IMC 2005: Sessions

Session 816: The Significance of Age in the Literature of Female Monasticism

Organiser:	Beverly Mayne Kienzle, Harvard Divinity School, Harvard University
Moderator/Chair:	Zachary Matus, Committee on the Study of Religion, Harvard University
Paper 816-a	Out with the Old, In with the New: The Drama of Enclosure at the Monastery of Wennigsen (Language: English) Zachary Matus, Committee on the Study of Religion, Harvard University Index terms: Monasticism
Paper 816-b	Youth, Age, and Desire in the Lyrics of Hildegard of Bingen (Language: English) Stephen Marc D'Evelyn, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Bristol Index terms: Liturgy, Monasticism, Religious Life, Women's Studies
Paper 816-c	Ageing and Authority in the Works of Hildegard of Bingen (Language: English) Beverly Mayne Kienzle, Harvard Divinity School, Harvard University Index terms: Monasticism, Sermons and Preaching, Women's Studies
Abstract	The seeming paradox of virginity and desire has received much attention from scholars interested in the theoretical dimensions of medieval culture. Surprisingly, this paradox of personal emotion and physical and spiritual integrity is expressed with particular intensity and nuance in the lyrics of public worship by Hildegard of Bingen. Central to Hildegard’s poetic images of desire and virginity are the conditions of youth and age, The descriptions of youth and age both symbolise the tension of desire and virginity and dramatize emotion brought to the songs by those singing them. The conditions of virginity and desire however