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The Complete Mystical Works of Meister Eckhart.

Translated & Edited by Maurice O’C. Walshe.

The Crossroad Publishing Co. 1979.

ISBN: 9780824525170.

The Complete Mystical Works of Meister Eckhart is the most complete single-volume English collection of Eckhart’s major German sermons and treatises in English, including The Talks of Instruction and The Book of Divine Comfort. Eckhart’s sermon style is characterized by its use of the vernacular German language rather than traditional Latin, making his teachings accessible to laypeople and monks alike.

It is defined by rich metaphors, irony, paradox, and wordplay, often employing a hermetic or dialectical approach that involves saying and unsaying to transcend the limitations of human language. It is not easy reading and had taken me over six months to complete it.

Meister Eckhart (1260 - 1328) was a German Dominican friar, theologian, preacher, and mystic, best known for exploring the soul’s union with God. He was born near Gotha in Thuringia, entered the Dominican order as a young man, studied and taught in centres such as Cologne and Paris.

His teaching emphasized detachment, inner transformation, and the birth of God in the soul, which made him influential but also controversial. In his later life, Eckhart was investigated for heresy; he died before the final outcome, and parts of his teaching were later condemned in 1329.

However, with the advent of theological discussions during Vatican Council II, Eckhart’s divisive teachings were rehabilitated. He became one of the most important figures in the history of Christian mysticism.

Maurice O’Connell Walshe (1911–1998) was an English scholar of German literature and a translator best known for his work on Meister Eckhart and on Buddhist texts. He studied at University College London and in Berlin, Göttingen, Vienna, and Freiburg, then taught German at the University of Leeds, Nottingham University, and Bedford College before retiring in 1979.

After retirement, he became deputy director of the Institute of Germanic Studies at the University of London.

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Coram Deo — before the face of God. This blog reflects on Scripture, world events, science, music, psychology, and the human mind — always through the lens of Christian faith. All of life is lived before the face of God.