Paper short abstract:

Orthodox monasticism, a self-consciously mystical tradition, valorises doubt as a pedagogical tool by linking it to humility and turning it into a safeguard against pride. What are the results, in intellectual and institutional terms, of a sustained commitment to embracing the paradoxical?

Paper long abstract:

This paper examines how doubt and chaotic disruption are harnessed by Romanian Orthodox monastics to become productive forces in their quest for an unmediated knowledge of the divine. The consequence of understanding God as both immanent and truly alter to the created world is the uncomfortable expectation that his presence will rupture any human paradigm of power. Whilst many intellectual and moral traditions cope with the threat of chaos by seeking to eliminate all ambiguity and ambivalence, seen as essentially destructive, such disruptive but also creative forces are sometimes embraced, and open-endedness valued. Arguably 'exclusivist' and 'inclusivist' dynamics exist within all intellectual traditions, and I argue that the examination of their interplay is a fruitful analytical avenue for exploring religious epistemologies. Romanian Orthodox monastics take the word mystical to mean 'hidden', a reminder that divine (and scriptural) truths can not be accessed by means of human discursive reasoning, but rather only through the intervention of divine charisma. This meaning is different from, though related to, the usage that assimilates mysticism to ecstatic forms of religiosity, often characterised by paroxysms of emotion triggered by revelatory experiences. Mystical knowledge (said to be 'true' knowledge) does not work by reduction and abstraction, gradually shrinking the category of the unknown and vexing. Rather, to 'know' God one must learn to live with the constant tension of the paradoxical, gradually coming to see it less as a source of discomfort and more as a valuable entry point to the presence of the divine.