Early Modern Mysticism: Suspicion and Survival
How the Reformation reshaped the mystical imagination Mysticism did not disappear in the Early Modern period — but it had to learn new survival skills. The Reformation and Counter‑Reformation did not simply shift theology or church governance; they altered the very conditions under which a person could claim to have encountered God directly. What had once been a celebrated path of intimacy became, almost overnight, a contested territory. Mystics continued to write, pray, and experience the divine. But the cultural climate around them changed dramatically. A New Age of Suspicion Before the 16th century, Christian mysticism was often treated as a legitimate — even admirable — mode of spiritual life. Medieval Europe produced a rich lineage of visionaries: Hildegard, Mechthild, Julian, Catherine of Siena. Their visions were unusual, but not automatically suspect. The Reformation disrupted that trust. Protestants , wary of anything that resembled private revelation, increasingly label...