Mysticism and Sacred Scripture (review)

Mysticism and Sacred Scripture. Edited by Steven T. Katz. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. ix + 260 pages. $49.95.

This is the fourth volume of the interdisciplinary and interreligious papers on mysticism edited by Steven T. Katz. The first book, Mysticism and Philosophical Analysis (Oxford, 1978), was a milestone in the contemporary study of mysticism, opening up the debate over how far mystical "experience" can be said to be constructed and mediated by religious traditions, rather than an attempt to express a universal core phenomenon of some kind. Katz's essay in this volume, entitled "Language, Epistemology, and Mysticism," rightly remains a central programmatic statement of the "constructivist" position. Most of the other essays in the first collection were not only philosophical, but also comparativist in the sense of addressing theoretical questions regarding mysticism with evidence based on texts from a number of traditions. The case for "constructed mysticism" was advanced in the second Katz collection, Mysticism and Religious Traditions (Oxford, 1983), which saw a move toward more tradition-specific contributions (in at least six of the ten essays). While not all of the contributors adopted the same position on the issue of constructivism, the new insights on a variety of forms of mysticism across traditions and from many perspectives have given both these volumes great significance in the discussion of mysticism over the past two decades.

The third volume edited by Katz, Mysticism and Language (Oxford, 1992), continued the trend evident in the second; that is, most of the essays (eight out of ten) were tradition-specific, rather than focusing on theoretical issues across several traditions. This progression is even more evident in the twelve essays in Mysticism and Sacred Scripture. With the exception of Katz's long introductory piece, the essays in this volume concentrate on specific traditions (four on Hindu mysticism, two apiece on Jewish and Muslim mysticism, and one each on Christian, Buddhist, and Tao mysticism). (Whether this apportionment among traditions was planned by the editor, or fortuitous, is not addressed in Katz's introduction.)

The central contribution of Mysticism and Sacred Scripture is to underline the emerging consensus that the study of mysticism cannot be separated from its rooting in the interpretation and appropriation of the sacred texts of the various religious traditions. Mystical consciousness is not an attempt to supplant, or go beyond, scripture, but to reach deeper into the divine presence in the formative texts of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and so on. Exactly how this process takes place across traditions, of course, is varied. While Mysticism and Sacred Scripture provides a number of examples of the procedures of mystical hermeneutics in specific traditions, it is somewhat disappointing in not giving more systematic attention to comparativist issues across traditions. For example, some of the significant questions touched on in specific essays, such as the difference between traditions with an established canon and those with a much looser sense of sacred text (see the essay of D. Gold on Hinduism and that of N. Smart on Buddhism), suggest a broad set of issues concerning the relation between sacred texts and mystical consciousness that are hinted at, but never tackled, in this collection.

The only essay in Mysticism and Sacred Scripture that does attempt to address issues of comparison is Katz's "Mysticism and the Interpretation of Sacred Scripture." While Katz has some interesting things to say, for example on the role of paradox in mystical exegesis (41-51), his essay does not have an integral relationship to many of the problems and perspectives brought up by the tradition-specific essays in the remainder of the volume. Katz employs sources from a variety of scriptures and traditions (though Judaism and Christianity predominate), but his essay looks more like a program for a project that is only indirectly related to most of the rest of the volume.

The other major problem with Mysticism and Sacred Scripture is the unevenness of its treatment of...