Basing himself on Christian sources-literally "from Saint Paul to
Meister Eckhart"-Wolfgang Smith formulates what he terms an
"unexpurgated" account of gnosis, and demonstrates its central
place in the perfection of the Christ-centered life. He observes,
moreover, that the very conception of a "supreme knowing," as
implied by the aforesaid sources, has a decisive bearing upon
cosmology, which moreover constitutes the underlying principle upon
which his earlier scientific and philosophical work-beginning with
his ground-breaking treatise on the interpretation of quantum
mechanics-has been based. The "fact of gnosis," however, has a
decisive bearing on the theological notion of creatio ex nihilo as
well, and it is this imperative that Smith proposes to explore in
the present work. What is thus demanded, he contends, is the
inherently Kabbalistic notion of a creatio ex Deo et in Deo, not to
replace, but to complement the creatio ex nihilo. This leads to an
engagement with Christian Kabbalah (Pico de la Mirandola, Johann
Reuchlin, and Cardinal Egidio di Viterbo especially) and with Jacob
Boehme, culminating in an exegesis of Meister Eckhart's doctrine.
The author argues, first of all, that Eckhart does not (as many
have thought) advocate a "God beyond God" theology: does not, in
other words, hold an inherently Sabellian view of the Trinity.
Smith maintains that Eckhart has not in fact transgressed a single
Trinitarian or Christological dogma; what he does deny implicitly,
he shows, is none other than the creatio ex nihilo, which in effect
Eckhart replaces with the Kabbalistic creatio ex Deo. In this
shift, moreover, Smith perceives the transition from "exoteric" to
"esoteric" within the integral domain of Christian doctrine.
Wolfgang Smith brings to his writing a rare combination of
qualities and experiences, not the least his ability to move freely
between the somewhat arcane worlds of science and traditional
metaphysics. Alongside Dr. Smith's imposing qualifications in
mathematics, physics, and philosophy, we find his hard-earned
expertise in Platonism, Christian theology, traditional
cosmologies, and Oriental metaphysics. His outlook has been
enriched both by his diverse professional experiences in the
high-tech world of the aerospace industry and in academia, and by
his own researches in the course of his far-reaching intellectual
and spiritual journeying. Here is that rare person who is equally
at home with Eckhart and Einstein, Heraclitus and Heisenberg Harry
Oldmeadow, La Trobe University]
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