Searching for Brahman in the West

 

This is based on Aleksander Radler´s “Kristendomens idéhistoria”.

Sebastian Franck (1500-1542) was a well known Protestant mystic and “heretic”. His ideas and books were officially condemned by a Lutheran theological convention in Schmalkalden in 1540. Luther said after Franck´s death that he never wrote anything about this wicked man during his lifetime, in order not to give him any attention so he would be forgotten by posterity!

According to Franck, God cannot be grasped by definitions or concepts. He lacks name and form, and his nature can´t be described by reference to anything human. God is eternal, unchanging, outside time. He lacks desire, will or emotion. However, he can be seen as expressing love and omnibenevolence, but *not* wrath or hate, since that would imply that God is imperfect, experiencing a conflict within himself between good and evil. Only in the minds of men does God *seem* to be hateful and wrathful. Justification doesn´t entail “good works”, nor does it mean to recognize somebody else´s (i.e. Christ´s) righteousness. Man becomes justified when he has overcome his natural will and become one with God. This righteousness expresses itself in love for one´s neighbor. 

The process of salvation is not tied to any specific form of revelation, but can take place anywhere where there is true religious experience. The Bible is “the new Pope”, the real scripture is “the inner Word”. The important thing is not the historical person Jesus, but the eternal Christ, who must be born, crucified, resurrected and ascend to heaven *in our hearts*. Faith doesn´t mean to blindly believe in outward things. Faith is inner experience, the meeting of the heart with God.

Frank had a pessimistic view of history, including Church history, and he was persecuted himself. The world is controlled by the evil powers, and so are the Churches and the sects. Not even a new Reformation would help, since it would simply form another Church. The Devil hides behind the Bible. Christianity must become an invisible Church, without authorities and outward rituals, based on holiness and fraternal love.

What struck me when reading Radler´s description (which I paraphrased here) are the similarities with Advaita Vedanta and Buddhism. Indeed, it´s even more radical in some ways. Franck´s God has strong similarities with Brahman, with certain Christian notions added. I think it´s obvious that he was at bottom a mystic. Note also the “Gnostic” tendency to see humans as virtually irredeemable. There seems to be a tension between a dualism between absolute good and absolute evil, and a more monist tendency in which everything is divine.

Make of this information what you wish.