In der erde als in dem himel: The God-Creature Relation in Meister Eckhart

Abstract

This thesis aims to show the immediacy of the God-soul relation for Meister Eckhart. Although Eckhart teaches that the soul must cease to be a creature and become one with God, there seems to be no motion proper to creatures by which they cease to be creatures, nor any qualification of God’s oneness such that it could be more or less in creatures than it already is. The first chapter of the argument will set up the problem by showing that God for Eckhart is most properly understanding, and is one with creatures as the pure awareness through which creatures are thought. The second chapter will show that Eckhart does not teach any particular method to unite the soul with God, and affirms oneness with God as much in return to creatures as in any turn away from them. God is one even with the soul apart from God.