Eckhart’s mystical asceticism, the creature frees himself
from his own specifi c self or formal being, which is in
essence the limiting factor separating us from God, to
become whole or one with him.
The startling vigor of Eckhart’s thought is matched
by the power and artfulness with which he expresses
it. Though the Latin works show skillful manipulation
of language, it is his German works, especially the ser-
mons, that display a rich variety of linguistic artistry,
some of it best termed rhetorical and some clearly po-
etic. Often he overcomes the limitations of the young
vernacular’s ability to express his rarefi ed mysticism by
placing a key term in a variety of juxtaposed contexts
in the manner of a leitmotif and thus gradually reveals
to his audience the treasures it contains. He employs
such fi gures as accumulation, antithesis, parallelism,
hyperbole, chiasmus, and paradox to great advantage.
Word games and original verbal strategies of other
kinds abound.
Eckhart infl uenced most immediately John Tauler and
Henry Suso, Dominican mystics of the next generation,
and less clearly their Flemish contemporary John (Jan
van) Ruusbroec. From the library of the Swiss cardinal
Nicholas of Cusa (Cusanus), Latin works by Eckhart
have come down to us with comments by the cardinal
scribbled in the margins. Cusanus shows much affi nity
in thought with Eckhart and defended him against the
attacks of the Heidelberg theologian Johannes Wenck.
The baroque poet Johann Scheffl er (Angelus Silesius)
was certainly touched by Eckhartian ideas, but, as in
the case of many other authors and works of the refor-
mation period and beyond, whether the infl uence was
direct or indirect is impossible to tell. In more modern
times the philosophers Hegel, Schelling, and Baader
all admired his thought, though until the mid–twentieth
century much of this admiration was based on misun-
derstandings arising from ignorance about Eckhart’s
own intellectual context. The last forty years have seen
great progress in understanding this exhilarating mystic,
though much of his uncharted profundity remains to be
explored.
See also Jan van Ruusbroec; Nicholas of Cusa;
Peter Lombard; Seuse, Heinrich
Further Reading
Colledge, Edmund, and Bernard McGinn, trans. Meister Eck-
hart: The Essential Sermons, Commentaries, Treatises, and
Defense, New York: Paulist, 1981.
Koch, Josef. “Zur Analogielehre Meister Eckharts.” 1959; rpt.
in Josef Koch. Kleine Schriften, vol. 1. Rome: [n.p.], 1973,
pp. 367–409.
Largier, Niklaus. Bibliographie zu Meister Eckhart. Freiburg:
Universitätsverlag, 1989 [bibliography].
McGinn, Bernard. “Eckhart’s Condemnation Reconsidered.”
Thomist 44 (1980): 390–414.
——. “The God Beyond God: Theology and Mysticism in the
Thought of Meister Eckhart.” Journal of Religion 61 (1981):
1–19.
——. “Meister Eckhart on God as Absolute Unity.” In Neo-
platonism and Christian Thought, ed. Dominic J. O’Meara.
Albany: State University of New York Press, 1982, pp.
128–139.
——, ed., Meister Eckhart and the Beguine Mystics. New York:
Continuum, 1994.
McGinn, Bernard, Frank Tobin, and Elvira Borgstadt. Meister
Eckhart: Teacher and Preacher. New York: Paulist, 1986.
Meister Eckhart. Die deutschen und lateinischen Werke, ed. Josef
Quint. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1936ff.
Ruh, Kurt. Meister Eckhart: Theologe, Prediger, Mystiker. Mu-
nich: Beck, 1985.
Schürmann, Reiner. Meister Eckhart: Mystic and Philosopher.
Bloomington: University of Indiana Press, 1978.
Smith, Cyprian. Meister Eckhart: The Way of Paradox. London:
Darton, Longman and Todd, 1987.
Tobin, Frank. Meister Eckhart: Thought and Language. Phila-
delphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1986.
Walshe, M. O’C. Meister Eckhart: Sermons and Treatises. Rock-
port, Me.: Element, 1992.
Frank TobinMENA, JUAN DE (1411–1456)
Secretary and chronicler of Juan II of Castile and one
of the outstanding poets of his time. Author of two
long narrative poems, La coronación del marques de
Santillana (c.1438), and his masterpiece, El laberinto
de Fortuna (1444); an allegorical debate, Coplas de los
pecados mortales (also known as Debate de la Razón
contra la Voluntad), left incomplete at his death; and
some fi fty shorter compositions typical of the courtly
verse of his day: queries and responses to other poets,
occasional pieces, riddles, love poems, and satiric verse.
His prose works include a prologue and commentary
to his Coronación; La llíada en romance, a translation
of the Ilias latina, with prologue (c. 1442); Tratado de
amor (c. 1444); Tratado del título de duque (1445); a
prologue to Alvaro de Luna’s Libro de las virtuosos e
claras mugeres (c. 1446); and the fragmentary Memo-
rias de algunos linajes antiquas é nobles de Castilla
(1448).
Reliable data on Mena’s life is sparse. He was born in
late December 1411 in Córdoba, and was named alder-
man (veinticuatro) there possibly as early as 1435. In
his Memorias he traces the Mena lineage to the valley
of Mena in La Montaña. Vatican archival documents
place him in Florence in 1442–1443 at the court of
Pope Eugene IV, from whom he unsuccessfully sought
ecclesiastical benefi ces in Córdoba. He was appointed
secretary for Latin and royal chronicler by King Juan
II of Castile probably in the mid-1440s, although the
earliest extant document which refers to him with
either of these titles is his own Memorias (1448). He
married Marina Méndez, some twenty years his junior,
around 1450. Upon the death of King Juan II in 1454MENA, JUAN DE