Johannes Tauler

Tauler, Johann (c.1300–61). German Christian mystic. He became a Dominican at Strasbourg in 1315 where he probably came under the influence of Meister Eckhart and Henry Suso. Famous as a preacher and director, especially of nuns, he became still more popular because of his devotion to the sick during the Black Death. His mystical doctrine, found mainly in his sermons, is firmly grounded in Thomism, and concentrates on the practical consequences of God's indwelling, manifest particularly in humility and abandonment to the will of God.

Johannes Tauler , c.1300-1361, German mystic. He was a Dominican. He met Meister Eckhart , either at Strasbourg or in Cologne, where he went to study, and he was one of Eckhart's disciples. He also knew Heinrich Suso . When the churches of Strasbourg were closed by the bishop of Strasbourg because of a serious quarrel between Pope John XXII and Emperor Louis IV, Tauler went to Basel (1338-39), where he became closely associated with the leaders of the Friends of God, a popular mystical movement that spread Eckhart's teachings. He was one of the greatest of medieval preachers, and his sermons were widely disseminated. They are intellectual appeals to practice detachment from the world and to abandon oneself to the Holy Spirit; they abound in striking analogies and keen observations. In spite of their orthodox and scholastic Catholicism, they have been much admired by Protestants. Collections of Tauler's work often include sermons falsely attributed to him.

Bibliography: See his life and sermons, ed. by S. Winkworth (1962); study by S. E. Ozment (1969); J. M. Clark, The Great German Mystics (1949, repr. 1970).