Eckhart, Johannes (1260?-1328), was a German theologian. He is usually called Meister (Master) Eckhart. Eckhart was an influential preacher, and his sermons helped shape Christian mysticism in the late Middle Ages (see Mysticism). His sermons also played a role in the development of German as a literary language.
Eckhart taught that the goal of a Christian was union with God. A person achieved this union through total detachment from worldly matters. Eckhart believed every person’s soul contained a divine spark. Through this spark, the soul might unite with God. To create the state of mind required for the mystical union with God, a person had to withdraw from sin. The person also had to conquer time and human nature.
Eckhart was born in Hochheim, near Erfurt, and studied in Erfurt and at the University of Paris. He entered the Dominican Order as a young man and held several positions of authority in the order. Eckhart taught in Cologne, Germany, from 1320 to 1326, when the church questioned the orthodoxy of some of his ideas. He admitted he might be in error but refused to acknowledge that he taught heresy (false doctrine). He died while awaiting the pope’s decision on his case. In 1329, Pope John XXII condemned as heresy 28 ideas from Eckhart’s writings.
