REVUE D’HISTOIRE ECCLÉSIASTIQUE 3-4 2019

The book under discussion presents the fruits of an international colloquium with the same title, held in Metz on 5-6 October 2016 in the context of the DEMO project at the Maison des Sciences de l'Homme Lorraine under the direction of M.-A. V., who is also responsible for editing the present volume. It contains sixteen articles that explore various aspects of the relationship between Rhineland mysticism and the Modern Devotion. This is a fruitful but challenging topic, who se complexity is succinctly summarized by the circumstance that while Geert Grote and several of his inspirers and followers rejected some of Master Eckhart's teachings, they were also strongly influenced by him, particularly by way of his disciples, Henry Suso and John Tauler. This volume seeks to shed light on the nature and extent of this influence, and of the attendant assimilation of ideas.
As is often true for collections of conference papers, the value of this book does not reside so much in the depth in which its topic is explored, but in the multitude of angles from which the latter is approached. This diversity is immediately apparent from the international mix of contributors and the number of languages that are represented: ten of the articles are in French, five are in German and one is in English. Disciplinary variety is also in evidence, for although the topic is primarily explored through the study of texts, there are also two articles that take a book- and an art-historical approach, respectively.
With an eye to the volume's multiplicity of voices, the editor's role is of vital importance. Whereas M.-A. V.'s formal editing leaves something to be desired in the sense that there remain a distracting number of punctuation and formatting errors, she must be applauded for maximizing coherence by presenting the articles in a logical 01'der while simultaneously ma king sure that unnecessary overlap has been reduced to a minimum. Her own contribution briefly introduces the book's two central concepts as well as the questions surrounding their relationship that are addressed in the remainder of the volume. Kirstin ZEYER subsequently provides an overview of the current state of research into the Modern Devotion, followed by a discussion of the meaning and history of the term itself. These introductory essays are followed by four that serve, in the editor's words, to demonstrate that the distinction between Rhineland mysticism and Devotio modern a is not as trenchant as may be thought (p. 11). They do so by focusing primarily on Eckhart and by analyzing the way in which the importance he attached to the figure of the spiritual guide (Lebemeisler), as well as his ideas on the familial' colloquy with God, suffering and poverty, influenced Geert Grote, John of Ruusbroec and Thomas a Kempis, or at least compare with their ideas on the same topics.
The focus then shifts towards the writings of, or attributed to Tauler, which are said to be the most important means by which Rhineland mysticism was disseminated (p. 11). Of particular interest among a triad of contributions centred on the Strasbourg mystic is the article by Isabelle RAVIOLO, which convincingly lays bare the Taulerian roots of the notion of conformity to the suffering Lord as a central component of the way in which the Modern Devotion conceived of the imitation of Christ.
The next article, by Satoshi KIKUCHI, explains with admirable clarity how John of Leeuwen's dismissal of Eckhart, though not based on a careful study of the latter's writings, nevertheless played a crucial role in the development of the way in which he was perceived in the Modern Devotion. This account of a negative reception is offset by two articles on the influence exerted by Henry Suso, whose ideas and works, in particular the Clock of Wisdom, were embraced whole-heartedly and served as important models in the visual arts — as shown by Monique GRUBER — and on a theological and a literary level — as illustrated by Markus ENDERS with reference to the Imitalion of Christ. This seminal text is also at the heart of the next two contributions, with Riwanon GELEOC'S tracing the possible influence of (Pseudo-) Hadewijch on the imitation's understanding of the ground of the soul, and Éric MANGIN'S asking the question what makes its anti-intellectualism more modern than Eckhart's.
The last two articles provide a valuable excursion beyond the Middle Ages. Dietmar MIETH explores the reception of Thomas a Kempis' notion of interiority in Pietism, and Harald SCHWAETZER finally, studies the 19th-century Swiss theologian Ignaz Troxler's understanding of Rhineland mysticism and the Modern Devotion as two exponents of one and the same revival of early Christianity that are both centred on the breakthrough of the inner man.