Publisher : Profac-CECR 101 - Lyon

French

2009
112

The mystical experience and its impact on the Christian-Muslim dialogue

Edited by Michel Younès

Not being the object of its own quest, mysticism aims, according to the figures and the cultural and religious contexts, at different realities: the search for a personal God, for an impersonal Absolute, for a reality beyond duality… For some, it tends towards the unity of love, for others, towards the unity of existence. Some mystics refer to God as ‘the bottomless bottom’, the inexhaustible; others point out that the ultimate aim is to find oneself in God and to find him in oneself, as one ultimate reality.

This collection of texts is the result of a study day organised by the Centre for Cultural and Religious Studies (CCRS) in December 2008. The contributions invite us to perceive the nature of mysticism from a few non-exhaustive but significant surveys, and through figures inscribed in two religious traditions, Christianity and Islam.
Do the mystical researches reveal fundamental convergences beyond the varied formulations, or do they follow parallel paths given their cultural and religious roots?
Does the knowledge of the other in its most spiritual aspect lead to a better recognition of its irreducibility?
How can taking into account the mystical quest specific to each of these two traditions contribute to the Muslim-Christian dialogue?

Maurice Borrmans, Pierre Gire, Michel Lagarde, Christian Delorme and Christian Salenson provide us here with stimulating pages of great significance for the Muslim-Christian dialogue.

Sous la direction de Michel Younès

N’étant pas l’objet de sa propre quête, la mystique vise, selon les figures et les contextes culturels et religieux, des réalités différentes : la recherche d’un Dieu personnel, d’un Absolu impersonnel, d’une réalité au delà de la dualité… Pour certains, elle tend à l’unité d’amour, pour d’autres, à l’unité d’existence. Certains mystiques évoquent Dieu comme « le Fond sans fond », l’inépuisable ; d’autres pointent que la visée dernière est de se retrouver en Dieu et de le retrouver en soi, comme une seule et même réalité ultime.

Ce recueil de textes est le fruit d’une journée d’études organisée par le Centre d’études des cultures et des religions (CECR) en décembre 2008. Les interventions invitent à percevoir le propre de la mystique à partir de quelques sondages non exhaustifs mais significatifs, et à travers des figures inscrites dans deux traditions religieuses, le christianisme et l’islam.
Les recherches mystiques font-elles apparaître des convergences fondamentales au-delà des formulations variées, ou bien des voies parallèles compte tenu de leur enracinement culturel et religieux ?
La connaissance de l’autre dans ce qu’il a de plus spirituel conduit-elle à une meilleure reconnaissance de son irréductibilité ?
Comment la prise en compte de la quête mystique propre à chacune de ces deux traditions peut-elle contribuer au dialogue islamo-chrétien ?

Maurice Borrmans, Pierre Gire, Michel Lagarde, Christian Delorme et Christian Salenson nous livrent ici des pages stimulantes et d’une grande portée pour le dialogue islamo-chrétien.

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