Work

The Flowing Light of the Godhead

Overview

The Flowing Light of the Godhead (German: Das fließende Licht der Gottheit) is a thirteenth-century mystical and devotional work by Mechthild of Magdeburg, a medieval German visionary associated first with the religious life of Magdeburg and later with the monastic community of Helfta. Composed between approximately 1250 and 1282, it is one of the earliest substantial works of German mystical prose and one of the major texts of medieval Christian mysticism.

The work combines visionary narrative, lyric prose, dialogue, prayer, allegory, theological reflection, prophetic criticism of ecclesiastical corruption, and practical spiritual instruction. It is especially noted for its language of divine love, its dramatic exchanges between the soul and God, and its fusion of imagery from the Song of Songs, Minnesang, biblical theology, liturgy, and apophatic mysticism.

The original Middle Low German text is largely lost. The work survives chiefly through a complete fourteenth-century Upper German manuscript preserved at Einsiedeln Abbey and through a medieval Latin translation known as Lux divinitatis.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).

Related ideas

• Hildegard of Bingen
• Johannes Tauler
• Meister Eckhart
• Bernard of Clairvaux
• Mechthild of Magdeburg
• Henry Suso

Place in the tradition

Part of German philosophy.

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