Johannes Eckhart – better known as Meister Eckhart – was born around 1260, probably at Hochheim in Thuringia.
He entered the Dominican order at 15, and studied at Cologne, where he immersed himself in the scholasticism of Thomas Aquinas and Albertus Magnus.
He took up appointments as prior of Erfurt and vicar-general of Thuringia before moving to teach in Paris, where he was awarded his Master’s degree in Sacred Theology, earning the title “Master” (Meister in German). He went on to become the provincial of Saxony, and the vicar-general of Bohemia. After a professorship in Paris and appointment as prior in Frankfurt, he moved to Cologne, where he took up a permanent professorship.
Although successful...