Oblate School of Theology (OST) paid a well-deserved tribute Oct. 20 to Dr. Bernard McGinn, a pioneer scholar of spirituality and Christian mysticism, with a two-day “Mysticism and Contemporary Life” conference Oct. 20 at the Whitley Theological Center.
Dr. McGinn, 81, is the Naomi Shenstone Donnelly Professor Emeritus of Historical Christianity and the History of Theology at the University of Chicago Divinity School. Dr. David Tracy, professor emeritus at the University of Chicago Divinity School; Dr. Sandra Schneiders, IHM, professor emerita at the Jesuit School of Theology; and Dr. Philip Sheldrake, Professor of Christian Spirituality and Director of Oblate School of Theology’s Institute for the Study of Contemporary Spirituality, each gave a keynote address that reflected the increasing relevance of mysticism for the future of Christian life and participated in a panel discussion with Fr. Ron Rolheiser, President of OST.
At the end of the conference, at a brief ceremony, Dr. McGinn and his wife, Pat received an icon of themselves, and a large framed picture of a book to be published in 2019 containing the keynote addresses at the conference. Fr. Rolheiser introduced the presentation of the gifts, noting that “OST is a small school, and for us to have Bernie and Pat here with all these other eminent scholars, is really huge for us,” said Father Ron Rolheiser, OMI, President of the School, during a brief ceremony honoring McGinn.
Fr. Rolheiser explained that as late as the 1970s and 1980s, OST could not have had an institute of spirituality such as it has today because spirituality wasn’t accepted in North America as an academic discipline. “That it is so accepted today is mainly the work of five people – Bernard McGinn, Sandra Schneiders, Philip Sheldrake, Henri Nouwen and Ewert Cousins.” He commented that Dr. McGinn is “unequaled in research on the different mystics. He researched all these different mystics and wrote books on them. He’s written 30 volumes and made sure that there were good English translations of their works,” the OST President said.
Dr. McGinn’s historical work was a massive work of retrieval that put credibility into the whole mystical tradition and made spirituality respected as an academic discipline. “It was so substantial and so impressive that people began to realize that spirituality wasn’t just devotion and piety but a way of life. Bernie brought this whole rich tradition of Christian mysticism and returned it to the Church. Prior to his work, mysticism had really been lost to the Church,” the OST president explained.
Cliff Knighten, director of OST’s master’s degree program in spirituality, praised Dr. McGinn warmly, noting that the Chicago professor graciously agreed to give lectures at OST on Christian mysticism in 2011 and later taught an intensive course here. “At that time especially, we didn’t have much if any national reputation in the academic community.” He didn’t expect a positive response, but Dr. McGinn graciously agreed and gave two outstanding lectures.” He also agreed to give an intensive course at OST, later became an affiliated OST faculty member and worked closely with the School to establish the Institute for the Study of Contemporary Spirituality, Knighten said.
Like Fr. Rolheiser, Knighten highlighted “the immense impact of Dr. McGinn’s scholarship” in the fields of historical theology, Christian mysticism and spirituality. His prodigious writings include a seminal work on the history of apocalyptic thought, a brilliant and influential monograph on Meister Eckhart, many scholarly articles and his continuing seven-volume magnum opus on the history of Western mysticism, The Presence of God.
He cited Dr. McGinn’s current work on seventeenth-century French spirituality, covering the era of Francis de Sales, Pierre Cardinal de Bérulle, Jean-Jacques Olier, Madame Guyon, Fénelon and others. “Bernie is the ‘gold standard’ in Christian scholarship. He is a scholar’s scholar. He is the one to whom other scholars turn first, especially in the field of Western Christian mysticism where, quite frankly, he has no equal,” Knighten said. He thanked McGinn on behalf of all gathered for the ceremony and countless others influenced by his generosity and scholarship.
Dr. Steven Chase, Professor of Spirituality at the Institute for the Study of Contemporary Spirituality, commented that Dr. McGinn was in the first generation of spirituality scholars who thought about bringing spirituality and mysticism back not only into the academic curriculum but into the church.
“Many people were leaving the church. Their great needs were not being met, and there was an empty hole in them, so they were finding what they needed in Eastern religions,” he said. “Mysticism was very much a part of the Western Church, but it had been lost.” Thus, there was a large need to retrieve the lost traditions and make them accessible to meet contemporary spiritual needs he said.
The Institute for the Study of Contemporary Spirituality (ISCS) at Oblate School of Theology is the only concentrated, integrative program of its kind in the United States offering ATS accredited PhD, DMin, and MA degrees in Contemporary Spirituality. For scholars and people within academia, the ISCS offers three distinct degrees in the field of Contemporary Spirituality, all taught by an internationally renowned faculty. The goal of our degree programs is to convene the academic resources emerging within the growing field of Contemporary Spirituality and make them available to the community of scholars.