“‘Who Does She Think She Is?’: Christian Women’s Mysticism”
By Amy HollywoodIs the Christian woman mystic’s audacious desire for union with God a sign of a very un-Christian pride? How can medieval women, officially denied access to teaching and preaching, speak authoritatively on religious issues while at the same time maintaining the humility expected of them? The paper explores both popular and scholarly claims about Christian women mystics’ narcissism and argues that, properly understood, many mystical texts are grounded in a paradoxical interplay of humility and chosenness by means of which the works purport to authorize themselves.
“Commentary on the Johannine Prologue”
By Hildegard of Bingen
translated and introduced by Barbara NewmanThis article is a translation of Hildegard’s commentary on the Johannine prologue, taken from her Book of Divine Works, with an introduction emphasizing the themes of the divine image and the holiness of the human body as an analogue of both the cosmos and the creative power of God. The note introducing the translation comments on Hildegard’s prophetic, pictorial style and explains why her highly gendered thought cannot be rendered in contemporary gender-neutral language.
“Christological Transformation in The Mirror of Souls, by Marguerite Porete”
By Ellen L. BabinskyThis essay explores Marguerite Porete’s Mirror of Simple Souls, which offers a powerful portrayal of the soul’s transformation into her exemplar, Jesus Christ. First, it outlines Porete’s portrayal of the trinitarian relation of the faculties of the soul. Next, it explores the contours of the christological themes of the transformation of the soul. Finally, it shows that the goal of the text itself is the reader’s transformation. Porete’s designation of Jesus Christ as exemplar highlights the energy that drives the soul’s transformation and constitutes the transforming nature of the text.
“Catherine of Siena, Justly Doctor of the Church?”
By Suzanne Noffke, OPCatherine of Siena was declared doctor of the universal church in 1970 for reasons documented in the record of the canonical process for that declaration. Primary among these reasons were her defense of the papacy and her orthodox fidelity to the magisterium, with emphasis on supernatural inspiration rather than human giftedness as the foundation of her teaching. Beginning from Catherine’s own comments on doctors of the church, this essay proposes that a more cogent reason for naming Catherine doctor of the church rests in her pastoral genius grounded in a discipleship that seeks ultimate truth only in the truth that is God. That pastoral genius expresses itself in writings that are at once theologically sound, faithful, and humanly sensitive.
“Order, Freedom, and “Kindness”: Julian of Norwich on the Edge of Modernity”
By Frederick Christian BauerschmidtThis essay argues that Julian of Norwich is particularly relevant today because she, like us, lived in a point of transition: between the ancient-medieval world in which order was the primary value and the modern world in which freedom is the dominant value. With the critique of modernity undertaken in the last forty years, Julian’s theology becomes of interest once again—in particular, her notion of God’s “kindness,” encompassing as it does both the notion of God’s nature and God’s benevolence, offers a third alternative to ideologies of either order or freedom.
“The Company of Medieval Women Theologians”
By Paul RoremThe company of medieval women theologians is much larger than anyone (including Christine de Pizan) ever thought before the current surge of editing and translating began to bring these neglected women to light. These theologians, furthermore, were not concerned with personal spirituality in the modern sense of individual introspection. They were reformers and activists who worked to improve conditions around them in church and society. Unifying the traditions of Mary and Martha of Bethany, these medieval women were contemplatives who went into action.