Meister Eckhart and the fisherman’s wife: exploring the mystical implications of a fairy tale through apogesis

Williams, Duane (2025) Meister Eckhart and the fisherman’s wife: exploring the mystical implications of a fairy tale through apogesis. Medieval Mystical Theology, 34 (1). pp. 48-66. ISSN 2046-5726

Text Meister Eckhart and the Fisherman's Wife.docx - Accepted Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives. Download (67kB)

Abstract

This essay provides a mystical interpretation of the medieval German fairy tale, ‘The Fisherman and His Wife.’ I seek to show how a deeper understanding of the tale can be achieved through the mystical theology of Meister Eckhart. I begin by recounting the tale, before moving to a section titled Initial Reflections in which I discuss the tale in the context of categorization, history, variations, translation, and most importantly interpretation. Rather than interpret the tale through either exegesis or eisegesis, I seek to explain and apply a unique hermeneutic method situated between the two that I call apogesis. In the final section titled Eckhartian Implications, I use my method to explore how the tale implies key themes in Eckhart’s work. I conclude the essay by focusing on the significance of the tale’s dramatic peripety and startling dénouement in the light of Eckhartian thought.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information and Comments:	© 2025 The Author(s). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way.
Faculty / Department:	Faculty of Creative Arts & Humanities > School of Humanities
SWORD Depositor:	eprints api
Depositing User:	eprints api
Date Deposited:	05 Sep 2025 15:28
Last Modified:	05 Sep 2025 15:28
URI:	https://hira.hope.ac.uk/id/eprint/4745

Actions (login required)

View Item