RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Eckhart Ecstasy
204; A. Lasson, Meister Eckart der Mystiker, Berlin, 1868 (still important); W. Preger, Meister Eckart und die Inquisition, Munich, 1868; A. Jundt, Essai sur le mysticisme speculatif de Maltre Eckhart, Strasburg, 1871 (to be consulted with Lasson); W. Preger, Geschichte der deutschen Mystik im Mittelalter, i. 309-458, Leipsic, 1874 (to be used with caution); A. Jundt, Histoire du pantheisme populaire au moyen age, pp. 57—93, Paris, 1875; M. Rieger, in W. Wackernagel's Altdeutsche Predigten und Gebete, pp. 398-429, Basel, 1876; R. Ullmann, Reformers before the Reformation, ii. 23-31, Edinburgh, 1877; R. C. Eucken, Geschichte der philosophischen Terminologie, pp. 118-122, Leipsic, 1879; H. Denifle, Meister Eckarts lateinische Schriften und die Grundanschauung seiner Lehre in ALKG, ii (1886), 417-615, and supplement, 616-640; idem, Das cusanische Exemplar lateinischer Schriften Eckarts, ib. 673-678; idem, Die Heimat Meister Eckarts, ib. v (1889), 349-364; R. A. Vaughan, Hours with the Mystics, pp. 188-213, 8th ed., London, n.d.; Neander, tian Church, v. 393-396.
ECKHART THE YOUNGER. See Mysticism.
ECLECTICISM (from Gk. eklegein, "to gather"): A term applied to a system of philosophy or theology that strives to incorporate the truth of all systems, or to the method by which such a synthesis is made. In philosophy the best example of eclecticism is found in the Neoplatonism of the Alexandrine School, while among modern eclectics Leibnitz and Cousin may be mentioned. Since an eclectic system is necessarily a loose piece of mosaic work, rather than an organized body of original thought, the term in philosophy has come to be one of reproach. In theology eclecticism first appeared at Alexandria. Typical examples of eclectics are Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Synesius, who drew from classical and pagan, as well as from Christian sources.
ECSTASY: A state of mental exaltation in which the patient is supposed to be in intimate communion with the divine. The term connotes a large variety of phenomena, real or pretended, natural or evoked, which occur in connection with religious practises. The external phenomena may take either of two characters, intense vigor of physical action in which more than normal endurance or strength is shown, or a passivity which may reach the extreme of catalepsy. Not infrequently the second condition succeeds the first. During both stages the patient is insensible to pain, and often maims or wounds himself or performs feats at other times impossible to him. The condition includes the prophetic frenzy General (mania, see Divination) of the Greek Character- Pythia and of the early Hebrew and istics. heathen seers, the exaltation of the Mohammedan dervishes, the absorbed condition of Hindu devotees, and in its extreme development takes the form of catalepsy. It may be an unpremeditated result of strong emotion, or it may be induced. In the latter case, among both primitive and developed peoples, it is sought without interit to deceive or defraud, being prized as an especial mark of Deity's favor. It is affected by the shamans, medicine men, and wizards of such tribes as the Tasmanians, Karens, Zulus, Patagonians, Hawaiians and North American Indians, especially when engaged in divination; and also by the lay members of such tribes during their religious exercises. One of the six systems of Hindu philosophy
has as its direct object the attainment of this condition. In Christian lands it is often an accompaniment of the religious excitement attending revivals and camp-meetings. When induced by direct effort, the chief means are the religious dance or music, or the two combined; but among more advanced peoples solitary contemplation or physical discipline are also used.
The phenomena of ecstasy have left marked traces upon Old and New Testament conceptions, especially in connection with prophecy, and its manifestations are often indicated by the use of the phrase " and the spirit of the Lord [Yahweh] came upon him." In the Old Testament the passage which best describes the condition is Num. xxiv., in which the staring eye (cf. verses 3, 15 R. V. margin) and the epileptic or cataleptic fall (verse 16) tally closely with the manifestations elsewhere observed. Balaam's oracles are pictured as delivered while he was in the ecstatic state, in accord- Biblical ance with the usual phase of prophecy Examples, in primitive religion. Gideon is represented as coming into this condition (Judges vi. 34), so also Jephthah (Judges xi. 29) and Samson (Judges xiv. 6, 19, xv. 14), in all these cases the results being much like those of the " berserker rage " of the early Norsemen. The ecstatic condition appears to have been normal to the prophetic gilds of the period of the Judges and the early kingdom, and for the first time in I Sam. x. 5- 10, xix. 20-24 the contagiousness of the condition comes to light, in the case of SauL_, Not to be overlooked here is the accompaniment of music and dancing which, with the character of the ensuing phenomena, makes the diagnosis certain. The Baal-prophets in I Kings xviii. 26-28, exhibit characteristic features of the frenzy of ecstasy. The prophecy of Elisha recorded in II Kings iii. 14- 19 was given under conditions like that of Balaam, induced by music. That " madness " was ascribed to the prophets as a class (II Kings ix. 11) shows what were the characteristic methods of prophecy at that time. Possibly the " chirping and muttering " of Isa. viii. 19 refers to the utterances of ecstasy. The phenomena of the New Testament at Pentecost (Acts ii. 4), the case of Stephen (Acts vii. 55-56), and of Paul (Acts ix. 3 sqq.; II Cor. xii. 1-4) are psychologically explicable as cases of ecstasy. See Inspiration, § 1.
In post-Biblical times the high estimate of the value of the ecstatic state continued. The Neoplatonic school of philosophy, following Plato himself, placed a high value upon the condition, and Plotinus and Porphyry laid emphasis upon its worth. The Montanistic theory of prophecy necessitated the entire passivity of the prophet in ecstasy. Mohammed's visions are to be ex- Post- plained from this standpoint, and it is Biblical to be noted in his case that epileptic Cases. symptoms, now regarded by psychologists as a predisposing cause, were manifested from his childhood. The transmissibility of this affection was manifested on a large scale in the Tarantism and Dancing Mania of the Middle Ages (See Dancers) which involved a large area of Central Europe and thousands of suf-
Ecstasy Edelmann