Hildegard of Bingen, detail from Kosmosmensch
Scivias domini , 12th c.
Hildegard of Bingen, detail from Kosmosmensch
Scivias domini , 12th c.
Professor: Deeana Klepper
Office Hours:
Wednesday 9-11
Thursday 10-12
and by appointment
147 Bay State Rd.
Room 408
(617) 358-0186
e-mail: dklepper@bu.edu
The emergence of a vibrant tradition of vernacular Christian literature and theology in thirteenth-century Europe opened the doors of Christian mystical thought and practice to an increasingly wide audience. In this seminar, we will focus our attention on some of the most important mystical texts and visionary literature from the High and Later Middle Ages, both Latin and vernacular, orthodox and heterodox. Exploring the varieties of mystical expression and the social and cultural contexts underlying them, we will pay particular attention to the role of gender and authority in mystical writing, practice, and teaching.
Required Texts:
Steven Fanning, Mystics of the Christian Tradition (ISBN 0415224683)
Elizabeth Petroff, Medieval
Women's Visionary Literature (ISBN 019503712X)
Marguerite Porete, The Mirror of Simple Souls (ISBN 0809134276)
Meister Eckhart, The Essential Sermons, Commentaries, Treatises, and
Defense (ISBN 0809103222)
Recommended Background / Reference:
For history: Angus Mackay, Atlas of Medieval Europe. In Mugar Reference. C. Warren Hollister, Medieval Europe: A Short History. On reserve in Mugar.
For religion & mysticism: B. McGinn, The Presence of God: A History of Western Christian Mysticism. Vols. I, II, and III; R. N. Swanson, Religion and Devotion in Europe, c. 1215-c.1515. On reserve in Mugar.
Also: A set of readings available on a CourseInfo site and web documents linked to the online syllabus.
Please bring all reading materials to class on the day(s) they are assigned.
RN413: Students are expected to attend and participate in every class. All reading is to be completed before the class for which it is assigned. Written work for the class will include brief responses to the week's readings (1 page), a short analytical paper, a 10-12 page research paper, and a take-home final exam. Grading for the course will be as follows: class participation 20%; response papers 10%; short paper 20%; research paper 30%; final exam 20%.
RN 713 and TX 811: Students are expected to attend and participate in every class. All reading is to be completed before the class for which it is assigned. In addition to mastering the material required of undergraduates, graduate students are also expected to familiarize themselves with current scholarship in the field and to develop a critical understanding of the relevant issues in scholarship. Additional secondary readings are thus indicated each week for graduate students. Written work will be the same as for undergraduates except that the final paper will take the form of a 15-20 page bibliographic essay and there will be no final exam. Graduate students will also make one oral presentation to the seminar. Grading for the course will be as follows: class participation 20%; response papers 10%; oral presentation 10%; short paper 30%; bibliographic essay 30%.
All students should familiarize themselves with the College of Arts and Sciences Academic Conduct Code and adhere to it. Please see also my plagiarism policy
Web Resources for Medieval European Religion and History
Schedule:
• Week I (9/10). Introduction: Background
to Medieval Christian Mysticism: Body, Spirit, and Religious Experience
Recommended Graduate Reading: B. McGinn, The Presence of God, Vol. I, Chapter 1 [pdf on CourseInfo site]
• Week II (9/17). The Love Affair With God: The Monastic Tradition
Readings: Fanning, 1-36; 75-82; E. Ann Matter, "Mystical Marriage," Women and Faith: Catholic Religious Life in Italy from Late Antiquity to the Present. L. Scaraffia and G. Zarri, eds., 31-41[pdf on CourseInfo site] ; Richard of St. Victor, "On the Four Degrees of Passionate Charity," 213-233 [pdf on CourseInfo site]
Web Document: Bernard of Clairvaux: On Loving God ; Excerpts from Sermons on the Song of Songs
Additional Graduate Reading: Denys Turner, Eros and Allegory: Medieval Exegesis of the Song of Song
• Week III (9/24). Hildegard of Bingen: The Visionary Experience and Female Spiritual Authority
Readings: Fanning, 82-85; E. Petroff, Medieval Women’s Visionary Literature, 151-158; B. Newman, Sister of Wisdom. St. Hildegard’s Theology of the Feminine, chapter 1 [pdf on CourseInfo site]
Additional Graduate Reading: B. Newman, Sister of Wisdom. St. Hildegard’s Theology of the Feminine, entire book
• Week IV (10/1). Religious Communities: Tradition and Innovation
Readings: Fanning, 94-101; E. Petroff, Body and Soul, chapter 1 [pdf on CourseInfo site] ; The Lives of Marie d’Oingies and Christina Mirabilis, Petroff, Medieval Women’s Visionary Literature, 171-189
Additional Graduate Reading: Herbert Grundmann, Religiöse Bewegungen im Mittelalter (in the original German or in the 1995 English translation). The English translation contains an excellent introduction by Robert Lerner.
• Week V (10/9). NO CLASS MONDAY. TUESDAY
FOLLOWS MONDAY SCHEDULE
A Different Kind of Love: Hadewijch and Minnemystik
Readings: Hadewijch of Brabant, "Letters and Visions," Petroff, Medieval Women’s Visionary Literature, 189-200; Hadewijch, Poems, from Hadewijch. The Complete Works, Mother Columba Hart O.S.B., trans., 149-152; 168-171; 227-229; 240-243; 352-358 [pdf on CourseInfo site]; M. Suydam, "The Touch of Satisfaction: Visions and the Religious Experience According to Hadewijch of Antwerp," Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 12, 2 (Fall 1996), 5-27 (full text available through ATLA Religion Database on the Mugar Library site.)
Additional Graduate Reading: Petroff, Body and Soul, Chapter 3
• Week VI (10/15). Mechthild of Magdeburg and the nuns of Helfta: Female Monasticism and Vernacular Theology
Readings: Mechthild of Magdeburg, "The Flowing Light of the Godhead"; St. Gertrude the Great, "Revelations," Petroff, Medieval Women’s Visionary Literature, 207-221; 222-230;
Additional Graduate Reading: Jeffrey Hamburger, The Visual and The Visionary: Art and Female Spirituality, especially chapters 1 and 2.
• Week VII (10/22). Apostolic Poverty and Mystical Practice: St. Francis and St. Clare
Readings: Fanning, 85-92; "The Testament of St. Clare," Petroff, Medieval Women’s Visionary Literature, 231-235; 242-246; L. Little, Religious Poverty and the Profit Economy in Medieval Europe, 19-41; 146-169 [pdf on CourseInfo site]
Web Document: St. Francis, Canticle of Brother Son; Thomas of Celano, The Life of St. Francis (first and second versions)
Additional Graduate Reading: Petroff, Body and Soul, chapter 4
• Week VIII (10/29). Apostolic Poverty and Mystical Practice: The Followers of Francis
Readings: St. Bonaventure, "The Soul’s Journey into God," E. Cousins, ed., trans., 53-116 [pdf on CourseInfo site] ; Blessed Angela of Foligno, "The Book of the Experience of the Truly Faithful," Petroff, Medieval Women’s Visionary Literature, 254-263
• Week IX (11/5). Annihilation of the Soul: Marguerite Porete and the Heresy of the Free Spirit
Readings: Marguerite Porete, "The Mirror of Simple Souls," Ellen Babinsky, trans. Entire book, including the preface, introduction, and text.
Additional Graduate Reading: Robert E. Lerner, Heresy of the Free Spirit
web document: Marguerite's trial documents
• Week X (11/12). VETERAN'S DAY OBSERVED; NO CLASS
• Week XI (11/19). Meister Eckhart and the Beguines
Readings: Meister Eckhart, The Essential Sermons, Commentaries, Treatises, and Defense, Introduction; 71-81; 177-203; 285-294 ; A. Hollywood, "Suffering Transformed: Marguerite Porete, Meister Eckhart, and the Problem of Women's Spirituality," Meister Eckhart and the Beguine Mystics, 87-113 [pdf on CourseInfo site] Schwester Katrei (Sister Catherine), "About the Confessor's Daughter," Meister Eckhart, Teacher and Preacher, 347-387 [pdf on CourseInfo site]
Optional: Schwester Katrei entry from the Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques
Additional Graduate Reading: B. McGinn, ed., Meister Eckhart and the Beguine Mystics
• Week XII (11/26). Jesus as Mother and the Feminization of God
Readings: C. Bynum, "Jesus as Mother and Abbot as Mother: Some themes in Twelfth-Century Cistercian Writing," Jesus as Mother: Studies in the Spirituality of the High Middle Ages, 110-168 [pdf on CourseInfo site]; Julian of Norwich, "Showings," Petroff, Medieval Women’s Visionary Literature, 299-314.
Additional Graduate Reading: Barbara Newman, From Virile Woman to Womanchrist
• Week XIII (12/3). Gender and the Body in Mystical Practice
Readings: C. Bynum, Holy Feast and Holy Fast, 1-9; 277-302 [pdf on CourseInfo site]; A. Hollywood, "Inside Out: Beatrice of Nazareth and Her Hagiographer," Gendered Voices: Medieval Saints and Their Interpreters, Catherine M. Mooney, ed., 78-98 [pdf on CourseInfo site] ; Beatriijs of Nazareth, "Seven Manners of Loving God," Petroff, Medieval Women’s Visionary Literature, 200-206.
Additional Graduate Readings: C. Bynum, Holy Feast and Holy Fast, entire book; Sean L. Field, “Agnes of Harcourt, Felipa of Porcelet, and Marguerite of Oingt: Women Writing about Women at the End of the Thirteenth Century,” Church History 76:2 (2007):298-328
• Week XIV (12/10). Sensory Experience and Mystical Language
Readings: Fanning, 119-128; Margery Kempe, The Book of Margery Kempe," Petroff, Medieval Women’s Visionary Literature, 314-328.
Web Document: Excerpts from the anonymous Cloud of Unknowing; Excerpts from Richard Rolle, The Fire of Love
Additional Graduate Reading: K. Garay, "A Naked Intent Unto
God: Ungendered Discourse in Some Late Medieval Mystical Texts,"
Mystics Quarterly 23, 2 (June 1997), 36-51[pdf
on CourseInfo site]
READING GUIDE
RN 413 TAKE HOME FINAL EXAM DUE by 11 AM on TUESDAY, 12/18.
Deeana Klepper home
Religion Department home
Hildegard of Bingen, Kosmosmensch
Scivias domini