Before I began to read Meister Eckhart, I shared a common prejudice against medieval thinkers an all their works. I disliked theology in the medieval idiom, regarding it as juiceless and static, and fortunately superseded by more vital modern religious thought. Then, at the behest of a learned friend, I began Eckhart, only to see that what he had to say was indeed like a treasure buried in a field, the more valuable because so rare--and so long neglected. It proved not to be enough merely to read him. The variations among the translations into modern German only suggested a richer treasure behind them all, and the one existing English translation did not help much.