Research centre for mysticism and spirituality

The Titus Brandsma Institute (TBI) is a centre for academic research into the foundations, history and significance of Jewish and Christian mysticism and spirituality. The study of the spiritual culture in past and present, and of the various ways in which people have given shape and meaning to their spiritual quest, are central at the TBI.

Our institute focuses on topics such as the Modern Devotion, Biblical Spirituality, Mysticism & Modern Art and Spirituality in Modern Society. Central to our research are mystical writers like Thomas a Kempis, Teresa of Ávila, Simone Weil and experts on mysticism like Michel de Certeau and Titus Brandsma.

Lecture series on Titus Brandsma

This spring the Titus Brandsma Institute will organise four online lectures on Titus Brandsma. The first starts on Wednesday March 2th. Dr. Anne-Marie Bos (TBI) uses various material from the life of Titus Brandsma - such as photos, a video recording, an audio recording, but also handwritten notes and a page from his diary - that will give an insight into how Titus Brandsma showed himself as a person.

Canonisation Titus Brandsma

The Catholic Church announced today March 4th that Pope Francis will canonise Nijmegen's Titus Brandsma (1881-1942) on May 15th.

Brandsma was Rector Magnificus and Professor of Philosophy at Radboud University. He died in Dachau concentration camp, some six months after he had been arrested by the Nazis for his resistance to National Socialism.

In November 1985 he was beatified in Rome by Pope John Paul II. And in 2005 he was elected greatest Nijmegen citizen of all time.

International Conference: Passions and the Mystical. Between Affecting and Being Affected

It is a pleasure to invite you to the international conference Passions and the Mystical: between Affecting and Being Affected. The conference is jointly organized by the Mystical Theology Network (MTN) and the Titus Brandsma Institute (TBI, associated with Radboud University) and will take place in Nijmegen on 1-2 December 2022.

The aim of this conference is to bring together theologians, religious studies scholars, philosophers, literary scholars, historians and scholars working in related fields to discuss and map out the wider semantic field of the ‘passion(s)’ across mystical traditions.

Studies in Spirituality

Studies in Spirituality homepage
The aim of Studies in Spirituality is to provide an opportunity for publication of more substantial works of monograph length and collective works on particular themes. Supplements are published in a frequency of about one volume a year.

In April 2021 the newest supplement of Studies in Spirituality, nr. 36, was published: Mysticism and/as Love Theory. Edited by Marc De Kesel and Ad Poirters.

Writings of Titus Brandsma

Handtekening Titus Brandsma
Anne-Marie Bos and Susan Verkerk-Wheatley are in the proces of translating and commenting the writings of Titus Brandsma in English. Brandsma wrote about 700 articles for various publications, but the archives also hold thousands of unpublished articles, speeches, notes and letters.

Through this critical edition, our aim is to make these works more accessible for reading and studying.