Excessive saints: gender, narrative, and theological invention in Thomas of Cantimpré's mystical hagiographies
"For thirteenth-century preacher, exorcist, and hagiographer Thomas of Cantimpré, the Southern Low Countries were a harbinger of the New Jerusalem. The Holy Spirit, he believed, was manifesting itself in the lives of lay and religious people alike. Thomas avidly sought out these new kinds of sa...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Print Book |
| Language: | English |
| Subito Delivery Service: | Order now. |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
New York
Columbia University Press
[2019]
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| In: | Year: 2019 |
| Series/Journal: | Gender, theory, and religion
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| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Thomas of Cantimpré 1201-1272
/ Hagiography
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| IxTheo Classification: | KCB Papacy |
| Further subjects: | B
Christian hagiography
B Thomas de Cantimpré (approximately 1200-approximately 1270) B Christian hagiography History and criticism B Thomas approximately 1200-approximately 1270 Thomas approximately 1200-approximately 1270 B Hagiographers (Belgium) Biography B Hagiographers Belgium B Christian women saints Biography B Hagiographers Biography Belgium |
| Summary: | "For thirteenth-century preacher, exorcist, and hagiographer Thomas of Cantimpré, the Southern Low Countries were a harbinger of the New Jerusalem. The Holy Spirit, he believed, was manifesting itself in the lives of lay and religious people alike. Thomas avidly sought out these new kinds of saints, writing accounts of their lives so that these models of sanctity might astound, teach, and trouble the convictions of his day. In Excessive Saints, Rachel J. D. Smith combines historical, literary, and theological approaches to offer a new interpretation of Thomas's hagiographies, showing how they employ vivid narrative portrayals of typically female bodies to perform theological work in a rhetorically specific way. Written in an era of great religious experimentation, Thomas's texts think with and through the bodies of particular figures: the narrative of the holy person's life becomes a site of theological invention in a variety of registers, particularly the devotional, the mystical, and the dogmatic. Smith examines how these texts represent the lives and bodies of holy women to render them desirable objects of devotion for readers and how particular representations are crafted by Thomas in the service of the church even as he works through his uncertainties about the opportunities and dangers that these emerging forms of holiness present. Excessive Saints is the first book to consider Thomas's narrative craft in relation to his theological projects, offering new visions for the study of theology, medieval Christianity, and medieval women's history"-- |
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| Item Description: | Includes bibliographical references and index |
| ISBN: | 0231188609 |