La disparition de l'extase mystique (fin xvie-xviie siècle)

This paper aims at shining a light on some of the theoretical processes that led mystical ecstasy to disappear between the end of 16th and the end of 17th century. The involvement of mystical ecstasy in religious practices during the early-modern period posed such semiotic issues to the “discernment of spirits” that a new kind of ecstasy, namely invisible, was invented. However, such invention proved also to be a contribution to the disintegration of mystical theology itself.