Unio Mystica and the Infinite Difference Between God and Human Being: Kierkegaard and Tauler

Abstract

This chapter addresses the reason why Kierkegaard is often regarded as an ‘anti-mystic’: Emphasising the ‘infinite difference’ between God and the human being, Kierkegaard appears to refute the idea of a mystical union entirely. As it turns out, however, while it was anathema for Kierkegaard that the human being can come to participate in God’s knowledge, there are other aspects of the unio mystica that resonate well with Kierkegaard’s thought. This chapter analyses the different accounts of ‘union’ in the sermons of Johannes Tauler and argues that Kierkegaard’s notorious critique of mysticism for annihilating the individual does not hold here. To the contrary: Tauler regards the idea that one can become one with God as hubristic and devilish, and instead advocates for a unity-in-difference that acknowledges the human being’s creaturehood, sinfulness, and dependence on grace. Finally, the Neo-Platonic imagery in Kierkegaard’s Works of Love, bearing striking similarities to Tauler’s mysticism of the ground/abyss, suggests that there are intimations of a union in Kierkegaard’s thought that do not imply partaking in God’s knowledge, but in God’s love.