Meister Eckhart: The celebrated 14th Century mystic and scholastic: A central source and inspiration of dominant currents in philosophy and theology since Aquinas, w/the text of his historic Defense Paperback – August 25, 2009

I consider myself to be an "armchair mystic", so I absolutely loved reading this book. Part of what I love so much about Meister Eckhart is the way he combines mysticism with a deep-thinking theology. Sometimes it's difficult to keep track of his concepts, but that's part of what happens when reading someone so brilliant.

Though he lived in the 1200s, Eckhart is a man for all ages.

I highly suggest this book. It is one you will enjoy as a "keeper". You, as have I, will enjoy coming back to this book over and over again, even if it is to just open the book and read the page your eyes fall on for the day.

I enjoy his writings a great deal.

Good book on Meister Eckhart. Cover not like that shown at left.

All Meister Eckhart is good Meister Eckhart. People are often astonished to discover him: Christianity too once had spiritual teachers whose words soar.Now the bad news. This little book was first published in 1941. (A Modern Translation. Right.) I'm amazed it's not only still in print but still the easiest book of Eckhart to find. It has introduced many, many people to Eckhart, and that's good. But I don't understand how it ever got printed in the first place, because this is a BAD translation.I don't mean a version that "fails to capture the fire and verve of the original". Oh no. I'm talking about glaring schoolboy errors on every page. One classic example. In German, "Herr" means "Lord", but also "Sir". So when Eckhart says, "O Lord" or "Dear Lord", Blakney often translates as "O Sir" or "Dear Sir". Eckhart was a theologian, for Pete's sake, how hard could it be to guess Whom he was addressing?So now you expect me to tell you which Eckhart book you Should buy...Sigh...The Penguin Classic and the New Seeds book "Meister Eckhart: From Whom God Hid Nothing" are both more recommendable than this. Both are cheaper. Their contents on the whole are tamer and less interesting than Blakney's, but they were translated by people who could actually read Middle High German. However both are too short.The two volumes published by Paulist Press have the drawbacks of that whole series: too much paper, too little text, too many notes, too much introduction. Large, impressive to look at, the contents boil down to less than you'd think.Matthew Fox's "Passion for Creation" enrols Eckhart, the most abstract and Platonist of Christian mystics, in Fox's own New Age "Creation Spirituality". Yick.The Eckhart who connects to modern readers is the Eckhart of the sermons preached in German to ordinary people. The Latin theological works were written for his peers: you have to know Scripture, Scholastic theology, Plato, Aristotle, even the Arabs, to understand them. The world is crying out for a good complete modern translation of the vernacular sermons or at least a substantial selection. Until that appears there is no First Recommendation.

Yes, what he says is similar to other Mystics. Isn't this wonderfu?.

It wasn't exactly what I expected and the translation was a little hard for me to understand, but I am still happy I purchased it.