In the history of Western Christian mysticism, height meets depth and scales collide. In this lecture, Kotva will be thinking about the coincidence of apex and abyss in selected manuals of mystical theology. While some manuals favour the image of the mind’s ascent, others emphasise its descent — but all speak of ‘stages’ (scalae) and step-by-step itineraries. A tension emerges between incremental progress (where scale appears measurable) and the collapsing of scale in mystic union (where scale appears suspended). What is the relationship between scalae and scale, between linear progress on the one hand and suspended scales on the other?
Simone Kotva is a Reader in Systematic Theology in the Department of Literature, History of Ideas and Religion at the University of Gothenburg. Simone is a scholar-practitioner of mysticism with a special interest in Catholic spiritual exercises. She is the author of Effort and Grace: On the Spiritual Exercise of Philosophy (Bloomsbury, 2020) as well as Ecologies of Ecstasy: Mysticism, Philosophy and Vegetal Life (Columbia, 2026).
In English
Organized by
Franco Constantini and Hannah Lucas
How to Attend
- At the venue: To attend in person, please register using the form below.
- To attend the workshop Scales of Mysticism, please register here.
- No livestream / online attendance available (in-person only).
The audience is presumed to consent to a possible recording on the part of the ICI Berlin.
If you would like to attend the event yet might require assistance, please contact Event Management.
Image Credit © Federico Guarino/RVM HUB