Theologia Deutsch—Theologia Germanica. The Book of the Perfect Life (review)

The International Sacred Literature Trust provides modern English translations of "sacred texts" held in esteem in different faith traditions. The translations are geared toward a wide audience, with helpful brief introductions to the texts, their authors, and their relevant contemporary traditions.

The Theologia Deutsch has been a most influential and widely read, most continuously published German religious text from the Middle Ages. Dr. David Blamires introduces the reader to the work via a succinct, yet eclectic, introduction to the medieval German mystical tradition (Meister Eckhart, Mechtild of Magdeburg, Heinrich Suso, and Johann Tauler) and lifts up recurring themes in the time's mystical literature, without elaborating on connections with the Theologia Deutsch. In just a few pages he characterizes the book and its intent and language. The "skeletal" characterization of the book's theology does beg a question as to why this particular text has been selected for this series as a representative of the gems of Christian spirituality. That said, Blamires' brief survey of two centuries of German mystical writing lifts up the richness of that tradition and suggests (without explicit arguments on the matter) its importance to the evolving theology of its most famous editor, Martin Luther. Actually, the use of the book by Luther and his contemporaries would be a topic of further interest, in light of the fact that the Reformer chose to edit this, and most faithfully so. Blamires' brief review of the existing editions and available English translations is helpful and corrects some persistent misunderstandings—e.g., about the author (not Luther!) and the title of the text.

Luther produced two editions of the text that originates from an unknown priest and possibly a knight of the Teutonic order: first one in 1516 (partial text) without a title and another in 1518 with a title Eyn deutsch Theologia. Luther's input undoubtedly enhanced the book's continuing appeal and repeated publication. What makes Blamires' lucid translation timely and different from previous ones is the pool of sources he had at his disposal: since the 1843 discoveries (Reuss) of the 1494-1497 manuscripts and the resulting 1851 edition by Franz Pfeiffer and the English translation by Susanna Winkworth in 1854, the most important editions available so far have been Bengt Hoffman's 1980 English translation "misleadingly titled" the Theologia Germanica of Martin Luther (which uses Luther's second edition, published in the "Classics of Western Spirituality") and Wolfgang von Hinten's 1982 critical edition in German (uses eight manuscripts from 1453 to 1497, in particular the Dessau manuscript of 1477, and Luther's texts) (pp. 1-2). Blamires translates the book from von Hinten's text, decidedly not trying to modernize or "clarify" the medieval text and logic too much.

The translation shows the unsystematic and incomplete nature of the book that in plain language wishes to instruct the reader on the central spiritual issues: what is perfection; what is goodness; how is God in relation to creation; how does one/creature love and know God; what is sin and disobedience; how do obedience, humility, and detachment unite one to the source of goodness and being; how does God "draw" souls to the Godhead; what is "das Christus leben" about (Christ-like living); how does Christ work as the paradigm for Christian living and how can Christians come into union with God; and lastly, how does one separate truth from falsehood.

As Blamires states, the book is "not a totally original work in its ideas. It is, rather, an attractive epitome of the mystical understandings of the time, almost certainly coming towards the end of the creative period." Not a "set of sermons" or an "account of personal experience," "it is rather a loosely formulated manual or textbook of mystical theology and practice." Making the mystical insights of the...