Mysticism in Judaism and Islam, the Great Non-Christian Monotheistic Religions

Abstract

Not only is mysticism present in the Christian Church and ecclesial community but also in other religions. Here the author gives a brief presentation of mysticism in the monotheistic religions of Judaism and Islam. He wishes to depict the specificity of mysticism in each of these religions, but also to stress first and foremost what is common to or similar in all monotheistic religions. All of them are marked by one's striving toward a personal experience of God. In all of them God is experienced on a personal level, which not infrequently surpasses both the Bible and the Kuran, though the personal sometimes tends to be transformed into the magical. Many common points found in both mysticisms are important for Christianity in clearing paths of dialogue between the religions of the Book. It is evident that many more things are held in common in the field of mysticism than in the theological teachings of monotheistic religions.