Christian Lovesickness: Richard of St. Victor's "The Four Degrees of Violent Love"

This article argues that Richard of St. Victor's The Four Degrees of Violent Love makes use of the literary and medical concept of lovesickness in order to create a Christian spirituality that conceives of love in new ways. This article traces Richard's translation of lovesickness from the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of medieval religious cultures
Main Author: Stevens, Travis Allen (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Penn State Univ. Press [2021]
In: Journal of medieval religious cultures
IxTheo Classification:CB Christian life; spirituality
KAE Church history 900-1300; high Middle Ages
NBF Christology
NCB Personal ethics
Further subjects:B Theology
B Medieval
B violent love
B lovesickness
B Richard of St. Victor
Online Access: Volltext (doi)
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Description
Summary:This article argues that Richard of St. Victor's The Four Degrees of Violent Love makes use of the literary and medical concept of lovesickness in order to create a Christian spirituality that conceives of love in new ways. This article traces Richard's translation of lovesickness from the literary and medical to the theological, in order to reveal the effects on those wounded by the love of God. By uniting violent love with lovesickness, Richard opens lovesickness to Christian meaning and interpretation, placing it at the center of an individual's journey to God, and transforms lovesickness by associating it with the wound and with violence more broadly.
ISSN:2153-9650
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of medieval religious cultures
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.5325/jmedirelicult.47.1.0021