The Elevation of Language and the Transcendence of the Self in Augustine and al-Ghazali’s Autobiographies

Abstract

This article puts in dialogue two medieval theologians of different religious beliefs in order to understand the relation between mysticism and language and how language contributes to the achievement of the mystical experience. The close reading of the autobiographies of both Augustine and Al-Ghazali shows that the mystical experience of transcendence and gnostic truth is linked to transcending language itself. In Augustine ‘s Confessions (AD 397-400), conversion to Christianity takes place when rhetoric transcends to the stage of what Augustine calls “Christian rhetoric” or “redeemed rhetoric.” For Al-Ghazali, in Deliverance From Error (1107), language turns into as a mediator for the mystical experience of transcendence only when it serves the word of God. From this perspective, language is perceived of as a communicative instrument that is not only connected with moral imagination but is itself an instance of moral action. For both thinkers, mysticism is possible through language and language has no meaning outside of ethical parameters