Anja Bork

• Project area C3: The schoene schîn in mysticism

Light has always played a role in the engagement with the divine – perceived as an aesthetic phenomenon, its description follows autological patterns primarily in the metaphors that are created. Meister Eckhart (around 1260–1328) integrates this into the social practice of preaching: in his vernacular sermons, he often speaks about light, about the spark in the soul, or about the luminousness that enlightens or deceives. The aim of the dissertation is to elaborate the thematic field of light in its various nuances and dynamics in Eckhart`s sermons. Special attention will be paid to the Christian traditions and their neoplatonic transformation as well as to the vernacularity of the sermons, which are understood as theological texts. From there, the study will pose the question of the graspability of reality, of truth and appearances, of cognition and deception, and will reflect on the relationship to theological topoi.