IMC 2020: Sessions
Session 554: Says Who?, I: Establishing Authority in Mystical Texts
Tuesday 7 July 2020, 09.00-10.30
| Organiser: | Amanda Langley, School of History, Queen Mary University of London |
|---|---|
| Moderator/Chair: | Michael Hahn, School of Divinity, University of St Andrews |
| Paper 554-a | Scribes, Witnesses, and Female Mystics: Constructing Authority in the Liber of St Angela of Foligno (c. 1248-1309) and the Reuelaciones of St Birgitta of Sweden (1303-1373) (Language: English) Index terms: Hagiography, Religious Life, Rhetoric, Women's Studies |
| Paper 554-b | Political Mysticism and Saintly Authority in the 14th Century (Language: English) Index terms: Hagiography, Politics and Diplomacy, Religious Life, Rhetoric |
| Paper 554-c | Imitatio Magdalena: Male Clerical Intervention in the Mystical Experience of Saints Catherine of Siena and Mary Magdalen (Language: English) Index terms: Hagiography, Religious Life, Women's Studies |
| Paper 554-d | The Model of Mary Magdalene in The Life of Blessed St Douceline: Legitimising Ecstatic Levitation and Female Preaching and Teaching (Language: English) Index terms: Hagiography, Politics and Diplomacy, Religious Life, Women's Studies |
| Abstract | The individual nature of divine experiences meant that perspective followers were asked to believe the mystic's accounts of these events and welcome their interpretation of these revelations. This presented a significant problem for some mystics or aspiring saints, particularly in the case of women and those living outside of religious communities, who had no socio-religious authority on theological and spiritual matters. These sessions examine how authority of voice was constructed in mystical texts, through the invocation of tropes and stereotypes, calling on ancient wisdom, comparisons to holy figures, and the support of witness testimonies and the opinions of institutional authorities. |