Abstract

In this article, the concepts of God, human being, and the relationship between them in the works and views of Jan Van Ruusbroeck, the great theosophist of the Catholic Church in Middle Ages, are examined in an analytical manner. Despite the belief in simplicity of the soul, Ruysbroeck also considers some of its strengths. According to him, human being is created based on the image of and similarity to God, and God has put a spiritual and eternal truth in human. In his anthropology, Ruysbroeck attempts to offer a practical way to retrieve the humans’ similarity to the God. In his theology, although he describes the essence of God with negative terms like ‘wild desert’ and ‘abysmal darkness’, he emphasizes that the Divine nature in the stage of Trinity is personal. Hence, the establishment of a relationship between the human and the God is possible. As Ruysbroeck believes, the initiator of this relationship is God, and the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit and Divine and human aspect of Christ play a crucial role in this regard. This relationship has different degrees; more specifically, the relationship through the active works and rituals of man is the first stage while the immediate ::union:: with God in the contemplative life is the final one. The result of this relationship is not the disappearance of the distinction between the Creator and the creature but unity in love. These stages are linearly related, so even after the immediate ::union:: with God, the human must observe the Shari‛a laws.
 

Keywords

• human
• God
• Spiritual ::union::
• Ruysbroeck
• Christian Mysticism