10
votes
Accepted
Did Jesus have a different Will in Lk 22:42 ? What was it like?
There's no need to appeal to apocryphal writings or mysticism; this very question was the subject of the Sixth Ecumenical Council, Constantinople III. Note that "will" here is not "plan&...
- 372
7
votes
Accepted
Was Joseph Smith interested in and familiar with Kabbalah?
In short:
Do we know if he had access to and was familiar with Kabbalah writings?
There is no documentation of him having access to the Kabbalah writings.
Did he study them in the original ...
- 8,612
6
votes
Was Joseph Smith interested in and familiar with Kabbalah?
It is certain that Joseph Smith was influenced by Kabbalah.
In his 1992 Book The American Religion: The Emergence of the Post-Christian Nation Harold Bloom writes:
What is clear is that Smith and his ...
- 8,045
5
votes
Accepted
How do Christians approach the evangelization of individuals who have had profound spiritual experiences in other religions?
Spiritual experience and interpretation
As we can see in the Wikipedia article for religious experience, the same experience can be interpreted differently depending on the framework used, whether it ...
- 21.8k
4
votes
Who titled the poem: "The Dark Night of the Soul"?
The Wikipedia article (Dark Night of the Soul), to which Constantthin makes reference, says that the author of the poem, Saint John of the Cross, "wrote two book-length commentaries: The Ascent of ...
- 496
4
votes
Accepted
Can Christians use the Ring of Solomon?
According to this Christian source https://www.gotquestions.org/Testament-of-Solomon.html the ‘ring of Solomon’ is a piece of fiction based on mythology and pagan ideas. Part of the article has this ...
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3
votes
Accepted
What is Christianity's take on Kabbalah?
There are many people who self-identify as Christians, who are also 'into' Kabbalah'. There are probably many more who have never even heard of Kabbalah, and a good many more still who would express ...
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3
votes
Can Christians use the Ring of Solomon?
The answer by @Lesley and ideas found in the Wikipedia article give several reasons for rejecting the book as a fraud or fantasy:
inconsistent with the rest of Scripture
language consistent with ...
- 11.2k
3
votes
Accepted
Why were the mystical works of Richard of St. Victor called "Benjamin"?
Sharpe, A. (1912). Richard of St. Victor. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
his mystical theology […] is mainly contained in the two books on mystical contemplation, ...
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3
votes
Accepted
Are there any saints or mystics who had a vision of hell, and based on that made a judgment about how many people are in hell? (Catholic perspective)
Are there any saints and/or mystics who had vision of hell and based on that made a judgment about have many people are in hell?
The majority of mystics and saints who have had visions of Hell, ...
- 65.7k
2
votes
Accepted
Which Catholic writer(s) has compared St Paul's "third heaven" to the third stage of interior prayer?
Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P., in his Three Ages of the Interior Life (part III, ch. XIII, B. "The Union of Humility and Christian Dignity"):
In his commentary on this chapter of the Second ...
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2
votes
Which Catholic writer(s) has compared St Paul's "third heaven" to the third stage of interior prayer?
Perhaps you are thinking of "The Interior Castle" by St. Teresa of Avila, Doctor of the Catholic Church? On page 77 of the document at this link, the introduction to the 3rd Chapter, she specifically ...
- 21
2
votes
What do Catholics think of the Philokalia?
The Catholic Church has no problem with the Philokalia; it is a legitimate mystical text in the Eastern Christian tradition. Eastern Catholics make use of it all the time. (I am not aware of any ...
- 13.2k
2
votes
Accepted
What is a mystical experience according to Catholicism?
What is a mystical experience according to Catholicism?
Sounds like the million dollar question that everyone wants to know, but is extremely hard to actually narrow down and answer.
Mystical ...
- 65.7k
2
votes
Accepted
What is the exact nature of Aquinas's private revelation of Jesus to him?
What is the exact nature of Aquinas's private revelation of Jesus to him?
It seems evident that this was a corporal vision and not a intellectual vision or imaginative vision. It certainly was not the ...
- 65.7k
1
vote
Accepted
What saints were able to accurately determine what vocation God is calling someone to?
St. John Vianney, the Curé of Ars, had the gift of reading souls when it came to helping someone discover his or her vocation.
Abbé Trochu, The Curé of Ars, ch. 26 "Les intuitions et les ...
- 37.9k
1
vote
Did Jesus have a different Will in Lk 22:42 ? What was it like?
If the OP is interested in answers beyond the scope of the traditional Christian understanding of redemption, then the answer is definitely yes.
Jesus as the Jewish Messiah
One approach to the ...
- 4,702
1
vote
Did Christ consort with mystics?
Did Christ consort with mystics?
Just to be absolutely clear: Jesus did not consort with mystics!
To consort with a certain group on individuals implies that Jesus would have spent a lot of time with ...
- 65.7k
1
vote
Did Christ consort with mystics?
I do believe Jesus was a mystic, but not as we understand the term today. But to your question more directly, I don't believe Jesus had need to consort with others in order to gain such "deeper ...
- 47
1
vote
Did Christ consort with mystics?
In John 2 (NIV), it says:
23 Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people
saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name. 24 But
Jesus would not entrust himself ...
- 11.2k
1
vote
Did the church use stories like the Holy Grail to attract pagans?
While I know nothing about how the Church perceived the stories concerning the Holy Grail (this answer claims that the Catholic Church has no official opinion), the answer is a solid no, simply ...
- 131
1
vote
Accepted
Is there any historical evidence that Gnosticism disappeared because Gnostics converted to Christianity?
The Gnostics were already in decline numerically by the third century, but events brought about the elimination of Gnostic Christianity over the centuries that followed.
Emperor Constantine
Elaine ...
- 14.4k
1
vote
Reformation objections to lectio divina?
Catholics have sacred scripture and sacred tradition which forms the magisterium -when a person believes they have received a private revelation of scripture while practicing
lectio divina it can be ...
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