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Joon HAN, Do the Ways to God Converge at the Summit? Mystical Union in Hadewijch and al-Ghazali. Essay presented to obtain the degree of B.A. in Theology. June 2023 Promoter: Dr. Sander VLOEBERGS -- The Medieval Sufi al-Ghazali and the Christian mystic Hadewijch have both been studied using the concept of mystical union with God. Al-Ghazali, in his works as a Sufi, contemplates meeting God through the “annihilation of the self” – this is the concept of fana. Hadewijch of Brabant is famous for her visionary experiences of mystical union with God. She sees the relationship between God and human as the one between a groom and a bride, and between a knight and his beloved, characterized by longing. In this essay, I inquire on whether one can find sufficient commonalities between the two approaches to meeting God. Considering the big divide between these authors, my research hypothesis is that the concept of mystical union is describing very different phenomena in al-Ghazali and in Hadewijch. I start with Al-Ghazali, presenting the author, his belief system, and analysing his major mystical work Mishkat Al-anwar, “The Niche for Lights”. Then, I present Hadewijch: her life, her cultural and religious background, and a reading of her Vision 7, after which I proceed to compare their respective conceptions about meeting God. My conclusion is as follows: for al-Ghazali, there is no mystical union between the human and God. Before God, the human is annihilated in all her/his being, including her/his identity and her/his conscience – this is the true meaning of fana. Thus, only God and his magnificence remains. In contrast, Hadewijch tells of experiencing a total unification with God, in all her being, at both the spiritual and the physical levels. Thus, in Hadewijch, mystical union actually occurs, and it is best described as a fusion between the human and God. Therefore, I conclude that al-Ghazali and Hadewijch had different, almost opposing conceptions on what happens in the encounter with God. At the same time, we notice one strong similarity: in both cases, the human loses herself/himself completely, although there seems to be a difference in degree, al-Ghazali’s description being more absolute than Hadewijch’s.

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Our essay examines Blaise Pascal’s understanding and use of Scripture against the background of the Jansenist hermeneutics of Port-Royal. Our approach is based on textual analysis of Pascal’s own writings along with some foundational Port-Royal texts. We argue that Pascal the apologist, although writing from within the constraints of Jansenist hermeneutics and Cyranian devotional theology, nevertheless believed in the “translatability” of the divine Word, in the form of an Apology for Christianity. By insisting that the very obscurity of religion is a key part of the message, Pascal can uphold an essentially biblical doctrine of the God who reveals Himself even as He hides. This message has at its core a madness, the “folie de la croix”. Pascal will seek to show that this incredible doctrine is nevertheless not unreasonable. In Chapter I we introduce Pascal’s notion of a Dieu caché. In considering the implications of this key intuition for an apologist seeking to “prove” Christianity, we will see how it is bound up with a theory of “figures”. For Pascal, following the Augustinian exegesis of Port-Royal, “figures” is a blanket term used to denote a spiritual sense which is to be distinguished from a “literal” sense defined primarily in terms of the carnal understanding of the unregenerate, exemplified by OT Israel. The theory involves a kind of hermeneutical anachronism. Israel’s “carnal” nature renders them guilty for not realizing that promises of earthly rewards would be “unworthy of God”. In Chapter II we examine the context for the theory of “figures” as provided by the Augustinian “hermeneutical divide” between the Old and New Testaments which underpins Arnauld’s “Apologies” for Jansenius and Sacy’s Bible “Préfaces”. In its Cyranian expression, the hermeneutical divide between the two Testaments points to two distinct realms of existence. The material, visible world with its concupiscent temptations serves as an inverted image of an invisible, spiritual reality into which one enters by the grace of Jesus Christ in the New Testament. The vocation of true believers is to discern God’s presence in all things. Without spiritual discernment and understanding, God may not be sought in created things which only act as idolatrous barriers to Him. Chapter III is aims to test the limits of Port-Royal’s influence on Pascal’s hermeneutic. We look at how Pascal’s “devotional” writings reflect the Cyranian doctrines. Notwithstanding the undoubted “Jansenist” influences on his hermeneutic, we argue that it is all the more striking that the “Pensées” fragments which treat the theme of the Dieu caché reveal Pascal the apologist projecting an essentially biblical vision, albeit from within a framework of a Jansenist theology of grace. Chapter IV provides confirmation of our thesis in the form of an analysis of Pascal’s Augustinian epistemology. We revisit the notion of Scriptural “proofs” with Pascal the apologist, trusting in the biblical God who hides even as He reveals Himself, seeking to persuade men and women, who are “capable of God”, that obscurity in nature, Scripture and human experience is there to be overcome. God hides in order for people not to attach themselves to created things. The anthropological pessimism of the Augustinian theology from within which the apologist writes is ultimately tempered by the spiritual doctrine of the Hidden God.

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Summary: This essay investigates Augustine's notion of divine punishment in general and, more specifically, in the form of concupiscence in terms of his understanding of (aesthetic) order. Augustine's work, De libero arbitrio, will be the focus of this work. Research Question: How does Augustine, in De libero arbitrio, present and argue for the theory of concupiscence as a just, divine punishment of the first sin of humanity through appealing to the order and aesthetic reciprocity that it provides in the present reality of a fallen and disordered human nature and consequent world? Essay structure: Chapter I. Order : A preliminary overview of Augustine’s notion of order. - An overview of Augustine’s notion of the order of the universe - An overview of Augustine’s understanding of the ordering of human nature. Chapter II. Sin and Punishment: investigate how Augustine understands sin as a disruptive force to the universe in general and human nature in particular. - Augustine’s notion of punishment in the form of concupiscence - How concupiscence has affected the original ordered human constitution Chapter III. Punishment as Aesthetic Order: how punishment and order come together. - This essay’s main argumentation. - How Augustine reconciles the notion of aesthetic order with divine punishment - How Augustie uses the notion of order as a central argument for the just and fitting character of punishment - The character of concupiscence as a specific manifestation of divine punishment is scrutinised through the lens of aesthetic order

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In the present essay, the role of the Christian monk and the pagan philosopher in the late antique society has been examined through the prism of a concrete historical event, viz. the Antiochene Riot of the Statues of 387. The riot broke out at the end of February 387, when the citizens of Antioch in a sing of protest against a new taxation imposed by the emperor Theodosius I destroyed the imperial statues. According to Roman civil law, this was a severely punishable crime and the most active participants were summarily executed. Afterwards, the city councillors were imprisoned because they had fallen short in performing their duties and keeping the order in the city. The emperor sent two representatives, Caesarius and Ellebichus, in order to organise a trial and judge the city councillors. Eventually, however, the emperor gave amnesty and the life of the city councillors was spared. The series of twenty-four Homilies on the Statues by the Antiochene priest John Chrysostom and the set of five orations by the Antiochene orator Libanius are the two main contemporary sources on Antiochene riot of 387. Even though both featured as eyewitnesses of the described events, there are some parts of their accounts that present different and event contradictory statements about the aftermaths of the riot. Chrysostom claims that it was due to the personal involvement of the Antiochene monks as well as the local bishop Flavian that no blood had been shed. Libanius, on the contrary argue that it was due to him and his influence upon the imperial representatives that the city councillors had been released. Therefore, the Riot of the Statues provides a unique opportunity to study the role of the Christian monk and the pagan philosopher in late antique Roman society.

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The essay considers the subject with two aims: first, to offer an examination of Augustine’s idea of the perishment of the world, connecting his explanation with his theological thought; second, to discuss it in more detail by comparing Augustine with Porphyry, highlighting the difference that shows the change of the picture of the universe.