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and the relationship of the Cloud to other figures in the history of Christian mysticism, Clarkprovides a line-by-line reading and analysis of the teaching of the Cloud. Studies such as thisdo not strive so much to come to some conclusion or assert something about a particularaspect of the Cloud, so much as they are about explicating its thought in general.Other studies of the Cloud discuss the historical and cultural antecedents which shapethe text’s view and provide its context. For example, John Clark’s “Sources and Theology inThe Cloud of Unknowing” illustrates the theological connections that the Cloud has with thesixth-century pseudo-Dionysius, particularly as the latter’s work was mediated in the latemiddle ages by Thomas Gallus and Johannes Sarracenus. Clark also addresses how the Cloudwas influenced by the twelfth-century Cistercian Bernard of Clairvaux, and he suggests thatthe text makes references to Walter Hilton, another fourteenth-century Middle Englishmystic.6 Another example of this type of scholarship, but one that is more specific in itsintent, is James Walsh’s introduction to his modern English rendition of the Cloud. HereWalsh makes the claim that the origins of this text are found in Carthusian monasticism, withthe author being an elder monk who was providing spiritual direction to a novice in his care.7Beyond these somewhat general studies of the Cloud, there are those that focus onparticular aspects of the text, and which make more specific claims in terms of interpretingits meaning. Of particular interest for this dissertation are those that deal with the subject ofaudience of the Cloud; that is, those that ask whom the author of the text intended as his6John P.H. Clark, “Sources and Theology in The Cloud of Unknowing,” TheDownside Review 98 (1980): 83-109.7James Walsh, ed., The Cloud of Unknowing, The Classics of Western Spirituality(New York: Paulist Press, 1981), 1-97.3

reader. The answers to this question found in studies of this topic are diverse. Scholars suchas Phyllis Hodgson and Wolfgang Riehle suggest that the Cloud author intended that hiswork be read by an audience not necessarily limited to those in the professed religious, andmore specifically contemplative, life. According to them, statements in the text which seemto indicate a limited audience can be interpreted to include the possibility of other intendedreaders of the text.8Other scholars such as Denise Baker, S.S. Hussey, and John Clark claim that theCloud author is rather clear in his insistence that his text has a readership limited to those inprofessed religious life, and that evidence for this position is found by reading the text itself.9Between these two positions on the intended audience for the Cloud, an important point ismade by Cheryl Taylor, who suggests that the Cloud author was interested in showing thatthe boundary between contemplative life and active life is permeable. This implies that theremay not be a definitive answer as to who was thought to be capable of practicing the form ofcontemplative prayer taught in this text.10Another way the Cloud has received attention is in studies which compare the text’smethod of contemplative prayer to the meditative practices of Asian religions. These studies8Hodgson, Cloud, 183n14/13; and Wolfgang Riehle, The Middle English Mystics,trans. Bernard Standring (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1981), 17.9Denise N. Baker, “The Active and Contemplative Lives in Rolle, the Cloud-Authorand Hilton,” in The Medieval Mystical Tradition in England, Ireland, and Wales: ExeterSymposium VI; Papers Read at Charney Manor, July 1999, ed. Marion Glasscoe(Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 1999), 94; S.S. Hussey, “The Audience for the Middle EnglishMystics,” in De Cella in Seculum, ed. Michael G. Sargent (Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 1989),114; and Clark, The Cloud of Unknowing: An Introduction, 1:20-21.10Cheryl Taylor, “The Cloud Texts and Some Aspects of Modern Theory,” MysticsQuarterly 27 (2001): 144.4

are relevant to this dissertation because they show an interest not only in the ideas found inthe Cloud and other religious traditions, but also in comparing their mystical practices. Forexample, William Johnston, Robert Aitken, and Robert Llewelyn have compared thetradition of Zen Buddhist meditation with the practice of contemplative prayer in the Cloud.11The significance of this attention to practice is underscored by a study in which MaikaFowler suggests that the Cloud and Zen meditation are fundamentally different. What isnoteworthy about this study is that it discusses the metaphysical underpinnings of these twotraditions rather than the mystical practices they teach.12 These comparative studies areimportant because they emphasize that attention to practices, rather than only ideas ordescriptions of mystical experiences, is important in discussion of mysticism. Studies thatgive attention to practice are rather brief, and this dissertation will deal with this aspect of theCloud at greater length.A study of the Cloud which does pay attention to mystical practice as an aspect of thistext is Rene Tixier’s essay “‘Good Gamesumli Pley,’ Games of Love in The Cloud ofUnknowing,” in which Tixier describes the Cloud as “a text designed more to be practisedthan read.”13 While Tixier does give attention to things that the Cloud author instructs the11William Johnston, The Mysticism of The Cloud of Unknowing, new ed. (New York:Fordham University Press, 2000); Robert Aitken, “The Cloud of Unknowing and theMumonkan: Christian and Buddhist Meditation Methods,” Buddhist-Christian Studies 1(1981): 87-91; and Robert Llewelyn, “The Treatment of Distractions in Zen and The Cloudof Unknowing,” Fourteeenth-Century English Mystics Newsletter 7 (1981): 61-76.12Maika Will Fowler, “Zen Buddhist Meditation and the Cloud Author’s Prayer ofLove,” The Downside Review 113 (1995): 289-308.13Rene Tixier, “‘Good Gamesumli Pley,’ Games of Love in The Cloud ofUnknowing,” The Downside Review 108 (1990): 239.5

aspiring contemplative to do, he does not discuss the Cloud author’s central method ofmystical practice. This method is focused on the recitation of a single short word which theaspiring contemplative uses to embody his intention to unite with God, and as a means ofovercoming thoughts which are understood to be an obstacle to this union. A number ofstudies of the Cloud have noted this aspect of the text’s mystical teaching, though theirtreatment of this topic tends to be rather brief.14 Because this method of contemplative prayeris such a central component of the present-day Christian practices that make use of theCloud, this dissertation will address this subject in some detail.A similar tendency can be noted in scholarship on the Cloud which discusses theeffects of contemplation as this is related to self-reflection and/or self-transcendence on thepart of the practitioner. Some studies have noted what Jennifer Bryan calls “thecontemplative ideal of self-annihilation.”15 But again, this ideal is not discussed in detail inthese studies. As with the method of mystical practice, this issue of the effects of14Douglas E. Cowan, A Nakid Entent vnto God: A Source/Commentary on The Cloudof Unknowing (Wakefield, NH: Longwood Academic, 1991), 39; J.A. Burrow, “Fantasy andLanguage in The Cloud of Unknowing,” Essays in Criticism 27 (1977): 293; VincentGillespie, “Postcards from the Edge: Interpreting the Ineffable in the Middle EnglishMystics,” in Interpretation: Medieval and Modern, ed. Piero Boitani and Anna Torti(Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 1993), 153; Kent Emery, “The Cloud of Unknowing and MysticaTheologia,” in The Spirituality of Western Christendom II: The Roots of the ModernTradition, ed. E. Rozanne Elder, Cistercian Studies 55 (Kalamazoo, MI: CistercianPublications, 1984), 60-61; Rene Tixier, “‘Þis louely blinde werk’: Contemplation in TheCloud of Unknowing and Related Treatises,” in Mysticism and Spirituality in MedievalEngland, ed. William F. Pollard and Robert Boenig (Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 1997), 121;and Rick McDonald, “The Perils of Language in the Mysticism of Late Medieval England,”Mystics Quarterly 34 (2008): 55.15Jennifer Bryan, Looking Inward: Devotional Reading and the Private Self in LateMedieval England (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008), 9. Also see Tixier,“‘Good Gamesumli Pley,’” 237-238.6

contemplation on the self-perception of the practitioner calls for some comparison withpresent-day Christian contemplative movements.Turning to scholarship on the present-day Christian contemplative movements ofCentering Prayer and Christian Meditation, the first thing that can be noted is the dearth ofwork on this topic. Leigh Schmidt discusses meditative practices in general in his history ofAmerican religion.16 Amanda Porterfield briefly mentions the Centering Prayer movement inher study of American religion.17 In scholarship on new religious movements there are somebrief references to Centering Prayer, but these tend to discuss it in relation to the interest inmeditative practices originating from Asian religious traditions.18 One scholarly work thathas dealt at some length with Centering Prayer is a doctoral dissertation by Joseph Conti. Inthis dissertation, Conti also briefly discusses the Cloud and states that the text’s practicality isan important aspect of its use as a resource for present-day Christian contemplativepractice.19 Even here, however, there is not an in-depth discussion of the interaction betweenthis present-day movement and the medieval mysticism of the Cloud.16Leigh Eric Schmidt, Restless Souls: The Making of American Spirituality (NewYork: HarperCollins, 2005), 146-147, 170-179.17Amanda Porterfield, The Transformation of American Religion: The Story of a LateTwentieth-Century Awakening (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), 194.18E.g., Gene R. Thursby, “Hindu Movements Since Mid-Century: Yogis in theStates,” in America’s Alternative Religions, ed. Timothy Miller (Albany: State University ofNew York Press, 1995), 209-210n9; and John A. Saliba, Understanding New ReligiousMovements (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 1995), 173.19Joseph Gerard Conti, “The ‘Inner-Worldly Mysticism’ of Thomas Keating: AParadigm of Renewal of Catholic Contemplativism” (PhD diss., University of SouthernCalifornia, 1994), 72.7

With the possible exception of scholarship on the Cloud which compares itsmysticism with that of other religious traditions, studies of this text tend to situate it in itsoriginal setting and discuss what the author attempted to teach his audience. While thisdissertation will make use of such studies, it will differ from them by discussing the Cloudnot only in terms of its original context but also in relation to present-day mystical practice.20Similarly, the scholarship which exists on present-day Christian contemplative movementsdoes not discuss the appropriation of the Cloud by these movements. Generally speaking, therelationship between the medieval and the present has received little attention in pastacademic studies of contemplation as a Christian mystical practice. This dissertation aims toredress this gap in scholarship.Each of the chapters of this dissertation will consider the Cloud and the present-daypractice of Christian contemplation from a different perspective. These perspectives eachhave something to contribute to an understanding of both the Cloud itself and the way thistext is used in the present-day. The first and second chapters address the socio-historical andreligious contexts in which the Cloud was produced and in which it has been appropriated inthe present-day. The first chapter discusses the medieval context of the Cloud. Because of theanonymity of this text, there are some inherent limitations upon what can be ascertainedregarding its author and intended recipients. Nevertheless, by examining statements madewithin the text itself, looking at the work of Walter Hilton, a medieval English mysticalwriter whose work is contemporaneous with the Cloud, and considering the perspectives ofthe companion works which accompany the Cloud in some of its manuscripts, some20Cf. Cowan, xvi-xxvii.8

knowledge of the setting and reception of this text can be reconstructed. An importantquestion in this discussion is whether the Cloud was intended as a source of spiritualdirection for an exclusively monastic audience, or was understood as being appropriate for alarger lay audience and those living a mixed life of contemplation and worldly activity.The discussion of the medieval context of the Cloud leads in the second chapter to acorresponding examination of the situation in which present-day Christian contemplativepractice is done. In particular, this will be considered from the perspective of the CenteringPrayer and Christian Meditation movements. Just as the issue of audience is important indiscussing the medieval context of the Cloud, in the present day the issue of who is thoughtcapable of engaging in contemplative practice is significant. This chapter will also ask howthe Cloud is read and which aspects of the text are privileged in present-day Christiancontemplative literature. This discussion makes use of the hermeneutical theories of PaulRicoeur and Stanley Fish,21 which describe the way that a text’s meaning can shift over timebased upon the interests of the audience who is reading that text.As part of this discussion of present-day Christian contemplative practice, three issueswhich play a particularly important role in the appropriation of the medieval mysticism of theCloud will be considered. These are the changes brought about in the Roman Catholic churchby the Second Vatican Council’s (1962-1965) emphasis upon a spirituality of the laity, thepresentation of meditative techniques as an antidote for the stresses of modern life, and the21Paul Ricoeur, Interpretation Theory: Discourse and the Surplus of Meaning (FortWorth: Texas Christian University Press, 1976); and Stanley Fish, Is There a Text in ThisClass? The Authority of Interpretive Communities (Cambridge: Harvard University Press,1980).9

exposure of the West to the meditative practices of non-Christian religions such as Hinduismand Buddhism.The third chapter addresses the method of contemplation which is taught in theCloud. In particular, it examines the text’s instruction that one should recite what I will call a“verbal formula” during contemplative practice. In the interest of offering a morecomprehensive analysis of this topic, this chapter will also consider how the use of verbalformulas in contemplative practice is addressed in the work of Richard Rolle, anothermedieval English mystical writer, and John Cassian, an earlier author from the Christiandesert monastic tradition. Following this, it will examine how present-day Christiancontemplative literature addresses the issue of employing a verbal formula in contemplativepractice. In approaching this topic, this chapter draws upon the perspectives of performanceand practice theories. These theories, which come from the field of ritual studies,22 will assistwith a discussion of how the Cloud describes contemplative practice in relationship tomystical experience, and of how the perspective of this text compares with that found inpresent-day Christian contemplative literature.The fourth chapter addresses the role which awareness of the self plays in the practiceof contemplation, from the perspective of the Cloud and the present-day Christiancontemplative movements which have appropriated it. This discussion draws upon Michel22Discussion of the use of performance and practice theories for interpreting mysticaltexts can be found in Mary A. Suydam, “Background: An Introduction to PerformanceStudies,” in Performance and Transformation: New Approaches to Late MedievalSpirituality, ed. Mary A. Suydam and Joanna E. Ziegler (New York: St. Martin’s Press,1999), 1-25; and John C. Maraldo, “The Hermeneutics of Practice in Dogen and Francis ofAssisi,” in Buddhist-Christian Dialogue: Mutual Renewal and Transformation, ed. Paul O.Ingram and Frederick J. Streng (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1986), 53-74.10

Foucault’s concept of practices of the self, which is used to describe practices in which aperson makes himself an object of inquiry in the interest of self-knowledge andtransformation.23 In light of this concept, it will be asked whether the Cloud author’s teachingis oriented to self-awareness or self-transcendence. The perspective of the Cloud on this topicwill also be compared with that of present-day teaching on contemplative prayer.Specifically, it will be asked whether present-day Christian contemplative literature followsthe Cloud author’s claim that the self is to be forgotten, or rather suggests that the self isretained at some level as an object of inquiry and recipient of the benefits of contemplation.Finally, the fifth chapter considers how the appropriation of the Cloud for present-dayChristian contemplative practice can be cause for a reassessment of the category ofmysticism in religious studies. The Cloud, particularly when it is viewed through the lens ofthis appropriation, shows that mysticism can be defined with reference to particular practicesas well as types of experience. This discussion employs Bernard McGinn’s tripartitedescription of mysticism as “a part or element of religion,” “a process or way of life,” and“an attempt to express a direct consciousness of the presence of God.”24 While humanexperience of the divine presence is certainly one aspect of the mysticism of the Cloud, thepresent-day reading of this text emphasizes the formulation of a method of contemplativeprayer which can be drawn from its pages. In this, practice as well as experience are23Michel Foucault, The Use of Pleasure, vol. 2 of The History of Sexuality, trans.Robert Hurley (New York: Random House, 1990); and “Technologies of the Self,” inTechnologies of the Self: A Seminar with Michel Foucault, ed. Luther H. Martin, HuckGutman, and Patrick H. Hutton (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1988), 16-49.24Bernard McGinn, The Foundations of Mysticism: Origins to the Fifth Century, vol.1 of The Presence of God: A History of Western Christian Mysticism (New York: Crossroad,1991), xv-xvi.11

important components of what can be included in the category of mysticism. This conceptionof mysticism as practice will be further explored using Agehananda Bharati’s definition ofmysticism25 and Robert Wuthnow’s description of a “practice-oriented spirituality” i

Previous scholarship done on the Cloud includes studies which address the religious thought of this text. An example of this is John Clark's The Cloud of Unknowing: An Introduction.5 In addition to addressing topics such as the author and recipient of the Cloud 3Phyllis Hodgson, ed., The Cloud of Unknowing and The Book of Privy Counselling,