Friends of God

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This article is about the Middle age mystical group. For the documentary about evangelicals by
Alexandra Pelosi, see Friends of God (film).

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The Friends of God (German: Gottesfreunde; or gotesvriunde) was a medieval mystical group of
both ecclesiastical and lay persons[1] within the Catholic Church (though it nearly became a separate
sect) and a center of German mysticism. It was founded between 1339 and 1343 during the Avignon
Papacy of the Western Schism, a time of great turmoil for the Catholic Church. The Friends of God
were originally centered in Basel, Switzerland, and were also fairly important
in Strasbourg and Cologne. Some late-nineteenth century writers made large claims for the
movement, seeing it both as influential in fourteenth-century mysticism, and as a precursor of
the Protestant Reformation. Modern studies of the movement, however, have emphasised the
derivative and often second-rate character of its mystical literature, and its limited impact on
medieval literature in Germany.[2]
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 1Name
 2History
 3Texts
 4See also
 5References
 6Further reading
 7External links

Name[edit]
The name "Friends of God" may have been influenced by various sources. A number of biblical
passages use the term (e.g. Judges 8.22, James 2.23, Exodus 33.11, Psalm 138.17, Wisdom 7.27,
Lk 12.4, John 15.15). The concept of friendship with God had also been applied by various medieval
authors, and particularly among Meister Eckhart and his followers.[2]

History[edit]
The movement grew out of the preaching and teaching of Meister Eckhart, and especially
his Dominican spiritual heirs the preacher John Tauler and the writer Henry Suso. An influence on
the Friends of God, although remaining in the background, was the secular priest Henry of
Nördlingen,[3] from the Bavarian Oberland, who met Tauler and Suso in Basel in 1339. Henry had a
great deal of interaction with other Bavarian and German mystics[4] and introduced the Friends of
God to The Flowing Light of the Deity by Mechthild of Magdeburg.
The group achieved a nascent institutional form in 1367 when wealthy layman Rulman
Merswin purchased and restored a derelict monastery in Strasbourg known as
the grünenwörth ('Green Isle').[5] Grünenwörth served as a refuge for study for the Friends of God
and as a “school of prophets” which produced a number of mystical texts.[6] Merswin is suspected of
being the anonymous author The Friend of God from the Oberland.[7]
The Friends of God, as led by Tauler and Suso, sought a mystical path in line with established
Catholic doctrine, following Thomas Aquinas. Rulman Merswin, under the guidance of The Friend of
God from the Oberland, wanted to purify the Church. This stress on reform brought The Friends of
God into conflict with the Church and not long after Merswin’s death in 1382, they were
condemned.[1]
After Merswin's death, some sources claim that Nicholas of Basel became the leader. He was
eventually burned at the stake with two of his followers for heresy at Vienna around 1395.[8] The
relationship of Nicholas of Basel to the Friends of God is unclear as he was condemned as
a Beghard.[9]
Another prominent member, Martin of Mainz, a follower of Nicholas of Basel, was also burned for
heresy in 1393.[9]

Texts[edit]
A number of mystical texts are associated with The Friends of God, most notably the Theologia
Germanica and the Book of the Nine Rocks. Many of the works were attributed to The Friend of God
from the Oberland, although probably written by Rulman Merswin himself.[6]
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See also[edit]
 German mysticism
 Margaretha Ebner
 The Friend of God from the Oberland
 Theologia Germanica

References[edit]
1. ^ Jump up to:a b Walsh, Reginald. "Friends of God." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 6. New York:
Robert Appleton Company, 1909. 6 December 2017
2. ^ Jump up to:a b McGinn, Bernard. The Harvest of Mysticism, (2005), p408.
3. Jump up^ Dictionary of German Biography Volume 8, Walther Killy et al., eds; K G Saur Verlag
Gmbh & Co; Reprint 2011 ed. Edition p. 493
4. Jump up^ Catholic Encyclopedia
5. Jump up^ McGinn, p. 417.
6. ^ Jump up to:a b Jones, Rufus M., Studies in Mystical Religion, Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, no date
pp. 247-252 (originally published London: Macmillan, 1909)
7. Jump up^ Weeks, Andrew. German Mysticism From Hildegard of Bingen to Ludwig Wittgenstein,
SUNY Press, 1993, p. 94, ISBN 9780791414194
8. Jump up^ "Nicholas of Basel", BrillOnLine
9. ^ Jump up to:a b Leff, Gordon. Heresy in the Later Middle Ages: The Relation of Heterodoxy to Dissent,
c. 1250 – c. 1450, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1967 (reprinted by Sandpiper Book,
1999), p. 383
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles,
ed. (1913). "Friends of God". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton.

Further reading[edit]
 Rufus M. Jones, Studies in Mystical Religion, Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, no date (originally
published London: Macmillan, 1909)
 Gordon Leff, Heresy in the Later Middle Ages: The Relation of Heterodoxy to Dissent, c. 1250 –
c. 1450, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1967 (reprinted by Sandpiper Book, 1999)
 Bernard McGinn, The Harvest of Mysticism in Medieval Germany (The Presence of God Volume
4), The Crossroad Publishing Company (2005)
 Frithjof Schuon, Christianity / Islam: Perspectives on Esoteric Ecumenism, (2008).
 Mateus Soares de Azevedo, Christianity and the Perennial Philosophy, (2006).