Comparative mysticism
The modern study of mysticism across religions, from Max Müller and William James to the perennialists and their critics.
Also called The modern study of mysticism, Perennialism
Introduction
History
- Max Müller’s Introduction to the Science of Religion
- The World’s Parliament of Religions in Chicago
- William James’s Varieties of Religious Experience
- Rudolf Otto’s Das Heilige
- Aldous Huxley’s The Perennial Philosophy
- W. T. Stace’s Mysticism and Philosophy
- Constructivist critique: Steven Katz’s Mysticism and Philosophical Analysis
Major thinkers
- Friedrich Max MüllerGerman-born Oxford scholar of Sanskrit and founder of the science of religion.
- William JamesAmerican philosopher and psychologist who studied religious experience.
- Evelyn UnderhillEnglish writer on mysticism and editor of The Cloud of Unknowing.
- Rudolf OttoGerman theologian whose Idea of the Holy described the numinous.
- Aldous HuxleyEnglish writer whose anthology The Perennial Philosophy shaped modern comparative mysticism.
- W. T. StaceBritish philosopher whose Mysticism and Philosophy proposed a common core of mysticism.
Key concepts
- Mystical experienceExperience reported as direct contact with, or union with, ultimate reality.
- The perennial philosophyThe claim that one wisdom underlies the world’s religious and mystical traditions.
- Comparative religionThe systematic comparison of religious traditions.
- The numinousRudolf Otto’s term for the holy as wholly other, awesome and fascinating.
Important texts
- The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human NatureJames’s Gifford Lectures on religion as personal experience, drawn from the testimony of saints, mystics and converts: healthy-mindedness and the sick soul, conversion, saintliness, and in lectures XVI and XVII mysticism, with his four marks of mystical states.
- Mysticism: A Study in the Nature and Development of Man’s Spiritual ConsciousnessUnderhill’s large study of the mystical life, mainly from Christian sources: its relation to vitalism, psychology, theology and magic, and the stages of the mystic way from awakening and purgation to the dark night and union.
- The Idea of the Holy: An Inquiry into the Non-Rational Factor in the Idea of the Divine and Its Relation to the RationalHarvey’s translation of Das Heilige, Otto’s account of the holy as a unique category of experience, the numinous, mysterium tremendum et fascinans, with examples from the Bible, Luther and the religions of India.
- Mysticism East and West: A Comparative Analysis of the Nature of MysticismOtto’s comparison of Meister Eckhart and Śaṅkara, showing a striking kinship in their mysticism of the one and arguing for deep differences of spirit, a pioneering and still debated work of comparative mysticism.
- The Perennial PhilosophyHuxley’s anthology of passages from the mystics of many traditions, arranged by theme, from “That Art Thou” and the nature of the ground to grace, prayer and contemplation, with his commentary arguing for a common core of mystical teaching.
- Mysticism and PhilosophyStace’s philosophical study of mystical experience across cultures, which distinguishes extrovertive and introvertive types, separates experience from interpretation, and discusses the objectivity of mystical claims, pantheism, ethics, logic and language.
Convergence and divergence
Resemblance and difference, given equal room. Each note is marked with the kind of statement it makes.
Areas of convergence
Areas of divergence
Cite this entry
“Comparative mysticism.” Tradition. The Library, Unitive Knowledge Society. Last modified November 7, 2026. https://www.unitiveknowledge.org/library/traditions/comparative-mysticism.
“Comparative mysticism,” tradition, The Library, Unitive Knowledge Society, last modified November 7, 2026, https://www.unitiveknowledge.org/library/traditions/comparative-mysticism.
“Comparative mysticism.” The Library, Unitive Knowledge Society, 7 Nov. 2026, www.unitiveknowledge.org/library/traditions/comparative-mysticism.
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