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IMC 2003: Sessions

Session 313: Religious Women Expressing Normative Authority, III

Monday 14 July 2003, 16.30-18.00

Organiser:Maiju Lehmijoki-Gardner, Department of Theology, Loyola University Maryland / Department of Church History, University of Helsinki
Moderator/Chair:Letha Böhringer, Stadtarchiv Köln
Paper 313-aThe Application of the Third Franciscan Rule in the Diocese of Utrecht
(Language: English)
Hildo van Engen, Instituut voor Nederlandse Geschiedenis, Den Haag
Index terms: Religious Life, Women's Studies
Paper 313-bThe History of the Dominican Penitent Rule: A Rule for Women's Communities?
(Language: English)
Martina Wehrli-Johns, Independent Scholar, Zürich
Index terms: Religious Life, Women's Studies
Paper 313-cWriting of Rules as a Long Process: Italian Penitent Women and their Books of Rules
(Language: English)
Maiju Lehmijoki-Gardner, Department of Theology, Loyola University Maryland / Department of Church History, University of Helsinki
Index terms: Religious Life, Women's Studies
Abstract

These three sessions address the ways in which medieval women were able to exercise normative authority within their religious communities. Traditionally the writing of rules ("regulae") and other normative texts are seen as products of hierachical, clerical authority. The sessions "Religious Women Expressing Normative Authority" suggest that women were actively involved in the matters concerning their own ways of religious life; they could take part in the creation of the rules and other normative texts by soliciting them, by looking at ways to adapt universal rules to their particular needs or choosing to ignore some form of legislation, and even by participating directly in the writing of the rules and other texts offering religious guidance.