Mechtild of Magdeburg - The Flowing Light of the Godhead

President and Publisher

Kevin A.Lynch, C.S.P.

EDITORIAL BOARD

Editor-in-Chief

Bernard McGinn-Donnelly Professor of Historical Theology and the History of Christianity, Divinity School, University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill.

Editorial Consultant

Ewert H.Cousins-Professor of Theology, Fordham University, Bronx, N.Y.

John E.Booty-Professor of Anglican Studies, School of Theology, University of the South, Sewanee, Tenn.

Joseph Dan-Professor of Kabbalah, Department ofJewish Thought, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel.

Louis Dupre-T. L.Riggs Professor of Philosophy of Religion, Yale University, New Haven, Conn.

Rozanne Elder-Executive Vice-President, Cistercian Publications, Kalamazoo, Mich.

Michael Fishbane-Nathan Cummings Professor, Divinity School, University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill.

Anne Fremantle-Teacher, Editor, and Writer, NewYork, N.Y.

Karlfried Froehlich-Professor of the History of the Early and Medieval Church, Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, NJ.

Arthur Green-Professor ofJewish Thought, Brandeis University, Waltham, Mass.

Stanley S.Harakas-Archbishop lakovos Professor of Orthodox Theology, Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Seminary, Brookline, Mass.

Moshe Idel-Professor of Jewish Thought, Department of Jewish Thought, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel.

Bishop Kallistos of Diokleia-Fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford, Spalding Lecturer in Eastern Orthodox Studies, Oxford University, England.

George A.Maloney-Spiritual Writer and Lecturer, Seal Beach, Calif.

Seyyed Hossein Nasr-Professor of Islamic Studies, George Washington University, Washington, D.C.

Heiko A.Oberman-Professor for Medieval, Renaissance, and Reformation History, University of Arizona, Tucson, Ariz.

Raimundo Panikkar-Professor Emeritus, Department of Religious Studies, University of California at Santa Barbara, Calif.

Jaroslav Pelikan-Sterling Professor of History and Religious Studies, Yale University, New Haven, Conn.

Sandra M.Schneiders-Professor of New Testament Studies and Spirituality,Jesuit School of Theology, Berkeley, Calif.

Michael A.Sells-Emily Judson Baugh and John Marshall Gest Professor of Comparative Religions, Haverford College, Haverford, Penn.

Huston Smith-Thomas J.Watson Professor of Religion Emeritus, Syracuse University, Syracuse, N.Y.

John R.Sommerfeldt-Professor of History, University of Dallas, Irving, Tex.

David Steindl-Rast-Spiritual Author, Benedictine Grange, West Redding, Conn.

David Tracy-Greeley Professor of Roman Catholic Studies, Divinity School, University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill.

The Rt. Rev. Rowan D.Williams-Bishop of Monmouth, Wales.

PREFACE BY

MARGOT SCHMIDT

THE FLOWING LIGHT OF THE GODHEAD

BOOK I

BOOK II

BOOK III

BOOK IV

BOOK V

BOOK VI

BOOK VII

Translator of This Volume

FRANK TOBIN is professor of German at the University of Nevada, Reno, and serves on the editorial boards of Studia Mystica and Mystics Quarterly. Born in Omaha, Nebraska, Dr. Tobin received a licentiate in philosophy from Berchmanskolleg in Munich in 1960, an M.A. in German from Marquette University in 1964 and a Ph.D. in German from Stanford in 1967. In addition to numerous articles and papers on medieval German thought and literature, his major publications include Mechthild von Magdeburg: A Medieval Mystic in Modern Eyes (Camden House, 1994) and Meister Eckhart: Thought and Language (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1986). Previous contributions to The Classics of Western Spirituality series include his collaboration on Meister Eckhart: Teacher and Preacher and his translation of Henry Suso.

Author of the Preface

MARGOT SCHMIDT is director of the Research Center of Medieval Spirituality, Asceticism and Mystics at the Catholic University of Eichstatt in Germany. Since 1985, she has served as editor of the collection of medieval texts and studies entitled Mystik in Geschichte and Gegenwart: Texte and Untersuchungen. In that series, she produced the first two volumes: she edited and translated the work of Rudolf of Biberach, De VII itinera aeternitatis, into German; the other is a volume of papers read at the Conference Theologia Mystica at Weingarten in November 1986. As of January 1998, the series contains fifteen volumes. She has written extensively on women mystics, especially Mechthild of Magdeburg, Hildegard of Bingen, Mechthild of Hackeborn and Margaret Ebner.

n completing this translation of Mechthild of Magdeburg's Flowing Light of the Godhead, I have incurred a debt of gratitude to many. First, I would like to thank the publishers Max Niemeyer Verlag for their kind permission to use as the basis of my translation their excellent recent critical text and notes, the lifelong work of the Germanist Hans Neumann. Also, my debt to Margot Schmidt is manifold. The profound knowledge she has transmitted in her scholarship has affected my understanding of Mechthild in ways both palpable and impalpable. More particularly, she generously sent me her excellent translation into modern German of The Flowing Light of the Godhead and the accompanying notes even before publication. The opportunity to compare her renderings with mine saved me from many a misstep. Finally, I wish to thank her for contributing the preface to this volume. My thanks are also due to GertrudJaron Lewis for her support and encouragement, to Bernard McGinn for his thoughtful suggestions, and to Patricia Beckman for her willingness to engage in a lively E-mail dialogue that resulted in several improvements. Lastly, as in the case of several of my previous academic endeavors, Bob Reardon's meticulous scrutiny of the entire manuscript has been invaluable. I can only wish that the finished product does some justice to the help I have receivedand to Mechthild.

t is with great pleasure that I respond to Frank Tobin's request that I provide a preface for his fine English translation. In his introduction to the text he offers an initial orientation to this rich but difficult book and addresses important themes. To complement his remarks on Mechthild's book as an expression of mysticism, I would like to examine a theme-certainly of central importancenot touched upon there: the human and divine heart.