"Blessed Are Those Who Mourn": The Coexistence and Paradoxical Conjunction of Joy and Suffering

In their landmark texts, Hadewijch of Antwerp, Mechthild of Magdeburg, Julian of Norwich and Catherine of Siena relate a profound experience of joy involving a concomitant and as intense experience of suffering in its physical, psychological, moral and spiritual dimensions. Combining gifts of vision...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Studies in spirituality
Main Author: Fortin, Jean-Pierre (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Peeters [2019]
In: Studies in spirituality
IxTheo Classification:CB Christian life; spirituality
KAF Church history 1300-1500; late Middle Ages
KDB Roman Catholic Church
Online Access: Volltext (doi)
Description
Summary:In their landmark texts, Hadewijch of Antwerp, Mechthild of Magdeburg, Julian of Norwich and Catherine of Siena relate a profound experience of joy involving a concomitant and as intense experience of suffering in its physical, psychological, moral and spiritual dimensions. Combining gifts of vision with analytical and pedagogical/political skills, these 13th-14th century female mystics practiced a kind of lived theology that naturally led them to produce spiritual self-narratives as an integral component of their spiritual formation. Retrieving, unpacking and articulating from within their personal experience of the powerful presence of God, they teach how to do theology without using abstract language and categories. They thus construe human existence as intimate transformative interaction with the living God apt to empower the human person to find "robust" joy, which can be experienced and sustained in and despite of spiritual desolation and suffering.
ISSN:0926-6453
Contains:Enthalten in: Studies in spirituality
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.2143/SIS.29.0.3286947