Johannes Tauler | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Statue of Johannes Tauler, the StrasbourgSaint-Pierre-le-Jeune Protestant Church. | |
| Born | c. 1300 |
| Died | 16 June 1361 Strasbourg |
| Occupations | German mystic,Catholic priest,theologian |
| Title | Doctor Illuminatus et sublimis |
Johannes TaulerOP (c. 1300 – 16 June 1361) was aGerman mystic, aCatholic priest and atheologian. He belonged to theDominican order. Tauler was known as one of the most importantRhineland mystics. He promoted a certainneo-platonist dimension in the Dominican spirituality of his time.
He was born about the year 1300 inStrasbourg, and seems to have been the son of Nikolus Tauler or Taweler, of Finkweiler (now Finckwiller st.), who in 1304 was a member of the Strasbourg city council.[1] He entered theDominican order at the age of about eighteen, and was educated at the Dominican convent in that city.Meister Eckhart, who greatly influenced him, was active in Strasbourg between about 1313 and 1326, though it is unclear what relationship they may have had.[2] It is possible that while taking the customary eight-years' course of study at the monastery he heard Eckhart preach. From Strasbourg he went to the Dominican college ofCologne, and perhaps to St. James's College, Paris, ultimately returning to Strasbourg,[3] but more probably he returned from Cologne to Strasbourg.[4]
Around 1330 Tauler began his preaching career in Strasbourg. The city contained eight convents of Dominican nuns and perhaps seventy smallerbeguine communities. It seems likely that (as withMeister Eckhart andHenry Suso), much of his preaching was directed to holy women. Most of Tauler's nearly eighty sermons seem to reflect a convent situation, although this may partly reflect the setting in which such sermons were most likely to be written down and preserved.[5]
In 1338 or 1339 the Dominicans were exiled from Strasbourg as a result of the tensions betweenPope John XXII andLouis IV.[6] Tauler spent his exile (c. 1339–1343) in Basel. Here, he became acquainted with the circles of devout clergy and laity known as theFriends of God (Gottesfreunde). Tauler mentions the Friends of God often in his sermons. Evidence for further connections with this group is found in the letters exchanged between the secular priestHenry of Nördlingen and his spiritual friend, the Dominican nunMargaret Ebner. Through Henry, Tauler also became acquainted withMechthild of Magdeburg'sFlowing Light of the Godhead.[6]
Tauler worked with the Friends of God, and it was with them that he taught his belief that the state of the soul was affected more by a personal relationship with God than by external practices. In this way, he was more of a proselytizer than his counterpart, Eckhart.[7]
Tauler returned to Strasbourg around 1343, but the following years brought various crises. Strasbourg experienced a devastating earthquake and fire in 1346. From late 1347 until 1349, the city was ravaged by theBlack Death.[6] It is said that when the city was deserted by all who could leave it, Tauler remained at his post, encouraging his terror-stricken fellow-citizens with sermons and personal visits.[3]
Tauler travelled fairly extensively in the last two and a half decades of his life. He made several trips to Cologne. A number of his sermons were clearly delivered there, as indicated by their survival in the Cologne dialect ofMiddle High German. A credible tradition suggests he visitedJohn of Ruusbroec in Groenendaal at some point in the 1350s.[8]
He is credited with composing the words of theAdvent song,Es kommt ein Schiff, geladen. The oldest existing text source is a manuscript dated before 1450, found in the Strasbourg Dominican convent ofSt. Nicolaus in undis, which Tauler was known to have visited frequently. There are also some stylistic similarities to his other writings.[9]
According to tradition, Tauler died on 16 June 1361 in Strasbourg. He was buried in the Dominican church in Strasbourg with an incised gravestone that still survives in theTemple Neuf.[8]
The well-known story of Tauler's conversion and discipline by "The Friend of God from the Oberland" cannot be regarded as historical.[3]
Tauler left no formal treatises, either in Latin or the vernacular. Rather, his oeuvre consists of eighty sermons.
Tauler's sermons began to be collected in his own lifetime – three fourteenth-century manuscripts date from around the time of Tauler's return to Strasbourg after his exile in Basel.[10]
Tauler's sermons were printed first inLeipzig in 1498, reprinted in 1508 at Augsburg, and then again with additions from Eckhart and others at Basel (1521 and 1522), at Halberstadt (1523), atCologne (1543), and inLisbon (1551). A Latin translation was printed first at Cologne in 1548 and 1553. In the nineteenth century, editions were produced byJulius Hamberger (Frankfurt, 1864) andFerdinand Vetter (Berlin, 1910, reprinted Dublin/Zürich, 1968).[11]
Tauler was famous for his sermons, which were considered among the noblest in theGerman language—not as emotional asHenry Suso's, nor as speculative as Eckhart's, but rather intensely practical, and touching on all sides the deeper problems of the moral and spiritual life.[3]
Tauler has at times been claimed as one of several notableChristian universalists in the Middle Ages, along withAmalric of Bena andJohn of Ruysbroeck.[12] His teaching that, "All beings exist through the same birth as the Son, and therefore shall they all come again to their original, that is, God the Father"[13] has been cited in defense of this claim. However, other passages from his sermons cast doubt on such an interpretation. In his first sermon for the Feast of the Ascension he remarks, "The wicked come close to Heaven and never enter in. The greatest torment of the damned, is the certainty that they shall never enter Heaven."[14]
There are various foreign language editions of the sermons:[15]
A good English translation of Tauler's sermons is lacking.
Older English translations of Tauler include various inauthentic pieces, and were often made from the Latin version of Laurentius Surius. They are therefore problematic. These include:
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Tauler, Johann".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 26 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 452.
| History Timeline Ecclesiastical Legal |
| ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Theology Bible Tradition Catechism |
| ||||||||||||
| Philosophy | |||||||||||||
| Saints | |||||||||||||
| Organisation Hierarchy Canon law Laity Precedence By country |
| ||||||||||||
| Culture | |||||||||||||
| Media | |||||||||||||
| Religious orders, institutes, societies |
| ||||||||||||
| Associations of the faithful | |||||||||||||
| Charities | |||||||||||||
History of theCatholic Church | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General | |||||||||
| Early Church (30–325/476) |
| ||||||||
| Early Middle Ages | |||||||||
| High Middle Ages |
| ||||||||
| Late Middle Ages | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| 19th century | |||||||||
| 20th century |
| ||||||||
| 21st century | |||||||||
| General | |
|---|---|
| Early Church | |
| |
| Early Middle Ages | |
| High Middle Ages |
|
| Mysticism and reforms |
|
| |
| |
| 19th century |
|
| 20th century |
|
| 21st century | |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| People | |
| Other | |
