‘Joining into God's breath’: travail of the negative as a connection between mysticism and political activism

Abstract

This essay argues that a negative hermeneutics, i.e., a hermeneutics that takes its starting point from the experience of gaps, failures, and limits, is a suitable lens for the study of mysticism. It uses the concept of travail of the negative, which focuses on the dynamics of a continuous ‘unsaying’ and ‘subverting’ of traditional expressions of faith and religious practice, to explore the connection between aspects of practical and theoretical negativity in mystical expressions. It suggests that this approach to mystical theology makes an important contribution to the wider theological discourse and encourages theology to take the fundamental character of negation seriously.

I Am What I Do—Negative Work as a Lens for the Study of Movement Chaplaincy

“…For a more detailed analysis on the potential of negative work for the study of mysticism and negative spirituality, cf. (Wolff 2023a(Wolff , 2023b. 10 According to Walter Brueggemann's brief classical book Prophetic Imagination (Brueggemann 1978), the prophets suffer from the discrepancy between what is and what ought to be and are unable to maintain the "false consciousness"; (Ruffing 2001, p. 10).…”