§ 2. SCHOLASTIC MYSTICISM.

197. Mysticism and Scholasticism. -- The development of orthodox mysticism was parallel to that of scholastic philosophy and theology, was in fact an offshoot of the latter; but its first appearance does not date farther back than the twelfth century. For the scholastic theologians speculative mysticism constituted a department of the supernatural order; it was quite distinct from scholastic philosophy and therefore does not properly belong to this history. If we speak of it here, it is simply because, in the first place, most of the great medieval scholastics were philosophers, dogmatic theologians and mystic theologians all at once; and because, secondly, alongside Catholic and supernatural mysticism, there appeared in the Middle Ages mystic tendencies claiming to be natural, which may not be passed over in silence. A few leading notions will elucidate these distinctions.