Modern Mystics: Dag Hammarskjöld course
The second session of the Autumn 2025 Modern Mystics series is on Dag Hammarskjöld, the secretary general of the United Nations from 1953 until his death in 1961.
In interviews and in his posthumously published writings, Hammarskjöld shows a major interest in the medieval mystics, especially Meister Eckhart and John of Ruusbroec. His writings have often been described themselves as mystical.
With Dr Roger Lipsey, an art historian, translator and scholar of religious philosophy, particularly of 20th century writers. He is an expert on many mystics, including Thomas Merton, and in 2013 published Hammarskjöld: A Life with University of Michigan Press.
About the series
We often think that mysticism is a thing of the past, that the great mystics like Francis of Assisi, Julian of Norwich or Teresa of Avila are resigned to times long gone, and that mysticism died in the Reformations, the Enlightenment, or the Quietist Controversy.
However, there are important mystical elements of all major world religions today including Christianity, and many 20th-, and 21st-century figures exemplify mysticism. Although in different ways, our three mystics show that mysticism should not be divorced between politics, action and social justice. Join us to see how this played out in their lives and writings.
In our fourth series of webinars on Modern Mystics, we are excited to look at three major figures of the 20th century (stretching slightly into the two adjacent centuries). Each webinar will be led by an expert on the mystic in question, and will consist of a 50-minute introductory lecture on that figure and their mystical writings. After a quick break we will have 30 minutes for Q&A with our expert. Each webinar runs from 7:30-9 PM (UK time) on Zoom on a Monday evening.
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