Contemplatief in de actie: Het traktaat 'Cort onderwijs om tot de volmaectheijt te comen' van Jan ('Pelgrim') Pullen (c.1520-1608)

This contribution presents an edition of the treatise 'A Brief Instruction for Reaching the Perfection' (Cort onderwijs om tot de volmaectheijt te comen) by Jan Pullen (c. 1520-1608), one of the most prolific but little known mystical authors in Dutch. The treatise appears in a manuscript of the Ruusbroec Institute (ms. Neerl. 27). Its main topic is how a contemplative, ‘supra-essential’ (overweselijc) life can go together with concrete action. That Pullen deals with this, is not surprising, since he had extensively written on the supra-essential life in other treatises (see Ons Geestelijk Erf 88 (2017), p. 258-296), and this topic was very controversial at the end of the sixteenth century, as it was considered to be detracting from the active life. Pullen’s emphasis on the liturgical, ecclesiological and Christological dimensions is striking. In the appendix, an updated list is given of all the known works by Pullen.