When examining religious individualization processes, "religious self-determination" makes for a particularly intense subject. In this work the intense nature of the topic is

discussed, based upon the life and times of the late medieval theologian Meister Eckhart, and set within the context of intellectual and cultural history. The exchange

that took place between religious metaphysics and deep, personal religious experience contributed, among other things, to creating a climate for religious self-determination, which repeatedly caused conflicts within the church.