Johannes Tauler

Johannes Tauler – Life, Theology, and Influential Quotes

Discover the life and spiritual legacy of Johannes Tauler (c. 1300–1361), a German Dominican mystic and theologian of the Rhineland school. Learn about his inner teaching, sermons, concept of the “ground of the soul,” and his enduring wisdom.

Introduction

Johannes Tauler (sometimes Latinized as Taulerus, also John Tauler) was a 14th-century German Dominican priest, mystic, and preacher whose sermons and spiritual insights left a deep mark on Christian mysticism. He is often counted among the Rhineland mystics, in the same tradition as Meister Eckhart and Henry Suso.

Though he left no systematic theological treatise, Tauler’s sermons and his emphasis on inner transformation, detachment, and union with God made him a spiritual guide to many in his day and afterward. In what follows, we trace his biography, core teachings, key themes, selected quotations, and his legacy for Christian spirituality.

Early Life, Formation & Ministry

Origins and Dominican Formation

Johannes Tauler was born around 1300 in Strasbourg (then a free imperial city in the Holy Roman Empire). Nikolus Tauler is attested in municipal records.

Around age 18, Tauler entered the Dominican Order, likely in Strasbourg or in the province of the German Dominicans. Cologne and perhaps in Paris (or with theological influence from those centers) before returning to Strasbourg.

It is possible that Tauler encountered Meister Eckhart in Strasbourg during the period when Eckhart preached there (c. 1313–1326), though the exact relationship remains uncertain.

Preaching and Pastoral Work

Around 1330, Tauler began preaching in Strasbourg. Friends of God (Gottesfreunde). Tauler is especially known to have been associated with the Friends of God movement, which sought a more contemplative, inward, and morally earnest Christian life.

During his ministry, Tauler traveled and preached not only in Strasbourg but also in other cities like Cologne and Basel. Some of his sermons survive in manuscripts in Middle High German and in Latin translations.

He remained in Strasbourg in his later years. In 1346, an earthquake and fire struck the city, and shortly afterward, the Black Death (1347–1349) devastated the population. Biographical tradition holds that Tauler stayed in the city during the plague years, continuing to offer spiritual care to those who remained.

Tauler died on 16 June 1361 (some sources also cite 16 June) in Strasbourg. Temple Neuf.

Because Tauler never wrote theological treatises, his doctrine is drawn from his eighty or so surviving sermons and spiritual conferences.

Core Spiritual Themes & Theology

Though not systematic, Tauler’s teachings revolve around a few interlocking themes: the ground of the soul, inner conversion, detachment, union with God, and the integration of spiritual and ordinary life.

The Ground (Grund) of the Soul

One of Tauler’s hallmark concepts is the ground of the soul (“Grund” in German, often translated “hidden abyss” in English). He draws on the mystical tradition, especially Meister Eckhart, and on Augustinian influences, to suggest that in the deepest, hidden core of the human soul, there is a point of meeting with God.

In that doctrine:

• Tauler teaches that God is spiritually present in the innermost ground, even when hidden from consciousness.

• This ground is not identical with God (i.e. he avoids equating creature and Creator), but rather made to receive God’s indwelling.

• The soul’s journey inward is a movement to concentrate, withdraw from distractions, and grow in simplicity so that the divine presence can “enter” more fully.

• In his view, the ground is distinguished from the faculties or external soul structures; it is the purest point where the human spirit is capable of union with God.

Tauler consistently calls for a turning inward (Einkehr) and a purification of the powers and distractions that block the soul’s access to its ground.

Conversion, Return & Detachment

Tauler emphasizes inner conversion, or turning away from the ephemeral and external toward God within. This turning is not a one-time event but a continual spiritual process.

He uses metaphors of detachment, emptiness, and poverty of spirit (Gelassenheit) to express how the soul must empty itself of its own claims, clinging, and self-will to make room for God.

In Tauler’s teaching, spirituality is not reserved for the cloistered or elite; he defends that lay Christians and those in active life (marriage, work, social duties) can also pursue the mystical life. He rejects a strict divide between contemplative and active life, insisting they should integrate.

Union with God & Mystical Birth

Tauler speaks of the birth of God within the soul. That is, when the soul is prepared (by detachment, purification, inwardness), God can be “born” spiritually in the soul, entering into a lived union.

But Tauler is cautious: this union does not dissolve the creatureliness of the soul; rather, it is a real participation in divine life without erasing personal identity.

He describes stages of spiritual growth or “grades” (such as jubilation, trial, breakthrough) through which the soul passes toward deeper union.

Tauler also warns that suffering, obscurity, or spiritual aridity may precede deeper union—they are not signs of failure, but part of the way.

Ethics, Humility, and Practical Spirituality

Although mystical, Tauler’s spirituality is grounded. He insists on moral integrity, humility, self-judgment, and responsibility for one’s neighbor. He warns against the spirit of judging others.

He also affirms the spiritual value of ordinary work and duty, arguing that active life and contemplative life are not antithetical. He lifts up even humble labors as possible expressions of divine service when done with interiority.

He appeals repeatedly to silence, inwardness, simplicity, and letting go of distractions.

Selected Quotes by Johannes Tauler

Here are some of Johannes Tauler’s most frequently cited and spiritually evocative quotations:

“Become a fertile ground for the divine birth.” “Because in the school of the Spirit man learns wisdom through humility, knowledge by forgetting, how to speak by silence, how to live by dying.” “He who desires to become a spiritual man must not be ever taking note of others, and above all of their sins, lest he fall into wrath and bitterness, and a judging spirit towards his neighbors.” “Your meditations may be as profound, as exalted, as devout as you like … but all this is as nothing in comparison with the Blessed Sacrament.” “In the most intimate, hidden and innermost ground of the soul, God is always essentially, actively, and substantially present. Here the soul possesses everything by grace which God possesses by nature.” “Judge yourself; if you do that you will not be judged by God … But it must be a real sense of your own sinfulness, not an artificial humility.” “If you fall seventy times a day, rise seventy times and return to God so that you will not fall too often.”

These are just glimpses of his sermons’ richness.

Legacy & Influence

Johannes Tauler holds a respected place in Christian mysticism, particularly in the German / Rhineland tradition:

• Because Tauler never faced the doctrinal suspicion that sometimes shadowed Eckhart, he remained safely within orthodoxy and was less subject to condemnation.

• His sermons were widely copied, translated, and circulated in the late Middle Ages and the early modern period.

• Tauler’s emphasis on interior life, union, and the spirituality of everyday life influenced later mystics, devotional writers, and Protestant spirituality.

• In hymnody, the Advent hymn “Es kommt ein Schiff, geladen” has sometimes been attributed to Tauler, though the attribution is uncertain.

• Tauler is commemorated in some Christian calendars (particularly in Protestant traditions) on 16 June, his date of death.

• His approach—linking preaching, mysticism, and pastoral care—offers a model for contemplative Christians seeking depth without retreating entirely from active life.

Lessons from Tauler’s Spiritual Path

• The inner life matters: Tauler teaches that the deepest transformation happens not in external ritual alone, but in the soul’s turning inward.

• Humility and detachment are not mere negatives but necessary dispositions for union with God.

• Persistence amid failure: his advice to rise repeatedly (e.g. “if you fall seventy times, rise seventy times”) shows realism about human weakness.

• Integration of life: mystical depth is not reserved for monks — Tauler affirms the spiritual possibility of everyday work, marriage, duty.

• Silence and inwardness: spiritual growth often involves patience, waiting, silence, and letting go of noise and distraction.

Conclusion

Johannes Tauler is a luminous figure in the Christian mystical tradition: a preacher whose words continue to touch the heart, a theologian whose thought invites inwardness, and a spiritual guide who offers a path toward union with God without denying the demands of daily life.

Though his time was distant, his insight into the hidden ground of the soul, his emphasis on humility and detachment, and his conviction that God can dwell intimately within us remain relevant. His sermons invite us to journey inward, to cultivate spiritual fertility, and to live from the deep union that lies beyond the noise.