1 4 S p i r i t ua l i t y S t u d i e s 8 - 2 Fa l l 2 0 2 2 The Role of Imagination in the History of Spiritual Experiences The history of ideas offers many testimonies to how spiritual experience is born out of the rich imagination of sages, prophets, philosophers, theologians, religious reformers, or mystics. The rich imagination created a broad ground for the development of different kinds of religious or spiritual life. But at the same time, certain religious phenomena that at first sight appear identical show themselves in their differences when they are embedded in their own contexts. The paper traces such cases (especially through the topic of motherhood as an attribute of God or the original nature of human being) against the background of early Christian thought, the spirituality of man in the Carolingian period, and the theological-mystical attitudes in Middle Ages. At the same time, however, it also reflects on how these phenomena are projected into the experiences of contemporary man, which are often secular and non-theological, yet seek to retain an aspect of spirituality that is partially derived from past religious-anthropological experiences, but also supplemented with new elements. Received September 4, 2022 Revised September 9, 2022 Accepted September 10, 2022 Keywords Imagination, history of spirituality, motherhood of God, femininity, silence Anton Vydra
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