Mysticism, Aesthetics, and Philosophy: Debating Simon Critchley's Mysticism (2024)

Simon Critchley’s book Mysticism (2024) has already been of significant interest to scholars of religion. This roundtable will seek to showcase a range of responses, considering whether and how Critchley offers new insight to the study of religion and religious experience. Mysticism is in many ways unclassifiable: part memoir, part curiosity project (as are so many things Critchley writes), part highly accessible introduction to Christian mysticism. While those already predisposed to appreciate mysticism will likely find in the book confirmation of its place in the broader landscape of religious studies, roundtable participants will also consider whether his approach distorts the phenomenon as it has been approached by scholars of various religious traditions. Key to our collaborative consideration will be his claims that mysticism is “experience at its most intense,” the transformation of mystical experience into aesthetic experience, and his methodological approach.