Meister Eckhart combined scholastic distinctions with vernacular preaching to explore the soul’s relation to God, detachment, and the divine ground.
Intellectual setting
Eckhart’s speculative theology and preaching belonged to Dominican scholastic culture but faced an ecclesiastical investigation near the end of his life.
Key ideas
Detachment
Gelassenheit names a radical freeing of the will from possessive attachment.
Ground of the soul
His sermons and Latin works distinguish created forms from an intimate relation to God beyond ordinary images.
Legacy
He influenced later Rhineland mysticism and remains a contested figure at the border of scholastic theology and mystical language.