Hoghe minne es deen vor dander

This volume brings together contributions by colleagues, friends, and (former) students of Rob Faesen SJ on the occasion of his 65^th birthday. Rob Faesen was the founder and director for more than twenty years of the Institute for the Study of Spirituality at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, KU Leuven, as well as lecturer at the Ruusbroec Institute, Faculty of Arts, University of Antwerp, and holder of the Francis Xavier Chair at the Tilburg School of Catholic Theology, Tilburg University. In view of the dedicatee’s research interests, this volume of essays focuses on the history of Christian mysticism with three central foci. The first part of the volume is devoted to the medieval mystical tradition, which lies at the heart of Rob Faesen’s research. The second part focuses on the development of mysticism and spirituality in the Franciscan Order, the Devotio Moderna, and the Society of Jesus. The final section of the volume turns to the relations between mystical theology and the liturgy, art, and contemporary thought. The volume thus addresses themes and questions that have been of great interest to Rob Faesen both professionally and personally.

A Tribute to Rob Faesen SJ
John Arblaster

Part I - The medieval mystical tradition

Heaven for Us. The Geography of Prayer in Evagrius of Pontus, Antony of Egypt, and William of Saint-Thierry
Douglas E. Christie

“Behold the Battle, Hear the cordis clamor!”. The Conceptual Metaphor LOVE IS WAR in the Song of Songs and Hadewijch’s Songs
John Arblaster and Danilo Verde

Reflections on the References to Hadewijch’s Works in the Apparatus of Sources of John of Ruusbroec’s Opera omnia
Guido de Baere (Trans. by John Arblaster)

The Journey of the Soul to God in John of Ruusbroec’s Seven Rungs and in Candid Tales of a Pilgrim
Lieve Uyttenhove

Baking Bread and Burning Bodies. Mysticism and Preaching in the Middle Dutch Limburg Sermons
Lydia Shahan and Thom Mertens

“Lord, Bring Us Where You Are Not”. The Gaesdonck Treatises and a Translation of the First Treatise
Michiel Vandenbroucke

Does Mechthild of Hackeborn’s Booke of Gostlye Grace Promote Deification?
Louise Nelstrop

Part II - Franciscan and Clarissan mysticism, the Devotio moderna, and the Jesuit tradition

Care as Contemplation / Contemplation as Care in the Clarissan Tradition
Krijn Pansters

Hagiographic Memorisation and Performance. Angela of Foligno’s Sources for the Life and Spirituality of Francis of Assisi
Michael Hahn

John Duns Scotus. A Mystical Theologian?
Dominic Abbott

The Practice of Vision as Theory. Reframing Mystical Theology in the Work of Nicholas of Cusa
Inigo Bocken

The Theme of Peace in the Middle Dutch Jhesus collacien
Thom Mertens

Gerard Zerbolt van Zutphen and Networks of Bible Readers in the Late Medieval Low Countries
Wim Francois

At nunc belle faciunt, cum sese pascunt. The Credibility of Pope Adrian VI and Erasmus as Church Reformers
Paul van Geest

The Spirituality and Devotional Practices of Jesuit Missionaries in the XVII^th-century Dutch Republic
Joep van Gennip

Christ’s Fool. Jean-Joseph Surin (1600-1665)
Dirk Boone (Trans. by John Arblaster)

Early Modern Jesuit Spirituality and the Body. From Games and Sport to Diet
Dries Vanysacker and Eleonora Rai (†2025)

Towards Spiritual Perfection and Union with God. Deification in Libertus Fromondus’s Brevis commentarius in Canticum canticorum
Anton De Preter

Part III - Mystical theology in relation to art, the liturgy, and modern thought

Pentecost as Image. Enthousiasmos, Ruach, and the Senses. Also a Case-Study of the Benedictional of Archbishop Robert (Winchester Abbey, late X^th century)
Barbara Baert

The Image as Word and the Word as Image. Henry of Coesfeld, Rogier van der Weyden, and Mystical Culture in the Later Medieval Low Countries
Tom Gaens

Art, Spirituality, and Mysticism. The Resurgence of Mysticism in Contemporary Art
Sander Vloebergs

Saint John the Baptist. A Mystico-Liturgical Profile
Joris Geldhof

A Prayer for Church Dedication in the Liturgical-Mystical South Dakota Manuscript from Saint Agnes in Arnhem. With an Edition and Translation of the Prayer for Church Dedication
Ineke Cornet

Some Observations on The Evangelical Pearl, Gerhard Tersteegen, and Søren Kierkegaard
Rik Van Nieuwenhove

The Intuition of Being. The Rehabilitation of Antonio Rosmini, the Question of Ontologism, and Its Relevance to Mystical Theology
Patrick Ryan Cooper

Psychological or Mystical “Night”? A Conversation between Edith Stein and Saint John of the Cross
Peter Tyler

Julian of Norwich and Jean-Francois Lyotard. Between Word and Image
Bradford Manderfield

The Encounter with God. The Life and Work of Fr. Raphaël-Louis OEchslin OP (1907-1991)
Anton-Marie Milh OP (Trans. by John Arblaster)

Awakening to the Real within the Love of God. The Metaphysics of Contemplation
Jacob Benjamins and Stephan van Erp