Essays suggesting new ways of studying the crucial but sometimes difficult range of medieval mystical material.

Essays suggesting new ways of studying the crucial but sometimes difficult range of medieval mystical material.

This volume seeks to explore the origins, context and content of the anchoritic and mystical texts produced in England during the Middle Ages and to examine the ways in which these texts may be studied and taught today. It foregrounds issues of context and interaction, seeking both to position medieval spiritual writings against a surprisingly wide range of contemporary contexts and to face the challenge of making these texts accessible to a wider readership. The contributions, by leading scholars in the field, incorporate historical, literary and theological perspectives and offer critical approaches and background material which will inform both research and teaching.
The approaches to Middle English anchoritic and mystical texts suggested in this volume are many and varied. In this they reflect the richness and complexity of the contexts from which these writings emerged. These essays are offered aspart of an ongoing exploration of aspects of medieval spirituality which, while posing a considerable challenge to modern readers, also offer invaluable insights into the interaction between medieval culture and belief.

Contributors: E.A. Jones, Dee Dyas, Valerie Edden, Santha Bhattachariji, Denis Renevey, A.C. Spearing, Thomas Bestul, Liz Herbert McAvoy, Barry A. Windeatt, Alexandra Barratt, R.S. Allen, Roger Ellis, Ann M. Hutchison, Marion Glasscoe, Catherine Innes-Parker

Anchorites and Hermits in Historical Context - E A Jones
`Wildernesse is Anlich Lif of Ancre Wununge': the Wilderness and Medieval Anchoritic Spirituality - Dee Dyas
The Devotional Life of the Laity in the Late Middle Ages - Valerie Edden
Medieval Contemplation and Mystical Experience - Santha Bhattacharji
Richard Rolle - Denis Renevey
Language and its Limits:The Cloud of Unknowing andPearl - A C Spearing ***
Walter Hilton - Thomas Bestul
`And thou, to whom this Booke Shall Come': Julian of Norwich and her Audience, Past, Present and Future - Liz Herbert McAvoy
`I use but Comownycacyon and Good Wordys': Teaching andThe Book Of Margery Kempe - Barry A Windeatt
Teaching Anchoritic Texts: the Shock of the Old [Appendix: Ch. 14 ofThe Rule of a Recluse, from MS Bodley 423 - Alexandra Barratt
Introducing the Mystics - R. S. Allen
Holy Fictions: Another Approach to the Middle English Mystics - Roger Ellis
Approaching Medieval Women Mystics in the Twenty-First Century - Ann M. Hutchison
Contexts for Teaching Julian of Norwich [Appendix: `Stond wel, moder, under rode'] - Marion Glasscoe
Appendix: Learning by Doing: Margery Kempe and students today - Catherine Innes-Parker
Appendix: Useful terms for students [with Roger Ellis and Ann M. Hutchison] - Dee Dyas
Appendix: Useful terms for students [with Dee Dyas and Ann M. Hutchison] - Roger Ellis
Appendix: Useful terms for students [with Dee Dyas and Roger Ellis] - Ann M. Hutchison