| Paper 1823-a | Marguerite Porete and the Desires of Distance
(Language: English)
Maybelle Leung, Department of English, York University, Toronto
Index terms: Language and Literature - Middle English, Religious Life, Sexuality, Women's Studies |
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| Paper 1823-b | Rethinking Hildegard of Bingen from the Thresholds of Liber vitae meritorum
(Language: English)
Gennifer Dorgan, Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Cultures, Assumption University, Massachusetts
Index terms: Ecclesiastical History, Gender Studies, Theology, Women's Studies |
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| Paper 1823-c | Contemplative Drought and Sapiential Fecundity: The Deus absconditus and Deus incognito Motifs in Julian of Norwich's Revelations and The Cloud of Unknowing
(Language: English)
Raphaela Rohrhofer, Faculty of English Language & Literature, University of Oxford
Index terms: Language and Literature - Middle English, Religious Life, Theology, Women's Studies |
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| Abstract | Paper -a:
This paper examines how spatial distance in Porete's Mirror of Simple Souls constructs her feminine erotics. By removing the self from the centre of Christ, I argue, Porete projects herself as embodied with the divine and asserts a feminine erotics of deferral. My paper will address, for instance, Porete's 'Ravishing Farnearness' as a spatial metaphor for God's love. Lastly, given recent interests in Middle English translations of her Mirror, I will discuss its pairing with the short text of the Showings of Julian of Norwich in the Amherst Manuscript to further illuminate upon Porete's erotics of distance.
Paper -b:
Hildegard of Bingen is generally known as a successful challenger to the androcentrism of medieval theology, who, as a writer and abbess, subverted the pejorative place of the category of 'woman' in Christian thought. Less attention has been paid to the ways in which Hildegard contributed to a cosmology that centered what was male, white, and human while marginalizing what was female, Black, and animal. This paper will examine Hildegard's construction of these dualities, particularly in Liber Vitae Meritorum, in order to evaluate typical contemporary conclusions about Hildegard's place in the history of ideas.
Paper -c:
The deus absconditus and deus incognito motifs in Julian of Norwich's Revelations and The Cloud of Unknowing illuminate key themes of medieval mysticism: if there is an element of alterity or absence between the most joyous moments of divine indwelling, how does the desire for the unio mystica relate to the dread of the destructive tendencies of the self and the reverent dread of God? In what ways do the dynamics of love, the awareness of divine otherness, and the possibility of the deity's withdrawal manifest themselves throughout the contemplative path?
Paper -d:
Elisabeth of Schönau was a revered mystic of her time; even so, she was concerned about her authority and position within the wider religious community. I argue that Elisabeth's anxiety about her authority not only represents her humility as a female visionary but also serves to establish legitimacy of her visions. In analyzing the language of Elisabeth's letters, I show that Elisabeth used different salutations and images of herself depending on who she addressed, switching between the most base 'worm-person' and the 'handmaid of Christ'. Examining Elisabeth's letters will not only help us understand her authority as a visionary, but also provide further insight into strategies that female visionaries of the 12th century in particular employed to establish their authoritative positions.
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