Jan van Ruusbroec (1293–1381), a chaplain in Brussels who withdrew at fifty to the forest of Groenendaal and wrote in Flemish rather than Latin. His work is the high point of the Low Countries’ mysticism and fed directly into the Devotio Moderna out of which the Imitation of Christ came.
Works (3)
- The Adornment of the Spiritual Marriage — Ruusbroec’s masterpiece, called in Flemish Die Chierheit der gheestelijker Brulocht — the Spiritual Espousals — on the three lives of the Christian: active, inward, and contemplative, all of them the answer to Behold, the Bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet Him. Printed here with The Sparkling Stone and The Book of Supreme Truth. (99 notes)
- The Book of Supreme Truth — Ruusbroec’s last work, written to clear up misunderstandings of what he had said about union with God — that the creature never becomes God, but is united to Him without intermediary. (15 notes)
- The Sparkling Stone — A shorter treatise on the white stone of Revelation 2:17, and on the difference between the faithful servant, the secret friend, and the hidden son of God. (15 notes)