Mystica Theologia and Imageless Prayer in Hugh of Balma and Blosius

• Published in: The Sixteenth century journal Vol. 55; no. 1-2; pp. 281 - 303
• Main Author: Dubbelman, Samuel J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chicago University of Chicago Press 01.03.2024
• Subjects: 16th century; Blois, Louis de (1506-1566); Christianity; Democratization; Hugh of Balma; Mysticism; Oberman, Heiko A (1930-2001); Prayer; Theology
• ISSN: 0361-0160; 2326-0726
• DOI: 10.1086/731070

Heiko Oberman developed a distinction between a high (speculative) mysticism of the intellect and a low (affective) mysticism of the will, while associating the latter with a democratization of religion in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Democratization implies the broad accessibility and dissemination of mysticism to nonspecialist audiences. Oberman’s thesis has stuck and become a sort of consensus in the field, as represented by the overall trajectory of Bernard McGinn’s series The Presence of God. This essay challenges the theory of the democratization of mysticism by arguing that the intended audience of mystica theologia were practitioners who had made considerable progress in the paths of purgation and illumination. The essay reconstructs a list of sources that circulated in print under the title Mystica Theologia by 1580, and then reconstructs the concept of mystica theologia based on two key sources within this list, namely, the Viae Sion Lugent attributed to Hugh of Balma and the devotional writings of Louis de Blois (Blosius). Although both of these sources played a vital role in the development of the concept of mystica theologia by the sixteenth century, they have received little attention in recent histories of Christian mysticism. Both Balma and Blosius used the terminology mystica theologia to designate an advanced form of imageless prayer that coincided with immediate union with God and not a general form of piety accessible to all Christians. Balma and Blosius also demarcated the intended audience of mystica theologia as Christians who are nearing a state of perfection. Both of these elements (imageless prayer and perfection) suggest that affective approaches to mystica theologia were not as far reaching as the theory of democratization suggests.