Ons Geestelijk Erf 2018/2 - Abstracts (original) (raw)

Brides and knights of Christ : gender and body in later medieval German mysticism

"Knights and Brides of Christ – Gender and Body in Later Medieval German Mysticism Knights and Brides of Christ discuss the themes of gender and body in the writings of four later medieval German mystics, namely Mechthild of Magdeburg, Friedrich Sunder, Margaretha Ebner and Heinrich Seuse. It offers a new perspective to the issue of gender by bringing together the texts of male and female mystics writing in the same genre. The study shows that seeing certain characteristics as masculine or feminine could vary and that the same features could be considered typical either for women or men depending on context. Heinrich Seuse and Friedrich Sunder have been named as feminine male mystics, but the study illustrates that the literal genre in which both men wrote had great influence in their expression. Heinrich Seuse’s Vita (Leben) indicates that he was eager to control the line between masculine and feminine. Even though the good religious life was the same for both sexes, Seuse’s text suggests that men and women were to behave rather differently in practice. Friedrich Sunder on the other hand crossed the line between masculine and feminine expressions of piety which confused the later editors of his text. The comparison between the writings of female and male writers indicates also that the corporeality of women’s expression is not that different from the religiosity of men as has been assumed. Women knew the mystical tradition and used vernacular poetry to create new images of love and union and their writings were affected by the very same theology as men’s. Because the Soul was usually considered as feminine and depicted as a woman in religious writings and images, the line between real religious women and Soul was at times blurred and this has caused problems both for medieval and contemporary commentators. The Knight and Brides of Christ is based on the large reading of both German literary studies and Anglo-Saxon gender history. It combines the approaches of both literary critics and historians in the manner of Gabrielle M. Spiegel by emphasizing the “moment of inscription”. The mystical texts can be understood only within the certain historical context which affected also the form of mystical expression. The study is constructed around the three stages of mystical life, which can be considered to be cultural discourses, or some sort of sedimentations, that were shared among the medieval religious – as sort of preconditions. The division into three stages has been done on the basis of Heinrich Seuse’s description: “A detached person must be freed from the forms of creatures, formed with Christ, and transformed in the Godhead.” Building on this the role of gender and body is discussed within the themes of disciplines, imitation, and sensing God. The study begins by introducing in detail the four texts and their writers. The second chapter, Ascetic Discipline, is devoted to the requirements of religious, such as living in enclosure, being chaste, and controlling the desires of the body and senses. All these practices were intended to turn the body and soul of a religious away from earthly things and to help him or her concentrate on God and spiritual growth alone. The second phase and, the name of the third chapter Transformation through Imitation, is a reference to the imitatio Christi. The chapter discusses how the imitation of Christ and Mary were treated in the mystical texts and in which forms mystics considered these kinds of imitation important. The fourth chapter is entitled To Sense God and it deals with the descriptions of mystical union or the consciousness of the presence of God. It concentrates on the ways mystic describe their being involved with the Godhead. By reading the descriptions of the mystics concerning the requirements, practices, and experiences in religious life, this study looks for differences and variations as well as similarities. By testing the texts against each other the study reveals tensions that were acute at the particular moment a text was written. This comparative examination reveals the attitudes concerning the constructions of gender as well as the meaning of body in the religious reality of medieval people at large, but also the individual situations and perhaps even something of the personal experience of the women and men themselves. "