Bernard McGinn

Bernard McGinn (born August 19, 1937) is an American Catholic theologian, religious historian, and scholar of spirituality. A specialist in medieval mysticism, McGinn is widely regarded as the preeminent scholar of mysticism in the Western Christianity. He is best known for his comprehensive series on mysticism, The Presence of God.

Life McGinn graduated cum laude from Saint Joseph's Seminary (Dunwoodie) in Yonkers, New York. In 1963, he earned a STL from the Gregorian University, and in 1970 a Ph.D. in history from Brandeis University, writing his dissertation on a twelfth-century Cistercian mystical author named Isaac of Stella. His areas of concentration are theology and Medieval intellectual history.

According to McGinn, "Even for people who may not have any religious commitment of their own, a study of the great mystics can reveal something about human creativity and genius." "McGinn is widely considered the preeminent scholar of mysticism in the Western Christian tradition and a leading authority on the theology of the 14th-century mystic Meister Eckhart".

McGinn taught for a year at the Catholic University of America before joining the faculty of the University of Chicago Divinity School, where he taught Historical Theology and the History of Christianity from 1969 to 2003. He was appointed to the Donnelley chair in 1992 and is the Naomi Shenstone Donnelley Professor Emeritus of Historical Theology and of the History of Christianity at the school and serves on the Committees on Medieval Studies and on General Studies at the University of Chicago.

From 1988 to 2015, McGinn was editor-in-chief of the Paulist Press Classics of Western Spirituality Series; he also served as a member of the editorial boards of Cistercian Publications, and other publications. In 2003, he co-wrote Early Christian Mystics: The Divine Vision of the Spiritual Masters with his wife, psychotherapist Pat McGinn. he has continued publishing scholarly work since that time. In 2005 he participated in a symposium on "Spiritual Information", sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation at Trinity College, Cambridge. In June of that same year, he spoke on Teresa of Avila at the "Agricola Seminar" of the University of Groningen. In 2017, McGinn spoke on John of the Cross for the Annual Candlemas Lecture at Boston College.

Recognition Fellow of the Medieval Academy and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fulbright-Hays Research Fellowship Lily Foundation Senior Research Fellowship (1993) Research fellowships for work at the Institute for Advanced Study at Hebrew University of Jerusalem Research fellowship at the Institute for Ecumenical and Culture Research at St. John's University Mellon Foundation Emeritus Grant

Reviews Writing in The Christian Century, Lawrence S. Cunningham said, In terms of sheer scholarship, this series [the Presence of God] is the most important contribution to the field of theology in the past quarter century. McGinn takes readers from the biblical materials through the Western tradition to detect the ways in which classical spiritual texts give evidence of the experience of the presence of God. With four volumes in print and a fifth to come, McGinn's magisterial work is stunning in its sophisticated methodology and its close reading of texts. Both historical in approach and profoundly theological in presupposition, these volumes constitute a classic work that will not soon be overtaken.

Mary Frohlich, of the Catholic Theological Union said of The Flowering of Mysticism: Men and Women in the New Mysticism--1200-1350, "The third volume of Bernard McGinn's history of western Christian mysticism is, as usual for McGinn's work, stellar. Drawing on his exhaustive knowledge of history and theology, McGinn provides a magisterial interpretation of the context and trends of the "new mysticism" that began to appear in the thirteenth century .... Anyone in need of a concise but encyclopedic review of studies on aspects of mysticism during this period will do well to make this the first stop." She also noted, "... that this is most likely not the book to use as a course text in undergraduate or adult education settings. Its level of analysis and scholarship make it ideal for graduate courses, or as a recommended reference work for students researching specific figures or movements."

In reviewing Mysticism in the Golden Age of Spain (1500–1650), part 2 of volume 6 of The Presence of God, Harvey D. Egan wrote, "M[cGinn]’s synthetic-analytic prowess in delineating mystics in their historical context accounts for his volumes being definitive. If a manuscript dealing with the Western mystical tradition that I am requested to evaluate contains no evidence of M.’s work, I rarely suggest that it be published."

Publications (selected)

The following volumes of McGinn's history of Christian mysticism, The Presence of God series, have so far been published: (494 pages) (630 pages) (paperback) (526 pages) (738 pages) (864 pages) (350 pages; Part 1 of Volume 6 of Presence of God series) (500 pages; Part 2 of Volume 6 of Presence of God series) (500 pages; Part 3 of Volume 6 of Presence of God series) (400 pages; Volume 7 of Presence of God series)

Other books by McGinn include: The Essential Writings of Christian Mysticism, 2006 (260 pages)