Johannes Tauler

Johannes Tauler OP (c. 1300 – 15 June 1361) was a German mystic, a Catholic
Johannes Tauler
preacher and a theologian. A disciple of Meister Eckhart, he belonged to the
Dominican order. Tauler was known as one of the most important Rhineland
mystics. He promoted a certain neo-platonist dimension in the Dominican
spirituality of his time.

Contents
Life
Sermons
See also
Modern editions
Further reading
Statue of Johannes Tauler, the
Notes
Strasbourg Saint-Pierre-le-Jeune
References
Protestant Church.
External links
Born c. 1300
Died 15 June 1361

Life Nationality German

Occupation German mystic, a
He was born about the year 1300 in Strasbourg, and seems to have been the son of
Catholic preacher and
Nikolus Tauler or Taweler, of Finkweiler, who in 1304 was a member of the
a theologian
Strassburg Town Council.[1] entered the Dominican order at the age of about
eighteen, and was educated at the Dominican convent in that city. Meister Eckhart, Known for most important
who greatly influenced him, was active in Strasbourg c1313-26, though it is unclear Rhineland mystics
what relationship they may have had.[2] It is possible that while taking the customary Title Doctor Illuminatus et
eight-years' course of study at the monastery he heard Eckhart preach. From sublimis
Strasbourg he went to the Dominican college of Cologne, and perhaps to St James's
g.[3]
College, Paris, ultimately returning to Strasbourg, but more probably he returned from Cologne to Strasbur

Around 1330 Tauler began his preaching career in Strasbourg. The city contained eight convents of Dominican nuns and perhaps
seventy smaller beguine communities. It seems likely that (as with Meister Eckhart and Henry Suso), much of his preaching was
directed to holy women. Most of Tauler's nearly eighty sermons seem to reflect a convent situation, although this may partly reflect
[4]
the setting in which such sermons were most likely to be written down and preserved.

In 1338 or 1339 the Dominicans were exiled from Strasbourg as a result of the tensions between Pope John XXII and Lewis of
Bavaria.[5] Tauler spent his exile (c1339-43) in Basel. Here, he became acquainted with the circles of devout clergy and laity known
as the Friends of God (Gottesfreunde). Tauler mentions the Friends of God often in his sermons. Evidence for further connections
with this group is found in the letters exchanged between the secular priest Henry of Nördlingen and his spiritual friend, the
Dominican nun Margaret Ebner. Through Henry, Tauler also became acquainted with Mechthild of Magdeburg's Flowing Light of the
Godhead.[5]

Tauler worked with the Friends of God, and it was with them that he taught his belief that the state of the soul was affected more by a
personal relationship with God than by external practices. In this way [6]
, he was more of a proselytizer than his counterpart, Eckhart.
Tauler returned to Strasbourg around 1343, but the following years brought various crises. Strasbourg experienced a devastating
earthquake and fire in 1346. From late 1347 until 1349, the city was ravaged by the Black Death.[5] It is said that when the city was
deserted by all who could leave it, Tauler remained at his post, encouraging his terror-stricken fellow-citizens with sermons and
personal visits.[7]

Tauler travelled fairly extensively in the last two and a half decades of his life. He made several trips to Cologne. A number of his
sermons were clearly delivered there, as indicated by their survival in the Cologne dialect of Middle High German. A credible
tradition suggests he visitedJohn of Ruusbroec in Groenendaal at some point in the 1350s.[8]

He is credited with composing the words of the Advent song, Es kommt ein Schiff, geladen. The oldest existing text source is a
manuscript dated before 1450, found in the Strasbourg Dominican convent of St. Nicolaus in undis, which Tauler was known to have
[9]
visited frequently. There are also some stylistic similarities to his other writing.

According to tradition, Tauler died on 16 June 1361 in Strasbourg. He was buried in the Dominican church in Strasbourg with an
incised gravestone that still survives in theTemple Neuf.[10]

The well-known story of Tauler's conversion and discipline by "The Friend of God from the Oberland" cannot be regarded as
historical.[11]

Sermons
Tauler leaves no formal treatises, either in Latin or the vernacular. Rather, he leaves
around eighty sermons.

Tauler's sermons began to be collected in his own lifetime - three fourteenth-century

manuscripts date from around the time of Tauler's return to Strasbourg after his exile
in Basel.[12]

Tauler's sermons were printed first in Leipzig in 1498, reprinted in 1508 at

Augsburg, and then again with additions from Eckhart and others at Basel (1521 and
1522), at Halberstadt (1523), at Cologne (1543), and in Lisbon (1551). A Latin
translation was printed first at Cologne in 1548 and 1553. In the nineteenth century,
editions were produced by Julius Hamberger (Frankfurt, 1864) and Ferdinand Vetter
(Berlin, 1910, reprinted Dublin/Zürich, 1968;[13] ).

Tauler was famous for his sermons, which were considered among the noblest in the
German language—not as emotional as Henry Suso's, nor as speculative as
Eckhart's, but rather intensely practical, and touching on all sides the deeper
1522 title page of Tauler's sermons, problems of the moral and spiritual life.
by Holbein
Tauler was one of several notable Christian universalists in the Middle Ages, along
with Amalric of Bena, John of Ruysbroeck, and Julian of Norwich.[14] He taught
that "All beings exist through the same birth as the Son, and therefore shall they all come again to their original, that is, God the
Father."[15]

See also
List of Latin nicknames of the Middle Ages: Doctors in theology
Tauler
Hearken: God is infinite and without end, but the soul's desire is an abyss which cannot be filled except by a Good which is infinite;
and the more ardently the soul longeth after God, the more she wills to long after Him; for God is a Good without drawback, and a
well of living water without bottom, and the soul is made in the image of God, and therefore it is created to know and love God.
- Tauler

Modern editions
[16]
There are various foreign language editions of the sermons:

Ferdinand Vetter, Die Predigten Taulers, (Berlin: Weidmann, 1910; photomechanicalreprint, 1968), is based on only
a few manuscripts and does not adhere to the proper liturgical order of the sermons. It lists a few variant readings,
but lacks an apparatus of sources. Several of its sermons are not authentic.
A complete French translation exists as E Hugueny , G Thery and A-L Corin,Sermons de Tauler: Traduction faite sur
les plus anciens mss. allemands, 3 vols, (Paris, 1927–35).
Georg Hofmann, Johannes Tauler: Predigten, (Freiburg: Herder, 1961; reprint, Einsiedeln,1979) provides a helpful
German version, but not a critical version of the Middle High German text.
Johannes Tauler, De Preken, a complete Dutch translation by Peter Freens (2015),Taulerpreken.nl.
A good English translation of Tauler's sermons is lacking.

Spiritual Conferences by Johann Tauler, OP (1300-1361), trans Eris Colledge and Sister Mary Jane, OP , (New York:
Herder, 1961; reprint 1978), contains a ratherloose translation of sermons and excerpts of sermons from eVtter. It
rearranges that according to theological headings rather than keeping the order of the sermons themselves.
Johannes Tauler, sermons, translation by Maria Shrady; introduction by Josef Schmidt, (New ork:
Y Paulist Press,
1985), translates 23 sermons, but from the modern German edition of Hofmann, not directly from the Middle High
German. The version also contains various omissions and errors, and lacks notes.
Older English translations of Tauler include various inauthentic pieces, and were often made from the Latin version of Laurentius
Surius. They are therefore problematic. These include:

Catherine Winkworth, History and Life of the Reverend Doctor John T auler with Twenty-Five of his Sermons,
(London, Smith, Elder, and comp., 1857.) Available at http://www.ccel.org/ccel/winkworth/tauler
Meditations on the life and passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, translated by APJ Cruikshank, (London: Thomas
Richardson and Son, 1875) Available at http://www.ccel.org/ccel/tauler/meditations
The following of Christ, translated by JR Morell, (London: T Fisher Unwin, 1886) vAailable at
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/tauler/following
The Inner Way, being Thirty-Six sermons for festivals by John a Tuler, translated from the German, with introduction,
by Arthur Wollaston Hutton, (London: Methuen & Co, 1901) Available at http://www.ccel.org/ccel/tauler/inner_way

Further reading
Davies, Oliver: God Within: The Mystical Tradition of Northern Europe, (London: DLT, 1988), p71-78.
Eck, Suzanne: Gott in uns. Hinführung zu Johannes T auler. Übersetzt von Viktor Hofstetter OP und Hildegard
Stoffels (Dominikanische Quellen und Zeugnisse Bd. 8). Leipzig 2006.
Gnädinger, Louise: Johannes Tauler. Lebenswelt und mystische Lehre, (München, 1993).
Hamburger, Jeffrey F.: D.Verschiedenartigen Bücher der Menschheit. Johannes Tauler über d. "Scivias" H.s v.B.
Trier 2005 (=Mitt. u. Verz. aus d. Bibl. d. Bischöfl. Priesterseminars zu Trier; 20).
Leppin, Volker: Artikel „Tauler Johannes“, in: Theologische Realenzyklopädie, Bd. 32, Berlin/ New oYrk 2001, S. 745-
748.
Mayer, Johannes G.: Die "Vulgata"-Fassung der Predigten Johannes Taulers. Würzburg 1999 (Texte und Wissen. 1).
McGinn, Bernard: The Harvest of Mysticism, (2005), pp240–296.
Mösch, Caroline F.: "Daz disiu geburt geschehe". Meister Eckharts Predigtzyklus von d. ewigen Geburt u. Johannes
Taulers Predigten zum Weihnachtsfestkreis. Fribourg 2006.
Otto, Henrik: Vor- und frühreformatorische Tauler-Rezeption. Quellen und Forschungen zur Reformationsgeschichte
Bd. 75 Gütersloh 2003.
Sturlese, Loris: Tauler im Kontext. Die philosophischen Voraussetzungen des "Seelengrundes" in der Lehre des
deutschen Neuplatonikers Berthold von Moosburg.In: PBB 109 (1987), S. 390-426.
Theißen, J.: Tauler und die Liturgie. In: Deutsche Mystik im abendländischen Zusammenhang. Hg..vW. Haug und
W. Schneider-Lastin, Tübingen 2000, S. 409-423.
Weigand, Rudolf Kilian: Predigen und Sammeln. Die Predigtanordnung in frühen auler-Handschriften.
T In: Studien
zur deutschen Sprache und Literatur. FS Konrad Kunze. Hg. von Werner Williams-Krapp. Hamburg 2004, S. 114-
155.
Denifle, Dis Buck von geistlicher Armuth(Strassburg, 1877);
 Carl Schmidt, Johann Tauler von Strassburg (Hamburg, 1841);
Vaughan, Robert Alfred, Hours with the Mystics, 3rd ed., vol. i. pp. 214–307;
Wilhelm Preger's Gesch. der deutschen Mystik im Mittelalter, vol. iii;
W. R. Inge, Christian Mysticism;
R. M. Jones, Studies in Mystical Religion(1909).
Jole D'Anna, Johannes Tauler. Dottore illuminato e sublime, Simmetria, Roma 2006.

Notes
1. Julian, John. Dictionary of Hymnology(1907) (https://hymnary.org/person/Tauler_J1)
2. It used to be stated that Eckhart was professor of theology in the monastery school at Strasbourg, but this is entirely
supposition with no supporting evidence.
3. Löffler, Klemens. "John Tauler." The Catholic Encyclopedia(http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14465c.htm) Vol. 14.
New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 7 December 2017
4. Bernard McGinn, The Harvest of Mysticism, (2005), p241.
5. McGinn, p. 242.
6. Cairns, Earle. Christianity Through the Centuries. 3rd ed. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996.
7. Chisholm 1911.
8. McGinn, p. 243.
9. Becker, Hansjakob (2001). Geistliches Wunderhorn: Große deutsche Kirchenlieder(https://books.google.com/book
s?id=Zxiu00lv7TMC&pg=PA62). C. H. Beck. p. 62. ISBN 978-3-406-48094-2. Retrieved 14 September 2012.
10. Bernard McGinn, The Harvest of Mysticism, (2005), p243.
11. Chiaholm 1911.
12. Bernard McGinn, The Harvest of Mysticism, (2005).
13. Online im Digitalen Mittelhochdeutschen T
extarchiv (mhgta) (http://mhgta.uni-trier.de/katalogsuche.php?suchwort=ta
uler&ordnung=fbsigle&gesendet=Suchen)
14. "Apocatastasis (http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/encyc01.html?term=Apocatastasis)". New Schaff-Herzog
Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, Vol. I.
15. "Johann Tauler (http://www.tentmaker.org/biographies/tauler.htm)". at Tentmaker.org. Accessed Dec. 5, 2007.
16. On what follows, see Bernard McGinn,The Harvest of Mysticism, (2005), p586.

References
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Tauler,
Johann". Encyclopædia Britannica. 26 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Löffler, Klemens (1912). "John Tauler". In Herbermann, Charles.Catholic Encyclopedia. 14. New York: Robert
Appleton Company.
Jole D'Anna,Johannes Tauler. Dottore illuminato e sublime, Simmetria, Roma 2006.
Jole D'Anna, Una introduzione alla mistica di Johannes auler,
T in "Rivista di Ascetica e Mistica", n. 1, 2009, pp. 139–
148.
Jole D'Anna, La teologia della perfezione in Johannes auler,
T in "Perennia Verba", nn. 6-7, 2002-2003, pp. 181–200.

External links
The History and Life of the Reverend Doctor John aTuler of Strasbourg; With Twenty-Five of His Sermonsin English
archive.org
Johannes Tauler in the German National Librarycatalogue
Works by or about Johannes Tauler in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
Die Predigten Taulers im digitalen mittelhochdeutschen Textarchiv der Universität Trier
"Johannes Tauler". Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL)(in German).
Ausführliche Würdigung
Taulerdruck von 1621, PDF
 Beschreibung von mittelalterlichen Handschriften mit aTulerpredigten im Marburger Repertorium, Universität
Marburg
Godfriends: The Continental Medieval Mystics

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