Heretical Paintings: Meister Eckhart's Spirituality |
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Meister Eckhart, 14th-century Dominican monk and mystic, advocated a far-sweeping spirituality. Eschewing the necessity of organized worship, Eckhart proposed that man could attain a personal relationship with God, bypassing the church hierarchy and communing directly with the divine. Indeed, Eckhart's open-minded legacy has much in common with Buddhism or Sufism -- bearing little resemblance to the heavy-handed doctrine of the medieval Church. Apparently, the church elders felt so as well. Eckhart was summoned to the papal court and spent his final days defending himself against charges of heresy. On March 27, 1329, Pope John XXII posthumously declared Meister Eckhart a heretic.... |
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