John of Ruusbroec

Since February of 2019, Mikel Kors is working as a postdoctoral research fellow at the Jesuit School of Theology and Philosophy (FAJE), in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. CAPES (the Brazilian equivalent of FWO-Flanders, or NWO in the Netherlands) is funding Mikel’s research.

One of his research topics is Johan Huizinga's appreciation of John of Ruusbroec. In this research different types of sources will be used: Huizinga's complete works, his letters and his archives. Two hitherto unpublished letters by the Dutch historian to Flemish codicologist Willem De Vreese will be used in this research as well.

Since February of 2019, Mikel Kors is working as a postdoctoral research fellow at the Jesuit School of Theology and Philosophy (FAJE), in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. CAPES (the Brazilian equivalent of FWO-Flanders, or NWO in the Netherlands) is funding Mikel’s research.

The first result is the publication of the Portuguese translation of John of Ruusbroec's The Sparkling Stone and The Little Book of Explanation. The Prologue of the latter by Brother Gerard will also be translated for the first time into Portuguese. The book will be published in 2020 by Edições Loyola (São Paulo), and will also contain an extensive introduction, as well as a vocabulary of mystical terms.

This project will research the theme of transformation in love in the works of John of Ruusbroec, specifically Ruusbroec's critical reworking of the central theme in the work of Marguerite Porete, who was condemned by the Inquisition in 1310. The investigation of this case study will shed new light on the broader theme of 'deification' in Christian thought in the Western Middle Ages. This theme occupied a central place in Patristic and Eastern Christian reflection, but very few studies have focused on its later development in the medieval West. The objective of this research is twofold. First, to investigate the development of the theme of deification in the tradition inherited by John of Ruusbroec (William of Saint-Thierry, (Ps.-)Hadewijch and Marguerite Porete, among others), which had become problematic as a result of Porete's condemnation. Second, to investigate the extent to which Ruusbroec, influenced by Porete, with whose work he was undoubtedly familiar, recognised and tackled the fundamental problem in her work and whether or not this influenced the foundations of his own theology. The primary question concerns whether he consistently retained the core of this central theme of Christian theology in the changing historical context and if so, how exactly.

• Project: 2012-2016
• John Arblaster
• Supervisor: Rob Faesen (KULeuven) and Thom Mertens
• Publications: PhD-thesis (forthcoming)

This Companion provides a comprehensive overview of Ruusbroec studies, including a survey of the mystical tradition in the Low Countries before Ruusbroec, a discussion of his life and works, the manuscript tradition, the most significant mystical-theological and literary themes, Latin translations of his work, and the widespread resonance of his thought across Europe until 1800. Finally, it offers a summary of secondary research since the nineteenth century. To complement the range of scholarly articles, this Companion also includes the first English translation of a series of Middle Dutch texts that offer deeper insight into Ruusbroec, his thought, and his mystical and literary context.

Contributions by: Jos Andriessen, John Arblaster, Guido De Baere, Rob Faesen, Bernard McGinn, Hilde Noë, Kees Schepers, Loet Swart, Rik Van Nieuwenhove, and Lieve Uyttenhove.

• Project: ...-2014
• John Arblaster and Rob Faesen
• Publication: John Arblaster & Rob Faesen, A Companion to John of Ruusbroec. Leiden: Brill, 2014, Brill's Companions to the Christian Tradition 51.

The set of two volumes includes the complete text of all of Ruusbroec's works - the original Middle Dutch version as well as a new English translation - as published in Corpus Christianorum, Continuatio Mediaevalis, volumes 101 to 110 (1981-2006). The edition is preceded by a short introduction describing Ruusbroec's life and doctrine and summarising the dating and context of the various treatises and letters, and is followed by a source apparatus and an index of sources.

• Project: 2012-2014
• Guido de Baere & Thom Mertens
• Publication:
  • Guido de Baere & Thom Mertens, The Complete Ruusbroec. English Translation with the Original Middle Dutch Text. Edited and with an Introduction by Guido de Baere and Thom Mertens. Vol. I: English Translation. By Helen Rolfson and others; vol. II: Middle Dutch Text. Edited by Guido de Baere and others. Brepols, Turnhout, 2014. (Corpus Christianorum, Scholars Version). 2 vols.
  • Thom Mertens, ‘De wetenschappelijke editie van Ruusbroecs werken in historisch perspectief’, in: Kees Schepers en Frans Hendrickx (red.), De letter levend maken. Opstellen aangeboden aan Guido de Baere bij zijn zeventigste verjaardag. Leuven: Peeters, 2010 (Miscellanea Neerlandica, 39), pp. 457-478

The Chinese translation of six works of John of Ruusbroec is accompanied by an introduction by Rob Faesen.

1. The Realm of Lovers (Dat rike der gelieven)
2. The Sparkling Stone (Vanden blinkenden steen)
3. Little Book of Explanation (Boecsken der verclaringhe)
4. The Seven Enclosures (Vanden seven sloten)
5. A mirror of Eternal Blessedness (Een spieghel der eeuwigher salicheit)
6. Seven Rungs (Van seven trappen)

• Project: 2011
• Rob Faesen
• Publication: Rob Faesen, 'Lusibuluke ji qi shenmi zhuyi sixiang (daixu)', in: Qi zhong jie ti.  Shanghai: Huadong shifan daxue chubanshe, 2011, pp. 1-21.

The project ‘Ruusbroec’s Crossing: Communicative contexts of the Middle English Ruusbroec translations (manuscripts, vernacularity, reception, spirituality): A Comparison of the English and the Continental Perspectives’ focusses on the transmission, dissemination and reception in England of contemplative texts from the Low Countries. In this project, Ruusbroec's Brulocht passages are traced in the late fourteenth-early fifteenth century compilations The Chastising of God’s Children and Disce mori (which borrows 17 of The Chastising’s 27 chapters), and The Treatise of Perfection of The Sons of God, the translation into Middle English of Vanden blinkenden steen, is examined .

• Project: 2004-2007
• Marleen Cré
• Supervisors: Guido de Baere, Thom Mertens and E.A. Jones (University of Exeter)
• Funding: BOF
• Publications:
  • Marleen Cré, ‘Take a Walk on the Safe Side : Reading the Fragments from Ruusbroec’s Die geestelike brulocht in The Chastising of God’s Children’, in: Kees Schepers & Frans Hendrickx (eds), De letter levend maken: Opstellen aangeboden aan Guido de Baere bij zijn zeventigste verjaardag. Leuven: Peeters, 2010, Miscellanea Neerlandica, pp. 233-46.
  • Marleen Cré, ‘Contexts and Comments: The Chastising of God’s Children and Marguerite Porète’s Mirour of Simple Souls in Oxford, MS Bodley 505’, in: Graham Caie & Denis Renevey (eds), Medieval Texts in Context. London: Routledge, 2008, pp. 122-35.
  • Marleen Cré, Vernacular Mysticism in the Charterhouse: A Study of London, British Library, MS Additional 37790. Turnhout: Brepols, 2006, The Medieval Translator 9. 
  • Marleen Cré, ‘We are United with God (and God with Us?): Adapting Ruusbroec in The Treatise of Perfection of the Sons of God and The Chastising of God’s Children’, in: E.A. Jonas (ed.), The Medieval Mystical Tradition in England 7. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2004, pp. 21-36.

The complete works of Jan van Ruusbroec were edited from 1981 until 2006 under the title Opera Omnia. This edition offers the text in three languages: the Middle Dutch original, a new English translation and the Latin translation of the Carthusian monk Laurentius Surius (first published in 1552) and is accompanied by a threefold apparatus (variants, paleographic notes, sources). In the introduction to each volume, date of and occasion for the treatise in question, its structure and contents and the editorial principles are described. The technical chapters sketch the tradition as it is preserved in the manuscripts and old prints. In index and a bibliography conclude the volume.

• Project: 1981-2006
• Guido de Baere and others
• Publication: Jan van Ruusbroec, Opera Omnia. Edited by G. de Baere and others, introduced by P. Mommaers and others, translated by H. Rolfson and others. Tielt, Lannoo, 1981-2006 / Turnhout, Brepols, 1989-2006 (Studiën en tekstuitgaven van Ons Geestelijk Erf, XX, 1-10 / Corpus Christianorum, Continuatio Mediaevalis, 101-110). 11 vols.