystallise in historiographical accounts? And finally, how did ‘mystics’ define themselves, and what alternative historiographical accounts might be constructed on the basis of the mystics’ self portraits? The aim of the conference is a critical reconsideration of ‘mysticism’, which brings attention to the problematic success of this historiographical category, and ultimately poses the question of its relationship with philosophical thought.
 

Programme

MONDAY, 7 OCTOBER

10.30–10.45
Welcome and introduction

11.00 –12.00
Katja Krause (Berlin) / Tracy Wietecha (Berlin)
Albert the Great on Negative-Mystical Theology as the Epitome of Science

12.00–13.00
Beatrice Trînca (Berlin)
"der erleücht vater Amandus genannt Seüß" Zu den vielen Namen Heinrich Seuses

13.00–14.30
Lunch

14.30–15.30
Isabel Iribarren (Strasbourg)
Jean Gerson's Mystical Thought and its Reception: A Portrait Gallery

15.30–16.30
Friedrich Vollhardt (München)
"Eyn deutsch Theologia" (Wittenberg 1518): Luthers Stiftung einer mystischen Tradition

16.30–17.00
Coffee

17.00
Visit of the Collegio Ghislieri with Marta Cassano

19.30
Dinner

TUESDAY, 8 OCTOBER

9.00–10.00
Giulia Baldelli (Stuttgart)
Die Wiedergeburt des Mystikers aus der Florilegienliteratur am Beispiel Jacob Böhmes

10.00–11.00
Wilhem Schmidt-Biggemann (Berlin)
Böhme als Mystiker

11.00–11.30
Coffee

11.30–12.30
Nicolò Cantoni (Brussels)
Prisca Sapientia between Mysticism, Religion and Philosophy: A Historiographical Retrospective

12.30– 14.00
Lunch

14.00–16.00
Reading Seminar on Jacob Boehme and D. A. Freher

16.00–16.30
Coffee

17.00
Visit to the Museo per la Storia dell'Università di Pavia

19.00
Dinner

WEDNESDAY, 9 OCTOBER

9.00–10.00
Alberto Bonchino (Dresden)
"Die 'Erfindung der Mystik' in der Frühromantik. Porträt einer naturphilosophischen Konstellation um 1800"

10.00–11.00
Davide Scotto (Pavia)
Catholic criticism of the foundations of mysticism. Hümpfner on Katharina Emmerick from Massignon to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints

11.00–11.30
Coffee

11.30–12.30
Giuseppe Cospito (Pavia)
Opposite meanings of mysticism in the writings of Antonio Gramsci

12.30–13.00
Concluding remarks

13.00
Lunch