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Jacob Behmen

An Appreciation

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About this book

A working shoemaker in seventeenth-century Germany becomes the focus of Alexander Whyte's study of religious thought and personal experience. Delivered as a lecture for classes on mystics, this appreciation approaches Jacob Behmen through passages drawn from his own writings. Whyte describes the spiritual distress that preceded Behmen's visions, his efforts to record what he believed he had received from God, and the humble claims he made about his abilities and character.

The discussion also turns to English translations of Behmen's works and to his treatment of human temperament in The Four Complexions. Whyte connects these reflections with the people around Behmen's shop, the opposition of his minister and the changing decisions of the town council. Readers interested in religious mysticism will find an admiring account of how everyday observation, inward struggle and theological speculation meet in one writer's work.