Customer Reviews

Mystical Writings of Rulman Merswin: The Four Beginning Years and the Book of the Nine Rocks

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Rulman Merswin was a part of the Friends Of God movement in the 14th century. There were elements that started in this movement that became heavily influential and can still be detected in a number of denominations. The Friends of God was not an organization, it was really a group of individuals that were connected by similar viewpoints. It was composed of both ecclesiastics and laymen. Rulman Merswin was a disciple of Johannes Tauler, probably the most influential of the Friends Of God theologians. Merswin had been a merchant and quit his trade in order to devote himself to God and his spiritual walk. The first book deals with the struggles he had during the first 5 years of his spiritual life. Certain elements common to the Friends of God can be detected here such as their focus on the importance of suffering but also the de-emphasizing of extreme asceticism. His second book is really an apocalypse, which in the way it is truly understood, means a revealing. He is given a vision of the state of christendom and it's flaws. The vision seems to be mediated by an angelic figure that remains unnamed. Many of the criticisms found in this work were common at the time and can be found in Wyclif as well. These were later to be important antecedents to the Protestant Reformation.
This book is well worth reading but if one has not read Johannes Tauler, Henry Suso, or the Theologia Germanica, I would start there. Martin Luther early on had been heavily influenced by the Theologia Germanica which he mistakenly attributed to Johannes Tauler. The early Anabaptists were also heavily influenced by the Friends of God. Thomas Muntzer lifted many of his ideas from Tauler and other writers associated with that movement. Muntzer's focus on the necessity of suffering and his theology concerning spiritual desolation were taken from the Friends of God. Even his use of the term friend of God can be found here. Some of these ideas show up again in Hans Hut and Hans Denck and other Anabaptists. Movements like the Pietists often show clear Friends of God influence; probably stemming from Johann Arndt and his debt to Tauler. Later Catholic theologians like Ludovicus Blosius demonstrate their influence; and one can detect it in Soren Kierkegaard to some extent. His love of Arndt and Blosius is documented.
Rulman Merswin is a good addition if you have already picked up the above authors and works. The works of Margaret Ebner is also available. Unfortunately, a great many of the Friends of God writings are only found in German and have yet to be translated into English.
This book is really a Kessinger reprint of Thomas Kepler's edition of The Mystical Writings Of Rulman Merswin published by The Westminster Press. The older Westminster editions can still be found at an affordable price. One is not bound to pay an exorbitant amount for a used Kessinger edition.