I. Introduction

Love is the key element in Christian mysticism. In The Cloud of Unknowing, besides being the key element, love is also the basic and unifying theme underlying the whole teaching on mysticism, from the very initial stage of God's call and man's response to the ultimate intense moments of mystical union. The word love itself, which recurs in and threads through every page of the book, is the most important word in the author's vocabulary. Indeed, the prayer of the mystic is viewed as an act of love.

The Cloud of Unknowing is an anonymous work. As the information concerning its author's background is lacking in detail, critical studies have not been successful in discovering the real identity of the author. However, there is enough evidence for scholars to conclude that it is a work of an English mystic written in the 14th century, in the first full flowering epoch of English mysticism properly so called, when other mystics in England such as Richard Rolle, Walter Hilton, and Julian of Norwich were writing their enduring classics of Christian mystical experience. If this dating is correct, our author must have been a contemporary also of great mystics in continental Europe including Meister Eckhart, John Tauler, Henry Suso, Jan van Ruysbroeck, Catherine of Siena, and Thomas a Kempis. It has been further proved, on linguistic grounds, that the book was written in a central district of the North-East English Midlands.(2)

It seems likely that this 14th century author was a priest, for he gives his blessings at the end of the book in chapter 75. He was certainly a theologian with a wide knowledge of patristic writings and other later works which lie behind his own book. Dionysius' influence is explictly acknowledged: "Anyone who reads Denis' book will find confirmed there all that I have been trying to teach in this book from start to finish" (chapter 70). The influence of Augustine and Aquinas is obvious; for instance, the idea of "naked intent" expounded in chapter 24 reflects the Augustinian and Thomistic concept of "chaste love". Similarly, much of Augustine's teaching has been integrated into the exegesis of Mary and Martha (chapters 16-23), and the title "The Cloud of Unknowing" itself, as Dr. Hodgson has rightly pointed out, is an imagery in Benjamin Major of Richard of St. Victor.(3) The author claims that the specific purpose for which he was writing was to give guidance to a young disciple of twenty-four who was seriously considering committing himself to a life of contemplation. But as one reads the book, one feels that in actual fact it could very well have been written for all those who aspired to contemplative prayer in general. Indeed, it has been acknowledged as "the most excellent work on contemplative prayer ever written in the English Language".(4)

1.In this paper the text we use is the edition by Johnston: JOHNSTON, W., ed., The Cloud of Unknowing and The Book of Privy Counselling, Garden City, New York, Doubleday, 1973, 195p.

2.See P. Hodgson, ed., The Cloud of Unknowing and The Book of Privy Counselling, London, Oxford University Press, 1944, pp. xxvii-1, especially pp. xlix and l.

3.Ibid., p. 1xii.

4.D. Knowles, "The Excellence of the Cloud", The Downside Review, LII (New Series Vol. XXXIII), 1934, p. 92.